Funeral Manuscript for Joyce Hook, April 9, 2019

Order of Service – Funeral for Joyce Hook - 4/9/19

Prelude: 

Entrance: 
All Please Rise

Call to Worship:
Psalm 95:1-7  New International Version (NIV)
1 Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord;
    let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.
2 Let us come before him with thanksgiving
    and extol him with music and song.
3 For the Lord is the great God,
    the great King above all gods.
4 In his hand are the depths of the earth,
    and the mountain peaks belong to him.
5 The sea is his, for he made it,
    and his hands formed the dry land.
6 Come, let us bow down in worship,
    let us kneel before the Lord our Maker;
7 for he is our God
    and we are the people of his pasture,
    the flock under his care.

Please be seated.

Greeting:
We have come together within the strengthening fellowship of friends and family:
to praise God for the life of Jacklyn Joyce Hook;
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 Joyce to God's everlasting care.

Hymn:  “The Old Rugged Cross” No. 548 

Opening Prayer:
Father of all mercies and God of all consolation, you pursue us with untiring love and dispel the shadow of death with the bright dawn of life. Give courage to this family in their loss and sorrow. Be their refuge and strength, O Lord, reassure them of your continuing love and lift them from the depths of grief into the peace and light of your presence. Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, by dying has destroyed our death, and by rising, restored our life. Your Holy Spirit, our comforter, speaks for us in groans too deep for words. Come alongside your people, remind them of your eternal presence and give them your comfort and strength. Amen


A Reading from the Old Testament:
Psalm 91
Assurance of God’s Protection
1 You who live in the shelter of the Most High,
    who abide in the shadow of the Almighty,
2 will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress;
    my God, in whom I trust.”
3 For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler
    and from the deadly pestilence;
4 he will cover you with his pinions,
    and under his wings you will find refuge;
    his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.
5 You will not fear the terror of the night,
    or the arrow that flies by day,
6 or the pestilence that stalks in darkness,
    or the destruction that wastes at noonday.
7 A thousand may fall at your side,
    ten thousand at your right hand,
    but it will not come near you.
8 You will only look with your eyes
    and see the punishment of the wicked.
9 Because you have made the Lord your refuge,
    the Most High your dwelling place,
10 no evil shall befall you,
    no scourge come near your tent.
11 For he will command his angels concerning you
    to guard you in all your ways.
12 On their hands they will bear you up,
    so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.
13 You will tread on the lion and the adder,
    the young lion and the serpent you will trample under foot.
14 Those who love me, I will deliver;
    I will protect those who know my name.
15 When they call to me, I will answer them;
    I will be with them in trouble,
    I will rescue them and honor them.
16 With long life I will satisfy them,
    and show them my salvation.

A Reading from the New Testament:

Revelation 21. 1-7  RSV
The New Heaven and the New Earth
21 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband; 3 and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling of God is with men. He will dwell with them, and they shall be his people,[a] and God himself will be with them;[b] 4 he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away.”
5 And he who sat upon the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” Also, he said, “Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 6 And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty, I will give from the fountain of the water of life without payment. 7 He who conquers shall have this heritage, and I will be his God and he shall be my son.

Hymn:       Amazing Grace No. 546

Message:  Pastor Roy Karlen – Woodlawn Christian Church 
On the morning of April 6th, 2019, Jacklyn Joyce Hook left behind this world and entered into the Kingdom of our Lord and Savior.  Joyce as she was known to everyone, was born and thereby blessed the lives of her father and mother Howard & Geraldine Burns on July 20, 1948.  For many years she spent her summers here in Lake City, staying with her Grandfather & Grandmother Nelson. Joyce had a trying childhood with her mother passing away when she was a senior in High School. She graduated from Audubon High School in 1966 and studied Cosmetology at Stewart College in Des Moines.  Joyce worked for Marlys Davis in Audubon as a hair stylist before moving to Lake View and working there as a stylist for Sandy Gross.  Years later Joyce worked in Lake City doing stylist work with Lena Knight and also being a stylist at Shady Oaks Retirement Center.  Joyce also did hair for Lampe Funeral Home for a number of years.

During the time that she worked in Lake View, she met and then married in 1974 Ronnie Hook. Ronnie was a farmer and nine years her senior.  Initially, the couple lived over the Bar in Lake View but soon they moved to Auburn.  After Ronnie passed in 2002, Joyce moved once more and lived the remainder of her life in Lake City.

