Heritage Presbyterian Church
January 22, 2000
Memorial Service, Pastor Bob Curry
Heritage Presbyterian Church
January 22, 2000
Myrtle had just been moved from the hospital to a nursing home. Her small, tiny body was fighting hard against the terrible cancer that was slowly destroying her. Almost to the day her son Reid was admitted to Georgetown Hospital for diagnostic work on what could well be a very serious physical disease. Mother did not know Reid was in the hospital. It was decided that she must be told and I volunteered to carry the news to Myrtle.
I'll never forget that afternoon visit. I drew a chair up close to her bed, took her hand in mine and said, "We have to talk." Her big eyes widened even more and she looked up from the depths of them and said, "Yes."
I said, "Reid is in Georgetown Hospital. They are doing some diagnostic work to determine the nature of his illness."
She stared out into space as the news came home. And she said, "Oh he's so young to be ill. I'm old. I've lived my live. He has so much to do and live for."
Seldom, if ever, are we ready to die. Yet, in that insightful moment of profound sadness at the news of the illness of her son, Myrtle confessed to herself and to the one ministering to her needs that afternoon - she was prepared for her own death. She was, at the end, a woman of faith.
The writer of the letter to the Hebrews defines faith as "the assurance of things hoped for the conviction of things not seen..." The verb translated assurance - is perhaps more accurately translated "faith is that which stands under, which supports... the things hoped for." There has to be some basis to "hope." The word otherwise is weak and meaningless.
We say, "Boy! I hope that's true." Or "I hope things will turn out well for you." or "Here's hoping." And the word rings hollow, feels empty, seems "hope - less," filled with "dread." But put hope on a foundation of faith, and the word becomes strong and vigorous and filled with expectation.
The writer of Hebrews is reminding the early Christians that their faith is the basis of their hope. Not the other way around. And so it is with us. Hope does not stand out there unsupported. It is placed on the foundation of our faith. And I love the translation "persuades." "Faith persuades us of things not seen."
It is so difficult at times, and perhaps most difficult at the time of death, to really, really, push ourselves into the unseen with much conviction or confidence. Through the magic and wizardry of the modern technology the "unseen" is flashed before our eyes in startling film and film. We don't need any faith to see the unseen. We need only technology. The trouble is that what the technology "sees", is not really the unseen.
Hear the writer of Hebrews:
The unseen is how the world we live in came into being. Then unseen is portrayed in stories, wonderful stories - creation; Cain and Abel; Enoch; Noah; (every civilization has a flood story!)
The unseen is seen in Abba Abraham and the almost sacrifice of his son.
The old lady Sarah laughing at God when God assured her she would conceive and bear a child. And she did!
The unseen is found in the stories of Isaac and Jacob and Esau and Joseph.
By faith the unseen is seen in the story of Moses, who never entered but only saw the promised land from afar.
And the writer of Hebrews can't quit.
The unseen is seen in Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David and Samuel and the prophets.
And finally the writer stops and almost shouts the inevitable conclusion:
"Therefore!!!!!! Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses." Witnesses to the unseen, witnesses to hope in the face of hopeless, time after time after time, funeral after funeral after funeral including our own!
Therefore, the writer counsels - "let us lay aside every weight every wrong that clings so closely to us and let's run the race looking to the pioneer of our faith - Jesus..."
Time magazine decided the end of the millennium was a good time to do a story on the one who has most affected the past two centuries. This is Jesus. So they asked a fiction writer to put together a set piece for them. Giving it a cursory reading while waiting in the doctor's office to get my knees examined - I could not determine whether my knees or my head hurt the most.
If we look at the pioneer of our faith
we really do find
a real genuine pioneer -
One who risked,
One who suffered,
One who ventured into (until then)
unexplored territory,
One who was ridiculed and shamed, and yet,
One who ultimately won.
This is the faith we strive to emulate.
This is the faith into which we were baptized.
This is faith that sees,
really sees,
the unseen!
Ah, we are indeed "surrounded" by so great a cloud of witnesses.
So lay aside every weight and sin and let us run the race together so at its end it will be said of us each one - as Paul asserted of himself -
"We have fought the good fight, We have finished the race, We have kept the faith. From now on there is reserved for us the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give us each one on that day, not only to us, but also to all who have longed for his appearing."
We are never alone.
We are surrounded by too great a cloud of witnesses.
Let us pray:
Gracious and loving God,
we are thankful for the life of our sister
Myrtle,
mother of Bonnie and Reid,
Grandmother of Carlin and Maggie.
May the good that she was
live on in them.
May the love that she gave
be felt again within their lives.
May they and we
find our comfort, solace and hope
in the faith of that cloud of witnesses
that surrounds her and surrounds us.
Amen.
Myrtle Graham Memorial Tree