Homiletics Funeral Sermon

Text: John 17:1b-26
Jesus said, "Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. "I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you.
For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.
All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.
They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth. "I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.
O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them."

Grace, and peace to your from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
It’s been a long road, hasn’t it? On the plaque above the fireplace in my office are the names of all the charter members of this congregation. Bill’s name is there, along with you, Flora. As Bill’s name on that plaque is a testament to the life of this congregation, today this congregation joins in a testament of Bill’s death.
In the side chapel down the hall stands an altar. Bill built it. Before this congregation had a building, before it had a permanent home, Bill saw a need, and filled it. The altar was built with the same attention to detail that Bill brought to everything he did – the style of it, the shape, the feel of it speaks to Bill’s careful attention to it’s fashion and construction at the time. He laid his skills to the work at hand, and rested from it when his task was completed.
And now his work on earth is ended. And we grieve. Bill is dead, his long struggle with cancer ended, and we have lost a someone very dear to us – father, husband, neighbour, friend. We need to let him go.
And that is so hard. At the hospital, when the doctor came to us and explained the options, we knew that he would die. About seven years ago when Bill was diagnosed we feared the worst – his hard breathing, his appearance as he underwent chemotherapy – we all worried that Bill would die then. But he pulled through, and got stronger.
So strong, in fact, that when he started editing the newsletter, he’d often joke to me that he’d have to start cutting down trees himself for all the paper he was using! But that was his way. If he could find humour in something, he’d share it with anyone.
In the last few weeks, though, Bill had started feeling worse, and that wasn’t funny. Even the stairs from the side chapel often proved too much for him. And we knew nothing of the struggles he faced when he went to his shop to work on his latest project – the shortness of breath, the weakness.
Bill knew he was dying. Frequently, over our weekly coffee in the office while he was editing the newseletter, Bill would tell me, "pastor, I’ve lived a good life. I’ve served the Lord good and long, and I’ve been given a wonderful family. But now I’m tired. I don’t want to leave them, but I know that they’ll be fine. The Lord will look after them the way he’s looked after me. When it’s time for me to go, I’ll be ready." He was ready, and we let him go.
I know that people today are feeling many different things. Some are feeling anger that someone as strong as Bill could die so quickly, and you may be angry that the doctors who attended to him didn’t take heroic measures to prolong Bill’s life. They didn’t abandon Bill.
Flora, you walked with Bill for so long that in the midst of your grief you may feel relief for Bill; relief that his pain and struggle are ended. Bill’s death was long in coming, but often those feelings of relief in turn bring feelings of guilt, and you feel abandoned. But Bill was ready to die. He felt his work was finished.
Jesus felt this way before his crucifixion, too. "I have completed my task on earth," he said, "I have completed the things You gave me to do." Jesus knew that he was going to leave his disciples and people whom he cared for to the end of this world, which is death, the way of all flesh. Jesus left his children – his family – at his death, and left us with a promise. He promised that we would be kept in love through all things. That love is stronger than all things, stronger than life, and stronger than death, for in that love Christ rose again from the grave. In that love we are one with our Creator, and our Redeemer.
Flora, it is that love that keeps you in grace for the months to come. Bill often spoke of his journey through this life, and now his journey on this mortal plain is ended. Yours and your family’s journey still continues, though, but that love – the love that conquered death, that brought us together in Christ – will be with you.
Bill has gone on to God’s care, and that care is with us, too. Though we all experience our grief and our pain in our own ways, it does not need to be experienced alone, because Christ promised that we would be united with each other in the same love that he shared with the Father in Heaven. Do not be solitary in our grief, but let that love that binds us together help give you hope, peace, and strength.
There’s an old joke that the only certain things in life are death and taxes, but Bill knew better than that. He knew that beyond death is new life in the Resurrection, as he knew that, as certainly as Jesus rose again from the dead that one day he too will be united with Christ.
Bill knew this, and may we be united with him in that trust and hope, that we will one day taste the new creation when this world is past, death is no more, and when all people will know that the love of God endures forever.