Joyce was a constant and depended upon volunteer for the Capri Theater here in Lake City for fifteen years.  The Capri will long miss her contributions, working the ticket counter, folding popcorn boxes, and just pitching in.  She also worked as a volunteer for Hospice and made many pillows, blankets, and afghans.  In fact, her family found two large bags filled with pillows that she had ready to give to the Hospice program, these pillows will be passed along to Unity Point Hospice as Joyce's final contribution to their ministry.

When I asked Joyce's siblings for words to describe Joyce they said stubborn, quiet, and generous.  She was always willing to help.  They talked about how much Joyce enjoyed needlework, especially x-stitch, earlier I read the 91st Psalm, Keith Lampe has a x-stitch that Joyce made for him with one of the verses from that Psalm.  They told me how much she enjoyed buying jewelry and that she was always watching the 'Jewelry Channel'... I never knew there was even such a thing.  She liked music and listened to Conway Twitty, the Booth Brothers, and especially the group 'Higher Power'.  Joyce loved to see them perform and the family tried to get 'Higher Power' to come and sing for Joyce's funeral and the group was sad to tell them that they were already committed today.  Joyce was an avid reader, enjoying mysteries, and all types of books, she was at the local library twice a week to get a new book.  Joyce would rather read than sleep and would often read into the wee hours of the morning.

Joyce very much enjoyed cooking and made great divinity, pickled beets, and sour cream raisin pie.  The family talked about how great the horseradish was that she made but that she hadn't made any after Ronnie passed away.  She was the family 'Historian' working on genealogy and compiling stories about the family.  She knew everyone's names, ages, and birthdays.

She enjoyed playing cards and board games, she also enjoyed watching old westerns.  Often when her Aunt Clarice O'Toole would have to be away from home she would go and sit with her Uncle Don.  She enjoyed watching westerns with Don and she and Don had a lot of good visits.  It seems Don was one person that could get Joyce to open up and not be so quiet.  Don is a wonderful soul to visit with and they enjoyed each other's conversations.  Years ago Don was one of the very few people Joyce's father Howard had ever talked to about what he endured in the War.  As the family 'Historian', I am sure Joyce wanted to hear those stories passed on to her by her Uncle.  In visiting with Don, Clarice, and Kathy yesterday, Don stated simply “I liked her”... and that summed it all up pretty well indeed.

Joyce loved her family and visited all of her siblings, even traveling to Idaho to see her sister.  She had friends in Lake View that she would go and meet for lunch every Monday without fail.

Joyce loved going to Church and she was a member for many years of First Baptist Church here in Lake City and when the Baptist and the Disciples merged, she came here to Woodlawn and became part of our family.  Even before she moved to Lake City, she would often attend Church with her Grandmother Nora Nelson at First Baptist Church.

As I said Joyce loved her family and in her final days, her family rallied to her bedside to be with her.  Her siblings sat with her for long, long hours.  Other family members came to visit as well... Kathy told me that her son Eric and his family visited Joyce several times and that her daughter Laura had the last clear conversation with Joyce last Monday night.  Laura came in and Joyce greeted her in a clear state of mind.  In hindsight, it was the calm before the storm but Laura was always very close to Joyce and it was a great blessing that they were able to have a final conversation.

Psalm 92:1-5  New Century Version (NCV)
1 It is good to praise you, Lord,
    to sing praises to God Most High.
2 It is good to tell of your love in the morning
    and of your loyalty at night.
3 It is good to praise you with the ten-stringed lyre
    and with the soft-sounding harp.
4 Lord, you have made me happy by what you have done;
    I will sing for joy about what your hands have done.
5 Lord, you have done such great things!
    How deep are your thoughts!

On April 6th, our friend and loved one Joyce Hook, was born into the Kingdom of Heaven and looked not only into the faces of all of her loved ones that have gone on before her but into the very face of God the Father.  Praise be to God... thank you, dear Lord, for giving us Joyce to know and to love on this earthly journey.  Though we shall always miss her, we know that she is now with you in a place far, far beyond all of our imagining.  Today Joyce walks those beautiful streets of Heaven and feels the unending love of her Creator all about her.  Forgive us Lord as we mourn her passing and prepare our hearts for that day when we are all reunited together in Your Kingdom.  Praise be to God.  

Hymn: “I'll Fly Away” - See Insert

Closing Prayer:
The family wishes for you all to join them in further celebration of Joyce's life and a time of shared remembrances and closure, by gathering with them for lunch in the Church's fellowship hall immediately following this service.  After the lunch, those that wish to accompany the family to the interment at Oak-lawn Cemetery near Auburn are welcomed to do so.  

