John 14:1-6; Romans 8:31-39; Isaiah 40:6-11
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Whether you are running a marathon, cycling a hundred miles, or driving an eighteen-wheeler coast to coast, the goal is the same, to cross the finish line, to finish the job, to deliver the goods. Now, does that describe Irma, or what? Irma was driven, confident, and optimistic, a real can-do personality. She was positive and energetic, and her positivity was positively contagious. When you met Irma for the first time you might be tempted to underestimate her because of her diminutive stature – Irma was short – but you didn’t underestimate her for long, as she would be running circles around you in no time, leaving you in her dust. Irma was a dynamo, a force of nature, an inspiration, a gift of God’s grace, a loving wife, a devoted mother and grandmother, a treasured friend, a child of God, and so much more, and today we give thanks to God for Irma, for her faith and for her love, and for keeping His promises to Irma – “You are mine,” “I will never leave you or forsake you,” “I will be with you always, even to the end of the age,” and “Nothing can separate you from my love in Jesus Christ.”
When you meet a soul like Irma, it makes you pause and wonder, “Where does such confidence, drive, energy, optimism, and hope come from?” You know where it comes from. If you asked her, Irma would tell you without hesitation: “Know that the LORD, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.” That’s from Psalm 100:3, Irma’s confirmation verse. There couldn’t have been a verse more fitting and appropriate. Irma knew that she was God’s child, a sheep of her LORD’s pasture. She belonged to him, was blessed by him, and was made to be a rich blessing to others by him for his glory. Because of this she wanted to tell other people, help other people, share her joy with her family and friends, and live her life, a gift of God’s grace, to his glory and praise.
For Irma, being God’s child wasn’t just a Sunday activity, but it was an every moment of every day activity. Irma marked her home and her truck with sticky notes containing favorite Bible verses, literally marking the doorposts and the lintels of her life with God’s word. There were so many notes in the truck that Keith almost couldn’t see out the windshield! When she was home for a while, Irma made it to church and Bible study, and then it was the “loop” to see the kids and grandkids from Verona, Wisconsin, to Storm Lake, to Ankeny, and back to see her friends. Irma actually prayed to God each day that he would show her where she was needed, and she would thank God for answering by providing her someone to serve. Though she was always on the go and had somewhere to be, still she took the time to visit members of the Bible study who were unable to attend, and to help anyone who had a need. I asked some of Irma’s friends and family to share what first comes to mind when they think of Irma. Several said “faith,” and that she had her priorities in life straight: faith, family, friends. One dear friend answered, “Go tell it on the mountain!” That was Irma, in a nutshell.
Irma was fun too. She and Keith had a great time with friends and family. It’s well known that Irma enjoyed the outdoors, biking, hiking, running, traveling, seeing the country. Irma also enjoyed merlot. When the friends got together there was merlot, and the more merlot Irma had, the more Irma Irma became. It’s a good thing! One time Keith and Irma and some friends from church were enjoying the lake. Irma was the spotter on the back of the jet ski. Her job was to tell the driver when the rope was taught and the skier was ready. Well, Irma jumped the gun and yelled “hit it” while there was still slack in the rope. Randy Niehaus went bellyflopping off the dock across the lake. Thank you for that image! It shouldn’t surprise anyone that knew her that Irma had completed a 100 mile plus bike ride in the Black Hills and ran a half-marathon just weeks before she was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer. That means, the cancer had been there for quite a while, even while she was still enjoying life and performing superhuman feats! Irma was like the Energizer Bunny, driven by faith and fire, friendship, and love. You can’t keep a good woman down.
We were all stunned when that diagnosis came. How could this happen to such a healthy, strong, energetic, and vibrant person? How could it be there all the while she was running, biking, driving, serving, and more? It’s a wake-up call for certain. “All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the LORD blows on it; surely the. People are grass.” I mean, we all know this, and yet, when things like this happen it’s still a wake-up call and a reminder that maybe our eyes and our focus haven’t been as set on the goal and prize, the finish line, as they should be. Now, I don’t say this to frighten you. It’s not like we should be so preoccupied with living the Christian life that we are constantly checking things off our list as we accomplish them. No, that’s not what it means to run the race to obtain the prize. No, the Christian faith and life doesn’t look like that. The Christian faith and life look like, well, it looks like Irma’s faith and life. Irma didn’t do all the good things she did because she felt compelled by the Law. Quite the contrary, she did all those good things because she knew personally the goodness of the Gospel. Irma knew what her Lord had done for her, and continued to do for her, and she loved him for it; and she was so filled with his love that she couldn’t contain it all, and so it poured out of her into the lives of others, into your lives, and into the lives of countless others, all to the glory of God in Christ Jesus.
St. Paul famously compared the Christian faith and life to a race, but a very different kind of race in which the goal is not to cross the finish line first, but simply to cross the finish line. Everyone who crosses the finish line, everyone who completes their life in faith and trust in the Lord, receives the prize – eternal life in the kingdom of God. In such a race, other people are not competition, but they are our brothers and sisters in Christ. If someone stumbles and falls, we can stop and help them up, even carry them across the finish line if necessary. Irma was an example for us of one who loved the Lord and finished the race, loving and serving her neighbor all along the way. Irma had such confidence in the Lord her savior that she wasn’t concerned about herself, but she was concerned about others. Where does such confidence come from? Again, from St. Paul: “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died – more than that, who was raised – who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? […] No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Now, if that doesn’t breed confidence in you, read it again, and again, and again until it sinks in. There all no losers in the race that is the Christian faith and life. Everyone who crosses the finish line, who dies in the faith, wins. Period. Thanks be to our gracious and merciful God and Father who has purchased and redeemed us in his Son Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.
Keith, Jason, Lisa, Heather, Rhonda, grandkids, friends, brothers and sisters in Christ, what was true for Irma is true for you. I know you hurt. The loss is real, and it is profound. I know that it seems, it feels like Irma was taken too soon. Death is real, and it is the wages of sin that we will all pay in time. Moreover, our God did not create us to suffer and die, but to live with him forever. So, death is unnatural, wrong, even evil. But death is defeated. Jesus died for Irma and for you and for all who will be saved. In his death Jesus destroyed death. It could not hold him, and it cannot hold Irma, and it cannot hold you. Jesus lives, and he is our Good Shepherd, guiding us through the valley of the shadow of death that is our life in this world into his Father’s house where his sheep may safely graze. Irma is not gone, but she has gone home. One day you will return home and join her, and we will never be parted again. In that regard I wish to share with you something special that was shared with me. Just hours before Irma died Friday evening, Judy and Nikki Gamble visited and were standing near Irma’s bed. Nikki brough her guitar and quietly sang a few songs for Irma. Soon Heather and Lisa joined in. The last hymn they sang to Irma was “Heaven is my Home.” Not long after Jesus welcomed Irma home. “Let not your hearts be troubled,” Jesus said, “Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; I have gone to prepare a place for you there. I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. I am the way, and the truth, and the life.”
In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.
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