John 3:16-18; Romans 8:31-39; Lamentations 3:22-33
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
The United States was deeply divided like it hadn’t been since the Civil War. It was an election year, and the sitting president had decided, under pressure, not to run for a second term. There were riots in our cities and on university campuses protesting an unpopular war. There was racial tension, protests, riots, and violence as well. The Democrats held their National Convention in Chicago where it was threatened by riots and violent protests. A key political figure was assassinated, and then another was assassinated two months later. It was a dark and terrible time for our nation. Most thought it couldn’t possibly get any worse. The year was…, 1968, and a young man from Cedar Falls was sent to Vietnam to fight for his country. That young man was Steven Jospeh Bloker, whom we remember and give thanks to God for this day.
Steve graduated high school in 1967. He went to Hawkeye Community College to study auto mechanics. Cars and motorcycles were his passion. Steve loved muscle cars, particularly the Dodge Charger Super Bee, and Harley Davidson motorcycles. However, after graduation, instead of going to work as a mechanic, Steve was drafted into the Army and was sent to Vietnam. They called it the “Buddy Plan,” the idea being you would get to go with a friend and serve together in the same place. Well, Steve’s buddy Ronnie enlisted with him, but Ronnie went to Alaska and Steve went to the jungles of Vietnam. So much for the “Buddy Plan.” After training at Fort Sill in artillery, it was off to ‘Nam manning the big guns. A few years ago, Steve was interviewed for a project at the Grout Museum in Waterloo. He was asked about the gun he used in the war and the artillery shells. Steve casually explained how you loaded the shell, put in the projectile, pulled the lanyard and ran. He chuckled as he explained, “There was no time to cover your ears. We used a lot of cigarette butts as earplugs.” He admitted that he lost quite a bit of his hearing. Steve was subjected to the worst that unpopular war had to offer, including exposure to Agent Orange. It’s probably safe to say that no one who served in ‘Nam came back the same as they went. And that was true of Steve as well. The war affected Steve in numerous ways, and it affected those who knew and loved him, and it affected some relationships as well. And the Agent Orange was most likely a cause of the various cancers and lung disorders Steve battled the rest of his life. As they say, “All gave some; some gave all.”
But Steve wasn’t bitter, resentful, or angry. That’s not who Steve was. Steve was an easy-going kind of guy, never in a hurry. When he was discharged from the Army, Steve landed in California. Though his family was all waiting anxiously for him to return home to Iowa, Steve traveled first to Arizona to visit his Grandparents. It was there that he bought his first Dodge Charger Super Bee. From Arizona he drove to Oklahoma to spend a couple days with Randy at Fort Sill. All the while the family back in Iowa were still sitting around the kitchen table waiting for his homecoming. Again, Steve was just that sort of easy-going, happy-go-lucky kind of guy. He was positive and kind, and he had the best laugh.
Steve loved the outdoors: Deer hunting with his brothers and fishing with Robert and friends. And Steve enjoyed gardening. This past Spring he planted asparagus, rhubarb, and flowers, looking forward to seeing them produce next Spring. Doesn’t that just reflect Steve’s joyful optimism? Despite being under Hospice care, Steve was sowing seeds that wouldn’t reap a harvest until next season. Steve may have been declared “dying,” but he wasn’t ready to go just yet.
Let’s be honest, many people, if they were in Steve’s shoes, would have been bitter, resentful, and angry, depressed and despondent. But not Steve. That was not his nature or his character. That is the result of several things, perhaps most importantly, his upbringing in a Christian family that upholds honor, dignity, kindness, respect, hard work, integrity, faith, hope, and, most of all, love. Steve prayed the 23rd Psalm every night. And I can attest to you that the night he was in the ER, the morning after which the Lord took him to Himself, Steve prayed the 23rd Psalm from memory and the Lord’s Prayer. Steve didn’t have an easy life, particularly the past 50 years or so, but he had faith and hope and love, and he was grateful for what he did have, rather than bitter for what he didn’t have or what was being gradually taken from him.
That’s why I chose the passage from Lamentations to be read today. This passage is very honest about the Lord allowing and permitting His people to suffer, and sometimes even sending the suffering in order to strengthen our faith, much the way Steve would prune the plants in his garden to make them stronger and more fruitful. “The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD. It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. Let him sit alone in silence when it is laid on him; let hm put his mouth in the dust – there may yet be hope.” “For 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.”
St. Paul picks up this theme in his Epistle to the Romans saying, “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.” Indeed, the Apostle concludes, “If God is for us, who can be against us?”
Indeed, God is for us. Indeed, nothing can separate us from his love in Jesus Christ. That truth is a source of comfort, contentment, peace, and confidence, whether you are in the jungles of Vietnam, taking a 45 mph turn at 75 mph in a souped-up hot rod, facing the prospect of cancer, or anything else we might face in this valley of the shadow of death that is our lives this side of heaven. Most of the time we’re not even conscious of this comfort, contentment, peace, and confidence, for we experience it as something much simpler – hope, and hope is born of faith.
Steven had such faith; and Steven had such hope. Faith and hope produced the character in Steven you love and remember – that easy-going, happy-go-lucky demeanor, and a joyous, hearty belly-laugh that would always bring a smile to your face. It was faith and hope on which Steven leaned in those dark and difficult times; it was faith and hope motivated Steven in the better times. And that was right up to the very end. Steven had memorized and prayed the 23rd Psalm every day. Last Wednesday in the ER, Steven prayed the 23rdPsalm from memory and then the Lord’s Prayer. He found comfort and hope in these words and kept them in his heart for such a time, for all times. A few hours later Steven no longer needed the hope, for he then had the promise fulfilled as Steven’s Good Shepherd, Jesus, called his dear sheep, Steven, to his heavenly pastures where his sheep may safely graze.
“All gave some; some gave all,” the saying goes. And its true. God’s Son Jesus Christ gave all for Steve, and for you, and for all the world. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” We commend our brother Steven to the Lord in faith and hope that we will see him again in heaven. May this faith and hope sustain you as you grieve in hope. In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.
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