John 14:1-6; 1 Corinthians 15:51-57; Isaiah 61:1-3, 10; Psalm 23
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Scott Hamerlinck was a man of many interests, a multitude of skills, and intense drive and passion. He did everything at once, all the time, with intentionality, intensity, and dedication.
Henry David Thoreau wrote that most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them. That was not Scott. Scott lived brightly. He embraced life, people, experiences, and the gifts God had given him.
Scott brought that intensity to everything he did and everyone with whom he interacted: to his hobbies, his family, his work, his military service, his music, and his faith. Hunting required stillness, silence, focus, and a connection with nature. Riding his motorcycle required command, handling, and speed. Scott loved life, learning, experiencing, and serving.
Life is a gift from God: creation, nature, music, family, friends. These gifts are meant to be appreciated, used, and enjoyed, not put on a shelf for some later time. Today is the gift of life and love. Do not put off until tomorrow what you have today.
Scott brought that same intensity and drive to his battle with cancer, overcoming it with confidence, renewed determination, and not a small amount of humor. He brought it to helping others, his neighbors, his friends, and his church. Got a new ceiling fan? There was Scott at your door with his tools ready to help you install it!
For Scott, a stranger was just a best friend he hadn’t met yet. He made friends easily and with everyone. Amanda said it was best to go places with others because Scott was always off talking to someone new. He had an infectious, gregarious, and hilarious personality that drew people to him. It is no surprise that his neighbors became best friends. They would get together to play cards, make music, and enjoy a beer. And the breakfast block parties were legendary, with the Blackstones rolled out and eggs, bacon, and pancakes enjoyed by all.
Music was also a huge part of Scott’s life and personality. He was a great singer and rhythm guitarist, and he played in many different bands. Music is a powerful gift of God for bringing people together, and Scott used it to bring together family and friends and to build camaraderie and community. Scott and Amanda performed here at St. John one Christmas in a quartet with Drew and Laurie Rogers. And sharing that musical bond with his son Julian was one of Scott’s greatest joys.
Scott was not perfect. His intensity, drive, and high expectations could sometimes be difficult for those closest to him. He loved his family deeply and wanted the very best for them. He pushed them as hard as he pushed himself and expected much from them. He could be critical at times, not out of cruelty or meanness, but out of passion, love, and a desire for them to do their best and be their best.
And while Scott could drive himself to the point of recklessness, he was very conservative and protective of those he loved. He was known to many as “The Safety Nazi,” even though he had already used up eight and a half of his nine lives.
Scott was passionate about his faith, too. He wanted his family in church. He wanted them to have a Christian upbringing. He regularly read and listened to the Scriptures and Christian podcasts. He cared about the spiritual health and welfare of his family, and he believed in volunteering and giving back.
Amanda, Hannah, Julian, family, friends, brothers and sisters in Christ: we grieve today. Of course we do. Death is not natural. We were not created to die, but to live with God forever. There is no human perspective from which we can understand Scott’s death without shock, horror, bitter loss, grief, and sorrow. By all human reckoning, Scott died much, much too soon.
But our Lord Jesus says, “Let not your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. I have gone there to prepare a place for you. And I will come again, and I will take you to myself, that where I am, you will be also.” That is why Jesus came. That is why God became man.
Jesus came into this broken and dying world to restore what sin had destroyed: our relationship with our God and Creator, and the holiness, righteousness, and life that we were created to have. In His hometown synagogue, Jesus read from the prophet Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted... to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor... to comfort all who mourn.” Then Jesus rolled up the scroll and said, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
It was fulfilled in Jesus because He came to do precisely what Isaiah proclaimed. He came to bind up the brokenhearted. He came to comfort those who mourn. He came to bear our sin and suffer our death. It took nothing less than the death of Jesus, the death of God Himself, to accomplish it. But death could not hold Him. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! And because He lives, we shall live also.
Scott’s hope was not in the intensity with which he lived. It was not in his good works, his service, his accomplishments, his personality, or his strength. His hope was in Jesus Christ. Scott was baptized into Jesus’ death and resurrection. His sins are forgiven in Jesus’ blood. His trust for forgiveness and salvation was not in himself but in Jesus.
And so we have a sure and certain hope. Death has been swallowed up in victory. “O death, where is your victory? O 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.”
We grieve, but we do not grieve without hope. We commend our brother Scott to the Lord, trusting His promise that those who die in Christ live with Him even now, and that on the day of Jesus’ return, Scott’s body will be raised from the dead. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable.
That is the Christian hope: not merely that Scott will be remembered, not merely that his influence will continue in the lives of those who loved him, but that Jesus Christ will raise Scott from the dead. And on that day, all who trust in Christ will join him in paradise, in the New Eden, the New Jerusalem, where tears and sorrow, pain, suffering, and death are no more. There will be life, real life, abundant life, eternal life.
Scott lived intensely. He lived passionately. He embraced the gifts God gave him and the people God placed in his life. But the life Christ gives is greater still. The candle of Scott’s earthly life may have burned brightly and far too briefly. But the life Christ gives in the resurrection will never burn out.
So we grieve. We mourn. We feel the terrible absence of a husband, a father, a friend, a neighbor, a brother in Christ. But we grieve with hope. For Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again. And because Christ lives, Scott will live. And because Christ lives, all who belong to Him will live also.
In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment