Funeral for Roberta Miller, April 2018

Order of Service – Funeral for Roberta R. Miller, April 2018

Prelude: Islands In The Stream

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 Roberta Rae Miller;
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 Roberta to God's everlasting care.


Opening Prayer:
Let us please pray...
Gracious God, your love endures forever.  Your faithfulness is unfailing and all your promises are true.  The movement of your Spirit is evident even in our darkest moments.  Attend to us now in our grief as we trust you will. Speak words of comfort to our hearts.  Open us up to receive your hope. O God of grace and glory, we remember before you this day our sister Bobbi. We thank you for giving her to us, her 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 as 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:  The Old Rugged Cross

A reading from the Old Testament:
Psalm 23 King James Version (KJV)
23 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

A reading from the New Testament:
Philippians 4: 4-9
4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!
5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.
6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

Message:  Pastor Roy Karlen – Woodlawn Christian Church

Roberta Rae Miller was born on March 12, 1950, in Lake City, Iowa to John & Vava Triplett.  On May 20, 1989, she married Kenneth Miller in Carroll, Iowa. Roberta, more affectionately known as Bobbi, passed from this world and into the next on Tuesday, April 24, 2018, at Stewart Memorial Community Hospital here in Lake City.

When I asked the family the other day for words to describe “Bobbi”, they told me that she was a very caring person, that she had a big heart, that she loved everyone... especially her grandchildren, that she was a strong person, and that she was a little bit stubborn... actually, it sounded like she was very stubborn.  I was told how she enjoyed camping and fishing, that she liked to play golf, she liked gardening, that she enjoyed cooking, and more recently that she had become a very avid player of Candy Crush on her computer.

Through the years she worked as a cook, and finally in healthcare facilities, working at Shady Oaks, Opportunity Living, and New Hope.

The family also told me that her parents were Catholic and she was raised and confirmed in the Catholic Church in Rockwell City, but that she hadn't been attending church in recent years.  That she did however firmly believe in God and that she looked forward to being reunited with her loved ones in Heaven.  They mentioned that she always found comfort in the poem “Footprints In The Sand”.  Please allow me to share this poem with you all now.

Footprints In The Sand
One night I dreamed a dream.
As I was walking along the beach with my Lord.
Across the dark sky flashed scenes from my life.
For each scene, I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand,
One belonging to me and one to my Lord.
After the last scene of my life flashed before me,
I looked back at the footprints in the sand.
I noticed that at many times along the path of my life,
especially at the very lowest and saddest times,
there was only one set of footprints.
This really troubled me, so I asked the Lord about it.
"Lord, you said once I decided to follow you,
You'd walk with me all the way.
But I noticed that during the saddest and most troublesome times of my life, there was only one set of footprints.
I don't understand why, when I needed You the most, You would leave me."
He whispered, "My precious child, I love you and will never leave you, never, ever, during your trials and testings.
When you saw only one set of footprints, It was then that I carried you."

No matter where we are in life, no matter how we are dealing with our lives, God is always there.  To fully reveal this to ourselves let us turn to the scriptures and let us hear the words of the Psalmist as found in the 139th Psalm.

Psalm 139 - New King James Version
1 O Lord, You have searched me and known me.
2 You know my sitting down and my rising up;
You understand my thought afar off.
3 You comprehend my path and my lying down,
And are acquainted with all my ways.
4 For there is not a word on my tongue,
But behold, O Lord, You know it altogether.
5 You have hedged me behind and before,
And laid Your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
It is high, I cannot attain it.
7 Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
8 If I ascend into heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.
9 If I take the wings of the morning,
And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10 Even there Your hand shall lead me,
And Your right hand shall hold me.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall fall on me,”
Even the night shall be light about me;
12 Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You,
But the night shines as the day;
The darkness and the light are both alike to You.
13 For You formed my inward parts;
You covered me in my mother’s womb.
14 I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Marvelous are Your works,
And that my soul knows very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.
And in Your book they all were written,
The days fashioned for me,
When as yet there were none of them.
17 How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!
How great is the sum of them!
18 If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; When I awake, I am still with You.

Let's listen to verse eight yet again... If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.