Let us please pray:
God of life, and light, and hope... with Your whole Church in heaven... and on earth... we bring to You our thanks, we offer to You our praise... for all that You have done for humankind through Jesus who is the Christ.   You sent Him, Your Son... to live and die for us. You showed Your plan for the world and proved that Your love has no limit, and on that first Easter when You raised Jesus from the dead You promised that all humankind might share His resurrection life. For the hope of our faith, for the good news of Your Kingdom, and for all those whom You have welcomed into Your loving presence, we thank You, gracious God... But especially now, we thank You for the life of Joyce whom we loved. 

We thank You for all the ways in which Joyce became special and precious to each of us who knew her; for the values and standards she set by her example and her life; for her sense of what was good and right and decent; for her warmth and humor and sense of family; for every life that she enriched and all that she invested of herself in our lives; for the faith by which she lived and in which she died. 

We thank you for the glorious treasury of memories that are ours to keep, to hold on to and to enjoy... for a life fulfilled, and for all that Joyce reflected of Your goodness and love. And now though we mourn... we also are glad... for we celebrate today that Joyce has found peace and will neither suffer nor mourn again... she has laid her burden down before You and is with You... safe, happy, whole, and welcomed by those for whom she once mourned. Help us to hold on to what we should... and to let go of what we must. Help us not to cling to the past constantly brooding for what might have been, but rather to take forward what she gave us for the rest of our lives’ journey. Help us to trust and to know that Joyce will never be far from us till that day when we all stand together in Your presence. 

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 Joyce 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, enfold her in Your everlasting arms, hold her for she is 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.

Benediction:

Postlude:  

Committal Service
Selfishly, we as mortals wish to hold on to Joyce. It brings great pain to let her go. Living in the resurrection hope of our Lord Jesus Christ, in the trust of a loving God and in the promise of eternal life, we now commit her body to its place of rest. We will continue to mourn Joyce, but now her smile and laughter will warm the kingdom of God. We will continue to love Joyce, but God will now take care of her. We will continue to carry Joyce in our thoughts, but she will be kept safe in God's hands. Receive her in the arms of your mercy, O God, into the blessed rest of everlasting peace, and into the glorious company of all your saints.

Ecclesiastes 3   New International Version (NIV)
A Time for Everything
3 There is a time for everything,
    and a season for every activity under the heavens:
2     a time to be born and a time to die,
    a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3     a time to kill and a time to heal,
    a time to tear down and a time to build,
4     a time to weep and a time to laugh,
    a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5     a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
    a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
6     a time to search and a time to give up,
    a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7     a time to tear and a time to mend,
    a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8     a time to love and a time to hate,
    a time for war and a time for peace.
9 What do workers gain from their toil? 10 I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. 12 I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. 13 That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God.

Hear these words from Jesus, taken from the 14th Chapter of John's Gospel:
“Do not let your hearts be troubled.
Believe in God, believe also in me.
In my Father’s house, there are many dwelling places.
If it were not so,
Would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?
And if I go and prepare a place for you,
I will come again and will take you to myself,
So that where I am, there you may be also.
And you know the way to the place where I am going.
I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you.
In a little while, the world will no longer see me,
But you will see me;
Because I live, you also will live.
I have said these things to you while I am still with you.
But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit,
Whom the Father will send in my name,
Will teach you everything,
And remind you of all that I have said to you.
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.
I do not give to you as the world gives.
Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.”  
(John 14:1 – 4, 18 – 19, 25 – 27)

Believing in the Resurrection to eternal life through our Lord Jesus Christ, we know that now is the time for us to entrust Joyce to the care of Almighty God and we ask Our Father to open the doors to his mansion and lead Joyce to the room made ready just for her. As we now commit her body to the ground; earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust, we commend her spirit to its new home. Rest eternal grant her, and let light perpetual shine upon her.

God has blessed and enriched our lives in giving us Joyce to know and love here on this earth. Though our time together was not nearly enough, in committing her body to the earth, we give over to God the care of her spirit, and we acknowledge that we will one day reunite with her in God's Kingdom. The Lord bless her and keep her; the Lord make his face shine upon her and be gracious to her; the Lord look upon her with favor and give her peace.

Let us now pray together the prayer that our Lord Jesus Christ taught us to pray...
Our Father...

This concludes our graveside service.

May the Lord bless you and keep you, may His strong arms encircle you and uphold you in your hour of grief.  God's peace and strength to you all.
Amen