Funeral for Roger J. Ring - Council Bluffs, IA - March 7th, 2016

Monday morning I traveled to Council Bluffs, IA in order to officiate over the Funeral Service for my brother-in-law Roger Ring.  Roger was married to my wife Gail's sister Nancy and he has suffered extremely poor health for many years now.  We often say that an individual's passing was 'a blessing', but rarely is this sentiment more accurate than in the passing of Roger.  He suffered so much for so long and it is truly better for him to have gone on to his Father's house.

Below is the 'Order of Service' for the funeral.  It is entirely scripted as this is the fashion that I do the funerals that I conduct.

God's blessings to all and please remember to be...

A blessing to someone today!
Roy

Order of Service – Funeral for Roger Ring

Call to Worship:

Gathered in Christ's name, let us praise God
who is our certain hope in all life's varied circumstances.
In the face of death believe the good news the scriptures proclaim:
As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you.
(Isaiah 66:13)

Greeting:
We have come together within the strengthening fellowship of friends and family:
to praise God for the life of Roger J. Ring;
to share our grief with God and with one another;
to reaffirm our faith in God's unfailing goodness;
to hear again God's promise of resurrection;
and to commend Roger to God's everlasting care.

Music:  Pancho & Lefty – Willie Nelson & Merle Haggard

Opening Prayer:
O God of grace and glory, we remember before you this day our brother Roger.
We thank you for giving him to us, his family and friends,
to know and to love as a companion on our earthly pilgrimage.
In your boundless compassion, console us who mourn.
Give us faith to see death the gate of eternal life,
so that in quiet confidence we may continue our course on earth,
until by your call, we are reunited with those who have gone before;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Music:  Just A Closer Walk With Thee – Patsy Cline

Readings from the Old & New Testament:
Let us now hear the word of our Lord as recorded in the Old & New Testaments:

Psalm 32 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
The Joy of Forgiveness
1 Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven,
    whose sin is covered.
2 Happy are those to whom the Lord imputes no iniquity,
    and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
3 While I kept silence, my body wasted away
    through my groaning all day long.
4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;
    my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah
5 Then I acknowledged my sin to you,
    and I did not hide my iniquity;
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,”
    and you forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah
6 Therefore let all who are faithful
    offer prayer to you;
at a time of distress, the rush of mighty waters
    shall not reach them.
7 You are a hiding place for me;
    you preserve me from trouble;
    you surround me with glad cries of deliverance. Selah
8 I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go;
    I will counsel you with my eye upon you.
9 Do not be like a horse or a mule, without understanding,
    whose temper must be curbed with bit and bridle,
    else it will not stay near you.
10 Many are the torments of the wicked,
    but steadfast love surrounds those who trust in the Lord.
11 Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, O righteous,
    and shout for joy, all you upright in heart.

2 Corinthians 5:16-21 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. 17 So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. 20 So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Message:  Pastor Roy Karlen – Woodlawn Christian Church, Lake City, IA

Today we gather to celebrate the life of and to mourn the passing of Roger J. Ring.  Roger was born on July 1st, 1954 in Council Bluffs, IA to Helen & Jim Ring.  He was one of five children in the Ring family with three sisters, Jacolyn who has preceded him in death, Kim and Linda, along with one younger brother Mark.  On June 24h, 1978 Roger was joined in marriage to Nancy A. Engleman in Omaha, NE.  Into this union was born two children Makayla on September 12th, 1981 and Andrew on August 1st, 1983.  Roger passed from this world into the next on March 3rd, 2016 at 1:56 pm at the home of his mother-in-law Mary Engleman in Omaha, NE.

In his life Roger loved to hunt and fish, he enjoyed watching rodeos and horse shows.  He competed in several rodeos in bareback bronc riding and a time or two riding bulls though Nancy said he wasn't fond of bull-riding because he felt it was too dangerous.  Roger enjoyed watching his daughter Makayla compete in horse shows and enjoyed the Pony Express Rides.

Roger worked for years at a number of different shops working on repairing and rebuilding wrecked or damaged semi-trailers.  He was proud of his abilities to restore these once damaged pieces of equipment to being nearly as good as new once again.  After suffering a fall which resulted in a broken back, Roger was limited in his ability to work on these projects and so he and his wife Nancy purchased a dump truck and for a number of years, Roger drove truck under the name of 'Rocking R Hauling'.  In 2007, Roger suffered a stroke which rendered him disabled and he suffered from poor health of one degree or another from then on until his passing.

Any of us gathered here today would be hard pressed to state that Roger was the model father, husband, son or brother.  But these are accolades that also evade any of us gathered here today.  For all fall short of the glory of our God almighty.  None of us are perfect, we all fall short in one way or another.  Roger is remembered by those that loved him each in their own special and personal way.

