Eugene Peterson Memorial 11-03-18 Edited

[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] you the grace of our risen Lord Jesus Christ be with you thank you and I want to take just a moment to thank you for being here our family has been so deeply touched by the ways you have reached out a variety of gestures of remembrance and support tribute to Eugene they've been very meaningful to us as most of you know Eugene's influence has touched in particular a company of pastures and among us are quite a few of them in person wearing stoles or clerical collars as a way to honor him and I should let you know that because we wanted the service to be accessible to as many people as possible not knowing how many people would be able to make this pilgrimage we are live-streaming this service so that people in all the time zones around the world can have access participate so I'm not sure where the cameras are but if you're a part of that livestream participating virtually welcome it's good to have you here there are two particular groups of people that I wanted to acknowledge the first one is the congregation of Christ our King Presbyterian Church in Bel Air Maryland they're gathering together in that sanctuary a church that Eugene founded in 1963 and served for 29 years and then subsequent to that he served as a professor of spirituality at Regent College in Vancouver British Columbia and that community of Regent is gathered together on their campus as well wherever we are we have gathered for a variety of reasons but hopefully among them is to give thanks to God for an extraordinarily well lived well-played life and as we do that we will allow that life to point us well beyond himself to the God he loved and served for over 85 years we're here of course to feel feelings and to think thoughts and to recall memories what makes this a most sacred container is that we are accompanied by the presence we are met and companion these days we do not live alone and it's good to be here together but mostly we're here to worship we're here to acknowledge the one and your presence here today effectively Commission's you to be witnesses to the resurrection because in matters of life and death God gets the final say and it's a big word it's a big declarative exclamatory word life there is no power that is not subject to this life and so we gather to bear witness to the holy mystery of a life that overcomes death but don't just take my word for it hear the word of God when we were baptized into Christ Jesus we were baptized into his death we were buried - therefore with him by baptism into death so that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the father so we too might walk in newness of life for if we have been united with Christ and a death like his we will most certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his I am the resurrection and the life says the Lord those who believe in me though they die will live and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die I'm the Alpha and the Omega the beginning and the end the first and the last I died and behold I am Alive forever and ever and I have the keys of death and Hades because I live you also will live if we live we live unto the Lord and if we die we die unto the Lord so then whether we live or die we are the Lord's do not let your hearts be troubled do not let them be afraid in my father's house are many dwelling places if it were not so what I've told you that I go to prepare a place for you and if I go to prepare a place for you I will take you to myself so that where I am you may be also and you know the place or the way to where I'm going Thomas said Lord we don't know where you're going how can we know the way Jesus said I am the way and the truth and the life no one comes to the Father but by me do not let your heart speak troubled do you not let them be afraid let us pray we're fearless Gregg God because we are in this container of love where love casts out all fear and we come my goodness with a wide concoction of emotions profound gratitude for the life of this man who we have known in a variety of circumstances who has spoken goodness into our lives who has shaped and formed us to be the people we are in recent days we've heard testimonies from people around the world that this is someone who saved marriages who saved ministries who saved faith who saved lives and we are so deeply grateful for that life and the years that we have known him so here and now as we face the deep mystery of death we pray your presence may the Holy Spirit fill the crevices of this sanctuary and other sanctuaries in meeting areas kitchens coffee shops and offices around the world that we may know your consolation that we may be people of hope and that we may abide as witnesses to the resurrection by peeing people of great love may we be come characterized and known by our love this we pray in the strong name of Jesus the way the truth the life amen you may be seated or do you want [Music] thank you all for being here here my brother and I did not coordinate our remarks so I'm gonna repeat a couple things he said over the past few years and especially more recently thanks to the way social media has kept us increasingly connected I've received a lot of messages from people wanting to express their appreciation for my dad these messages although personal and specific are also similarly thematic this one although an amalgam is faithful to any number of notes I received some from people I