Larraine, Elizabeth, David, Dean, sisters and brothers in Christ at First Lutheran, and dear friends: Grace to you and peace from God who is among us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
How do we live with wisdom?
We pray that we may do so. In Psalm 90 we pray, “Lord, teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts to wisdom.”
Teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts to wisdom.
This is a perennial prayer in the Christian life. We never stop asking God to answer this prayer. I believe a primary way God does respond to this prayer is that God sends people into our lives to show us how to live wisely.
One of the precious gifts of being in Christian community is to learn from one another, bear one another’s burdens, rejoice together, and, as we heard earlier in the reading from Colossians, to “forgive one another, bear with one another, be clothed in the garments of compassion, humility, kindness, patience, and gentleness, to forgive and the Lord forgave teach and admonish one another in wisdom.”
These sorts of practices are learned practices, not found in a textbook, but learned by looking over the shoulder of other Christians. To learn from one another and for those new to faith to watch closely to see what seasoned Christian do, listen to what they say, and notice how they use their particular gifts to build up the body of Christ.
In looking over the shoulder of our brother Andrew King, we’ve learned much!
In Andy, we’ve seen what love looks like up close, not someone perfect or sinless, but someone who was faithful and navigated life in this world that is broken yet redeemed. We observed compassion, humility, kindness, patience, gentleness, and forgiveness in action.
The same passage from Colossians urges to allow the peace of Christ to rule our hearts, to let the word of Christ dwell in us richly and with gratitude in our hearts to sing! Sing psalms, sing hymns, and sing spiritual songs to God.
We owe a big debt of gratitude to Andy for helping us sing.
For 50 years, Andy has served this community as cantor. This was a calling and vocation he took very seriously and one he met with faith and trust in the wonders of God.
Singing is one of the ways we number our days with wisdom. Together we sing in our worship as we journey through the seasons, cycles, and rhythms of the liturgical year. It is no easy task to pull that off. Something as immensely important as the worship of the Holy Trinity requires careful stewardship. To steward the worship of God you need acolytes, ushers, assisting ministers, leaders of prayer, altar guilds, lectors, presiders, preachers, and, of course, musicians. To sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs to God requires leaders of song and music who steward the liturgy well and with care.
This was Andy. He was a steward of the mysteries of God.
I didn’t know Andy long but I knew him long enough to see that he lived his life as a witness to Christ. I didn’t work with him that long but I did work with him long enough to observe a master working his craft. I cherished every moment.
I found myself looking over his shoulder.
Andy was disciplined in every way – practicing long hours during the week, on Sunday prayerfully taking his seat at the organ bench, planning worship thoughtfully and carefully by pouring over the scripture readings with great sensitivity to the spirit and ethos of the day or season. He carried this out, never calling attention to himself but always abiding by Bach’s credo: “Soli Deo Gloria.” To God alone be the glory. Andy’s work was created to give glory to God.
I marveled at his uncanny skill of proofreading and his careful record keeping of anthems and hymns from years past. In his tiny handwriting he inscribed the dates at the top of the page of a hymn, the dates they were sung by the assembly. In working with him only for a short time I observed his keen memory, knowledge of this community and its traditions, overall sense of calm and great strength, an open mind and heart, and a very good albeit subtle sense of humor
Today we gather in gratitude singing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs to God, grateful for the life and witness of Andy. Grateful for all he taught us and how he helped to shape this community and its rich worship life. We are grateful for Andy, a companion in our pilgrimage of following Jesus.
With that gratitude comes a good degree of grief. We gather as those who grieve and mourn the death of one we so dearly loved. We lament that Andy died too soon and lament that cancer revisited his body so abruptly. Many of us lament that our time with him was brief.
So, yes, we gather in grief and with a sense of real loss at the death of one we loved so dearly.
It is no good denying death, it gets us nowhere. So, we are free to lament to God and to one another and to look to Jesus, no stranger to our hurt and loss but one who suffered and died like us and in those broken places remains with us.
Jesus, who came to dwell with us in love by reaching out to those who suffer finally stretched out his arms on the cross, wide enough to love and save a suffering world.
Today we gather in gratitude. Today we gather in grief.
And today we gather in hope for Christ raises the dead and we know that where there is death, Christ steps in and brings forth life.
I cannot pretend to know what it is like for Andy’s family and close friends at this time of loss but know this – we do not grieve as those without hope.
We do not grieve as those without hope.
Christ is risen and we trust that around this death of Andy, Christ will do a new thing. In the healing God provides there is grace that expands our hearts into new and richer ways of loving and being. We don’t know how, but know it is true and cling to this hope, Larraine, David, Elizabeth, friends of Andy, and you, the people of FLCWS.
Take the time to remember him, to grieve his loss and embrace hope. The hope of the Resurrection to eternal life and the hope that God steps into our deathly places to bring newness of life.
When my mother died in 2020, I prayed the prayer of commendation every day for several weeks. It became a practice that was both consoling and life-giving. It is the prayer that will be prayed before we move to the Columbarium this morning.
We will pray: “Into your hands, O merciful Savior, we commend your servant Andrew. Acknowledge, we humbly beseech you, a sheep of your own fold, a lamb of your own flock, a sinner of your own redeeming. Receive him into the arms of you mercy, into the blessed rest of everlasting peace, and into the glorious company of the saints in light.”
Over the next several days, say this prayer or a prayer like this to remember the redeeming work of God and to know and trust that Andy King is in good hands.
Amen.