Yesterday in Lake City, I preached over the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the prodigal son.  The parable of the prodigal son is found in the 15th Chapter of the Gospel of Luke.
The Parable of the Prodigal Son  Luke 15: 11-24
11 Then Jesus said, “There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.’ So he divided his property between them. 13 A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and traveled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute living. 14 When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. 16 He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything. 17 But when he came to himself he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! 18 I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands.”’ 20 So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him. 21 Then the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly, bring out a robe—the best one—and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; 24 for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’ And they began to celebrate.

The story of the Prodigal Son is a tale of redemption, of restoration and above all else reconciliation.  The father greets and restores the son to the family as if no slight or insult had ever occurred.  And in second half of this parable concerning the elder brother, along with the two parables which preceded it in the Gospel of Luke, we see an illustration of a God who pursues us, even when we are attempting to distance ourselves from him.  No matter how far we run nor where we decide to hide, God will find us and he will pursue us to death and beyond.

The Psalmist in the 139th Psalm shares this with us:
Psalm 139:8 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there;
    if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.

Sheol in the Jewish tradition meant death.  It is often translated as 'the grave' or even 'hell' though it isn't hell as we think of hell today.  It simply means death, it is the realm of the dead.  Even there our almighty, all loving, all caring, and unfailing God pursues us.  For what is death to God... it seems like a sharp division in our reality... but is merely a minor distinction for God.  Death, will not stop a God that is determined to round up and locate each and every one of his lost sheep.  This reality is made abundantly clear in the parable of the lost sheep as found in the Gospel of Luke just preceding the story of the prodigal son.

The Parable of the Lost Sheep
Luke 15:3-7
3 So he told them this parable: 4 “Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? 5 When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ 7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

I have every confidence in the world that on March 3 at 1:56 pm our ever grace-filled and ever loving God pursued Roger past the blurred line of death and just as the father in the tale of the prodigal son, God ran to Roger, embraced him and adorned him with a robe, a ring and sandals fit for the streets of heaven itself. 

Though Roger has been taken from his family and friends far too early, we know that he is safe in his Father's house in Heaven.  Though the parting is far too early in this world it is but a moment in Heaven.  In our Lord's Kingdom, a day is like a 1,000 years and a 1,000 years are like a day.  Though we can count

Though we are parted but for a time, we can take solace in the words of Apostle Paul:

1 Corinthians 13:1-8
1 If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. 7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never ends.
Even though we are apart, as long as we have their memories, as long as these memories continue to influence our lives, our relationship with our loved ones that have passed remains.  And when that time comes that we are reunited in God's presence our joy will be complete.  In the knowledge that this separation is only temporary and with the love and comfort of our Lord along with the love and support of our family and friends, we can endure this brief separation.  For love remains, it never dies, it is there still with us.  For as Paul said;

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  Love never ends, love always remains.

At this point in the ceremony, the family would like to make time available for any of Roger's friends or family members that would like to come forward and share with all of us their thoughts and memories.

Eulogies and Reflections:

Closing Prayer:
Nancy would like you all to join her and the family in a light luncheon here at the funeral home in the adjacent room.  Please allow this closing prayer to serve as grace for that meal.

O God, our Strength and our Redeemer, Giver of life, and Conqueror of death, we open our hearts to you just as we are.  We celebrate your gift of life freely given... but are grieved by a sense of loss in the face of death.  The love which binds us to one another leaves us aching as ties are broken.  Accept our tears as emblems of devotion, and transform them into waters of life to nourish us in the days ahead.
We trust you.  We love you.  We know in Christ that your love is everlasting.  Nothing can separate any of us from your abiding care.  With you is eternal life.
With confidence, we now entrust Roger to your unfailing love and overflowing goodness.  Through the power that raised Christ from the dead to live eternally with you, lift up this, your servant, to life fulfilled beyond our imagining.  We give you but your own.  Accept him as he is with all his frailties as well as his strengths.  Enfold him in your everlasting arms.  Embrace him as your child.
Now strengthen us, through the gift of your Spirit, to face into the future with confidence that you stand with us.  Grant that the changes of life may leave us stronger as we journey through life.
Reassured of your abiding presence, help us to knit more firmly the ties that bind us one to another.  Renewed by your love, help us to love in ever larger circles so as to embrace your people everywhere till at last we are all united eternally through Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.  Amen.

Closing and Benediction:
The family encourages you that if you so desire to dance as we enjoy the sending song.  For let us mourn no longer, but rather celebrate Roger's re-birth into Heaven.

“May the Lord Bless you and keep you, and may His face shine down upon you and grant you all His Peace”  Amen.

Sending Song:  The Cowboy Rides Away – George Strait