John 10:11-16; Romans 8:31-39; Lamentations 3:22-33
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Today is the Feast of the Epiphany of Our Lord, also known as Little Christmas. Today the Church commemorates the arrival of the Magi or Wise Men from the East who followed a star to the infant Jesus and presented Him with the unusual and costly gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh: Gold because Jesus is our King; Frankincense because Jesus is our Great High Priest; Myrrh because Jesus is the promised Prophet to whom all the prophets of old pointed. As important as these things are however, the most important thing we celebrate on Epiphany is that Jesus is all those things, not only for the Jews, but for all the world. The Wise Men were Gentiles just like you and me, and Jesus was their Prophet, Priest, and King also. Jesus is your King, and Jesus is Lavon’s King also. And Lavon has fought the good fight, she has finished the race, she has kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for her the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to her on that day, and not only to her but also to all who have loved his appearing.
A fight and a race, those are the images St. Paul chose to describe the Christian faith and life. Fights and races are not easy things, but they are arduous, difficult, and exhausting. So too, the Christian faith and life is often arduous, difficult, and exhausting. I have little doubt that our dear sister in Christ Lavon would agree. In preparation for today I read a bit about Lavon’s childhood and life in her own words, an obituary of sorts that she wrote in February 2011. By the way, Lavon wrote a number of such documents, sometimes even including the date and location of her death and who was there. Lavon wrote, “I was born into a rural community of church-going farmers who understood the value of hard work, perseverance, and dependability. […] I believe I lived in the best of times even though it was the years of the Great Depression and World War II.” Those times were arduous, difficult, and exhausting, yet Lavon still considered them the best of times.
Lavon’s father was orphaned at the age of four and lived at the Waverly Lutheran Orphans Home with his brother. His other siblings, deaf and mute, were sent to a school for the deaf in Omaha. Lavon herself was born and baptized at home in Jefferson Township, “seven miles equally from Shell Rock, Clarksville, and Allison” as she put it, but she considered Clarksville to be her home. She spent the first eighteen of her years in that rural family home. Though the way she describes her childhood and family seems humble, simple, and difficult at times, you can also hear her contentment, joy, and more than a little pride: “These are now just some notes about me,” she wrote, “I like sunrises and sunsets, watching the moon and stars, traveling, playing cards, especially cribbage, visiting, coffee with friends, photography, bird watching, and being with family.”
Lavon attended Gates Business College in Waterloo and landed her first job at Schield Bantam in Waverly. It was during that time that she began a relationship with Loren. They were married in 1955 and moved around quite a bit while Loren was in the Army, but they eventually settled down in Waterloo with their children Loretta, Mark, and Anita. Lavon states that she was a mother and homemaker until Anita began kindergarten, but then she worked at Friendship Village in Waterloo, the Waverly Parks and Recreation Office, and finally at Wartburg College in the Controller’s Office. Lavon made many lifelong friends in her various vocations, many of whom she continued to gather with for coffee and talk up until her last few weeks.
Lavon was an active and dedicated member here at St. John and at the American Legion Auxiliary. She and Loren loved spending time together camping, fishing, boating and bike riding, cheering on the Cubs, playing cribbage, and so much more. When asked what her interests were, Lavon simply answered, “My interests are those of my husband’s.”
What hasn’t been spoken thus far is that Lavon and Loren, and Anita, and all of you family, have suffered the immense loss of loved ones, and in tragic ways. Lavon and Loren’s son Mark was killed in a car accident in 1977. Their daughter Loretta was killed in 2001, also in a car accident. Anita’s husband Dean died in 2016 after a long battle with lymphoma, and Loren died less than two weeks later. That’s a lot of tragedy and death, and a lot of loss for anyone to suffer and keep their faith. That’s a lot of tragedy and a lot of loss that only faith can help you to bear.
Thus our reading today from Lamentations: “It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD. The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him.” In the Scriptures, waiting is akin to trust. Those who trust in the LORD – who trust that He is good, that He is faithful, that He knows what is best – no matter what they are facing – disease, unemployment, marital troubles, rebellious children, death, whatever – wait for LORD in patient faith, hope, and love believing that “the Lord will not cast off forever, but, though He cause grief, He will have compassion according to the abundance of His steadfast love; for He does not afflict from His heart or grieve the children of men,” and that, “The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is His faithfulness.” Though she knew hardship and grief from the beginning, Lavon also knew the steadfast love of the Lord all her long life, and she waited for Him to act, to comfort, and to deliver her, and He did, again and again, unto this very day.
The Christian faith is often arduous, difficult, and exhausting. It is like a fight or a race that you must grind through, in which you often feel defeated or like you simply cannot bear anymore. St. Paul knew those feelings well. Nevertheless, he concluded, “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” Our God, who did not spare even His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, will also graciously give us all things. No, St. Paul says, in all our trials, sufferings, and tribulations “we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us, and neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height or depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Jesus Christ, God’s own Son, is our Good Shepherd. He laid down His own innocent life for us stubborn, wandering, and not all too bright sheep because He loves us and because He loves His Father who loves us so much that He gave His only Son over to death that He should redeem us as His own. Jesus is our Good Shepherd. He knows His sheep, and His sheep know Him, and He laid down His life for His Sheep. Our Good Shepherd Jesus passed the way we all must pass, through the Valley of the Shadow of Death. That Valley is not something we pass through only at the end of our lives, however, but that Valley is where we live our lives surrounded by enemies and dangers, ending in death. But our Good Shepherd Jesus has passed through that Valley before us and has defeated and destroyed our greatest enemy, death, and made it a passageway to His Father’s house forevermore. Christians wait on the Lord in patient faith, hope, and love because our Good Shepherd shepherds us through the Valley of the Shadow of death, because He leads us to green pastures and still waters, because He guides us by the rod and staff of His Word, because He feeds us with His own body and blood in the presence of our enemies and anoints us with His Holy Spirit. This our Good Shepherd Jesus has done for Lavon all her long life, and now He has guided her to His Father’s house where His sheep may safely graze. Lavon waited on the Lord in faith, hope, and love all her long life, and when it was time she said repeatedly, “I’m ready.” The Lord had made her ready, ready to receive the crown of glory that does not fade away. Dear family and friends of Lavon, as you grieve, grieve in hope – hope mixed with contentment and peace, and even a little joy – for the Lord has had compassion upon Lavon and now she rests from her race and her fight. And you will see her again when you finish your race and pass through the Valley and your Good Shepherd shepherds you to that place in His Father’s house where His sheep may safely graze. There you will see Lavon again, and Mark, Loretta, Loren, and those you love who have followed their Good Shepherd home, and no one will take your joy from you.
In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.
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