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Committal service for Lura Faye Hoel
12:00 noon, Friday
July 12, 2013
Calverton Military
Cemetery, Calverton, New York
Good afternoon. Wait a minute! How can this be a ‘good afternoon’
when we are at a gravesite? It’s a good morning because we know that although
Lura Faye Hoels body of 90 years may today be committed to the earth, her eternal soul lives on right
now in the very presence of her Savior, Jesus Christ.
Mom is no longer in any pain and is exactly where
she desired to be, in the presence of
her Lord and surrounded by her saved loved ones, including her parents and her
late husband, Einar.
The eternal life that began when mom trusted Christ
many years ago as a little girl simply continues in a new location. She reached
her new location a little after 9:00am three days ago.
She left this body for us to bury and for the Lord
Jesus Christ to raise up again at His 2nd Coming.
Mom lived with a purpose, she died with a peace
and she now has a place in heaven
with her Savior.
So, as we gather this afternoon, we who are left need
to receive, reflect, resolve and respond to God so it may truly be a good
morning for us as well.
Receive God’s
comfort at the loss of a mom, a grandmother, a mother-in-law, a friend.
This ‘good afternoon’ for Lura Faye Hoel is bittersweet
because we love her and will miss her, but those of us who’ve trusted Him personally as she did
know with a certainty that we shall see her again, without the infirmities of
her aging body.
2 Corinthians 1:3-4 says this: ‘Praise be to the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of
all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles.’
Our God is the Father of compassion. He wept at the
funeral of his friend Lazarus, he wept over the hardness of hearts of His
people, He weeps over and diligently searches for the lost sinner, the one who
has so messed up his or her life. He cares for you. He is the God of second opportunities.
We read in Psalm 90, verses 1 and 2: “Lord, You have
been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were born or
you gave birth to the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to
everlasting, You are God.”
We read in Psalm 116, verse 1: ‘Precious in the
sight of the Lord is the death of His godly ones.’
Today is a time to reflect on the reality of death and the sure hope of
the resurrection.
Physically, mom lived to a ripe age of 90;
personally, she was a tender, caring servant of God and her fellow man,
spiritually, she was a child of God, who sent His Son Jesus to give His blood
for her sins.
We are reminded in I Corinthians 15 that “..flesh
and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit
the imperishable.”
Mom needed to die first.
We all have an appointment with death, don’t we? The
author of Hebrews says that ‘it is appointed for men to die once and after this
come judgment.’
But remember, God has done something about the
penalty for the rong’s we’ve committed. He sent a substitute to take our
punishment.
Jesus’ blood doesn’t remove the sureness of our
appointment with death but it does remove the penalty and judgment of our sins,
if we, like mom trust Christ to take away our sins.
Did you know that the name Faye means confidence; trust; and
belief? That’s a perfect name for a woman who
put her trust in the finished work of Christ to get her from here to the
hereafter, from her last breath to everlasting life.
This is a time to respond by taking a look at our spiritual life. We are all to die and we are all to
answer to God for our sins, but, if like mom you’ve had your sins nailed to the
Cross of Christ, you can boldly ask and answer this question:
‘Oh, death, where is your victory? Oh, death, where
is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but
thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.’
Life is short, but eternity is everlasting.
On her profession of faith, mom trusted the
finished work of Christ to pay the penalty of her sins. She knew not to trust her
own good works – although there were many of them. As of Tuesday morning, she
began enjoying heaven for all eternity.
Jesus said in John 5:24. ‘Truly, truly, I say to
you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and
does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.’
Jesus,
later on in John 11 said this: “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?
Mom believed
this many years ago. She confessed Jesus as Lord and stated that she believed
in her heart and so she was saved.
As Jesus came up from the grave to live again, we
know that all who die in Him, like mom, shall truly live.
Resolve to be encouraged by these words from Rev. 1:17-18,
“Do not be afraid, I am the First and the Last, I am the Living One; I was
dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and
Hades.’
And this is all because of His great love: ‘For God
so loved the world that He gave His One and Only Son that whosoever believes in
Him shall not perish but have everlasting life’ – and God doesn’t lie!
None of us, even Christians, are guaranteed another
day, so if you’ve trusted Christ, respond by making sure your life is right
with Him, as it was for mom.
Let’s
pray.
Lord, thank you for the life and testimony of your
servant, Lura Faye Hoel, who we know is enjoying the Savior who gave His life
for her. Comfort us as we grieve, but not as those who have no hope - because we have a sure hope in Christ.
We ask this in the Name of the Only one who conquered
death and lives so that we too may live eternally, the Lord Jesus Christ.
In sure and certain hope of the resurrection into
eternal life through our Lord Jesus Christ, we commend to almighty God our
sister, Lura Faye Hoel and commit her body to the ground, earth to earth, ashes
to ashes, dust to dust.
‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord. They rest
from their labors and their works follow them’ - ‘May her memory be eternal’
