Listen! I will tell you a mystery!

Ella Mae Greene is changed.

What a marvelous aching mystery.

 

On October 19 we got a call - my mother-in-law Ella Mae Greene had had a massive stroke. It did not look good. A week later, Mrs. Greene left this earthly life. I loved Mrs. Greene - still do - and I love her daughter Lisa. I had briefly hoped that they might allow me the honor of officiating at her funeral but that was not to be. Still, I had things I really wanted to say so I wrote the message below.

It is a gift - a gift to my beloved Lisa, a gift to Donna, a gift to Lonnie and to all those who knew and loved Ella Mae Greene. May her memory be a blessing.

The text is 1 Corinthians 15:51-57.

Listen, ladies and gentlemen! Listen friends and family! Listen all who have ears to hear!

I will tell you a mystery.

Ella Mae Greene has been changed.

The pain and sorrow, the body that didn’t function right; the heart that ached for hurting kittens, puppies, and children; the ears that didn’t hear so well; the knees and feet that hurt… all have been changed to something else entirely. Something without pain, tears, or sorrow.

It happened in a twinkling this past Monday. You might think that a change so big would be met with trumpets and streamers, announced on all the news channels, celebrated with wild joy and delight.

But it didn’t happen that way. In fact, the nurses didn’t even notice right away when it happened. It was quiet and quick. On this side of eternity it looked a lot like going to sleep – but oh what joy was in heaven on Monday morning, October 26! One of God’s own favorites had come home.

Now, I know that you – the people beloved by Ms. Greene, the people who loved her the most – cannot yet celebrate because it is too hard, too sad, too much a reminder of how awful and broken our world is. You would not have chosen this sorrow and pain, and God has not chosen it either. 

The God who created a perfect world teeming with life abhors the brokenness that leads to death. Abhors it so much that he sent Jesus to provide a way out of that sorrow. Mrs. Greene followed that way and many of you do, too. You seek the good that can come from a God who loves you, who is watching and crying alongside you. And that God – that Jesus – is the one that has welcomed Mrs. Greene home and the one who will be with you in the coming days and weeks and months.

That God who has enfolded Mrs. Greene into a blissful eternity will also give you moments of bliss as you live out your days here on earth. Maybe it will be seeing a puppy and thinking about how Mrs. Greene could charm even the most timid and fearful animals with her quiet gentleness, or remember her Shelly-Bell demanding treats and knowing without doubt that she would get them. Maybe you will see flowers growing in a yard and remember times that she was on her hands and knees, cultivating her own beautiful gardens; planting pallets of annuals on Mother’s Day. Maybe you were one of the people who felt the light of her smiling heart shine on you as she gave you safe harbor in her home when your world was much, much more broken than usual. Maybe you will remember the endless cups of coffee, the searches for forgotten presents, the dubious gifts of oil to grandchildren, the all-night story sessions, the much-delayed facebook posts and all the other things that make a life unique and that brought laughs then and will someday bring laughter again.

Those moments – and the stories that I know you will be telling each other for years to come – will be winks from God. Reminders of the love that is there for you and for everyone. Reminders that if a broken human being can love so much, then how can a perfect God who IS love leave anyone out?

There are many, many feelings here today – appreciation and regret, happiness and deep grievous sorrow. Maybe even all of those and more at the same time.

Please – give yourself permission to feel all of those feelings because like the life of a woman who packed so much life into a mere 87 years, 10 months, and 1 day, one feeling or word or image can never capture it all.

Most of you knew and loved Mrs. Greene for a long time – possibly even your entire life. Give yourself time to sort through all that, to feel every feeling and let it be a reminder that you never would have loved or been loved as much if life was not rich and deep, wide and layered.

But as you grieve, also know this:

Mrs. Greene has been changed. In the mystery that is heaven, she is safe in the unfailing, unbroken arms of Jesus and will also rise with all of us when the final trumpet sounds. 

The God that Mrs. Greene loved created this world to be perfect, sent Jesus into that world to show us how to live when the brokenness was too much, and is now tending the places prepared for us when we too will be changed. 

The Jesus who came to show us how to live never failed to help the poor and the helpless. Those sick in body, mind, and spirit. Those who were cast out. Jesus did not focus on the people who had privilege and position, Jesus focused on the ones who were being kicked in the streets. The one who couldn’t get a fair hearing. The ones with such incredible stories that nobody believed them – and therefore nobody bothered to help.

And what it got for Jesus was death, because that is what happens to human beings. Jesus died like Mrs. Greene has died. 

But then Jesus rose! 

I remember standing in the kitchen with Mrs. Greene around Easter time one year. She looked at me with shining eyes and an almost bewildered look on her face as she said “Jesus did that for me! Can you even believe it? That doesn’t even make sense… but isn’t it the most wonderful thing of all?”

Yes, Mrs. Greene. It IS the most wonderful thing of all. She knew it and believed it.

And so in the coming days and weeks and months when the grief comes crashing in waves, remember that God cannot be tamed and that God’s love will continue to carry you through. 

When you wonder something like “what difference do prayers make anyway?” be reminded that praying is for us. God already knows what is in your heart – is in all of our hearts – and is prepared to heal our every sorrow. Those prayers are a large part of learning to love each other through the pain.

The sting of death mentioned in our text today comes from sin and there is a temptation to give up and decide that death has won. BUT DO NOT BE FOOLED. When Jesus arose in the Resurrection, the sting was healed. 

Death has not won.

Death cannot win.

Because the stinger is removed.

And Mrs. Greene is now home with her Jesus, the same Jesus who will be loving you extra special much through everything yet to come.

May her memory be a blessing.

Amen.