Even in the depths of hell on earth or beyond... God is there... with us... loving us.  These are truly stunning words that the Psalmist has shared with us.  If we believe that these words are as is traditionally believed penned by King David himself, what do they mean to us?  They mean quite literally that we're never apart from God, that it's never too late for any one of us... they mean that right up to the end of life and beyond, that God wants a relationship with each of us. That He pursues us unrelentingly... there is simply no escaping from God and His love for each of us.

Please allow me to share two parables told by Christ to those following Him during His time on earth.  It is, in fact, my conviction that it is impossible to understand the true nature of our God without an understanding of these two parables.

First, let's hear; 
Matthew 20:1-16 Revised Standard Version (RSV)
The Laborers in the Vineyard
20 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. 2 After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. 3 And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the market place; 4 and to them he said, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went. 5 Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same. 6 And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing; and he said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’ 7 They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’ 8 And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his steward, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.’ 9 And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius. 10 Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received a denarius. 11 And on receiving it they grumbled at the householder, 12 saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ 13 But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius? 14 Take what belongs to you, and go; I choose to give to this last as I give to you. 15 Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?’ 16 So the last will be first, and the first last.”

And now perhaps the greatest of all the parables, let us listen to; 
Luke 15:11-32 Revised Standard Version (RSV)
The Parable of the Prodigal Son
11 And he said, “There was a man who had two sons; 12 and the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that falls to me.’ And he divided his living between them. 13 Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took his journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in loose living. 14 And when he had spent everything, a great famine arose in that country, and he began to be in want. 15 So he went and joined himself to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed swine. 16 And he would gladly have fed on[a] the pods that the swine ate; and no one gave him anything. 17 But when he came to himself he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, but I perish here with hunger! 18 I will arise 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 as one of your hired servants.”’ 20 And he arose and came to his father. But while he was yet at a distance, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’[b] 22 But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet; 23 and bring the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and make merry; 24 for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to make merry.
25 “Now his elder son was in the field; and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 And he called one of the servants and asked what this meant. 27 And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has received him safe and sound.’ 28 But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, 29 but he answered his father, ‘Lo, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command; yet you never gave me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your living with harlots, you killed for him the fatted calf!’ 31 And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32 It was fitting to make merry and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.’”

God does not care if we wait until the very last moment to come to Him, just as the last workers to arrive in the vineyard are valued equally with the first workers, all are valuable and equal in our Lord's eyes.  And just as the prodigal son insulted and even turned his back on his father, God does not care if we have insulted and turned our backs on Him... He never, never, ever turns His back on us.  Just as in the poem that Bobbi loved so much... our infinitely loving God remains with us all along this earthly journey, carrying us where need be... God remains and when we finally realize that we need to return to Him, He rushes to us, throws His loving and grace-filled arms around us and welcomes us back into the family... just as the father welcomed the lost son back home. The symbolism of the robe, the sandals, and the ring in that parable are significant. Each are symbols of reconciliation and restoration, the son is reestablished as a full and complete member of the family, it is as if he had never left his father's side... and in a very real sense he never did... he never could... no matter what he did or said...that is the way it is with our loving and grace-filled God.  All throughout this journey that we call life, our God walks beside us, through the good times and the bad, through joy and tragedy, God is there.

We may feel that God couldn't possibly love us, we may feel that God could never possibly forgive us... but the fact is that no matter what you've done or where you are at, God does love you and what might really amaze you is that He's already forgiven you... just as the father had already forgiven the prodigal son.  Turn towards home, God is waiting for you...

The word 'gospel' literally means 'good news', these passages are most assuredly 'good news' to us all.  If you'd like to hear more about what Psalm 139 or these two parables means for you and your loved ones, I am more than happy to visit with you about them.  I'll be honest, I could preach for a considerable length of time on just those two parables.  But, all you really need to know is that God loves you, and He wants you to come on home.

Today we grieve the loss of our loved one Bobbi... but let us also rejoice, for Bobbi has gone home, greeted by loved ones... and is now in the eternal embrace of our God who loves her... let us not mourn her passing but celebrate her new life.  Praise be to God.


Eulogies and Reflections:
Friends and Family are encouraged to come forward and share memories with all.

Closing Prayer:
Let us pray:
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 Bobbi 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 child, to life fulfilled beyond our imagining.  We give you but your own, enfold her in your everlasting arms, hold her for she is your creation.
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.

Benediction:

Postlude: Forever and Ever, Amen