remember or vaguely remember to some from people I never knew dear leaf I heard recently that your dad is not doing well I hope that's not true there is probably no one on this planet that I think of more often than your dad he intervened on my behalf when I was 14 at the time I had no idea what he'd done even now I really don't know any more than that he was the galvanizing force and changing the course of my life in a way that sent me on a better path there are very few people who come to mind as frequently as your father not just the wisdom of his sermons but his support of my mother that made my childhood slightly more stable his intervention when life seemed untenable and much more I'm sure I have no knowledge of when you see him next please tell him that without his help I'm certain my life would not be the modest success that it is and tell him thank you it was not uncommon in these notes to hear the words your dad is the reason I became a minister your dad saved my marriage your dad saved my ministry your dad saved my life the next time I would see my dad usually on the Tuesdays I would always spend with him at the lake I would read him these messages after I was done reading he would often rub his hands together and smile and nod pensively and say oh well that's good that's good in these times of mental decline I don't know if he fully contextually understood who the sender was or the circumstances from the past that compelled them to write to him and convey that depth of appreciation but I do know this he knew that it was good not that he had done something good but that when we were in relationship with God and with others good things inevitably happened my dad's message was always that the good news always plays out best in relationships always in relationships the writer of Genesis tells us that in at the end of each day of creation God looked around at the work that he'd done and saw that it was good I think my dad did that a lot he was always looking around at the mountains at the flowers the birds and that the relationships forming and playing out all around him and you could tell from that signature twinkle in his eyes what he was thinking oh man that's good that's really good the writer of Genesis also tells us that on the seventh day of creation God rested from the work he completed on October 22nd surrounded by a family my dad reached his seventh day and although we're going to miss him a lot that too is good when I was in high school I used to joke with my dad that he only had one sermon and although it was a joke between us I believed then as I do now that it is largely accurate my dad had one message a few years ago there was a commissioning service in Colorado for the translation of the New Testament that my dad had completed I was invited to say a few words in preparation I couldn't shake that thought that for his whole life my dad only had one sermon one message so I wrote a poem this is called the message it's almost laughable how you fooled them how for 30 years every week you made them think you were saying something new they thought you were a magician in your long black robe hiding so much up your ample sleeves always pulling something fresh and making them think it was just for them and that's just the beginning there was more casual conversations at church picnics unmemorable chats at the local Denny's over eggs and toast counseling sessions that save marriages maybe even lives and they didn't know what a fraud you were they didn't know how simple it all was they were blind to your secret only saw the magic how you performed how you made the mysterious the ominous the holy into a cup of coffee how you made a cup of coffee into an act of grace how you could make God into something that worked for them it's so funny that they didn't notice so many times I've wanted to expose you tell them what you've been up to tell them all what you've been up to and now you're doing it all again you've got this new group fold into thinking you're worth millions they're printing it on t-shirts coffee mugs message pads a new version every week for some new flock but I must say this they've widened your audience now you're fooling them all over the world churches schools homes and prisons it's so funny only my inheritance keeps me from giving you away because I and I alone know your secret I'll know alone know what you've been doing how you fooled them all taking something so simple something a child could understand and making it into a career a vocation an empire I know because for 50 years you've been telling me the secret for 50 years you steal into my room at night and a whispered softly to my sleeping head it's the same message over and over and you don't bury it one bit god loves you he's on your side he's coming after you he's relentless peace be with you want to thank Eric for putting me after that my name is Andrew Wendell and I am the pastor of IDEs fold Lutheran Church that is the church that Jan and Eugene have called home for the last 15 years or so I have been there just for five-and-a-half of that a distinct honor and privilege to walk with both of you through this season and through the season of our lives together five-and-a-half years ago when I began interviewing and learned who was a member or in attendance at the church it was a bit of a pause until I learned the one to be wary of was his southern bride they were both gifts it is a unique position though to be pastor to one like Eugene rather than just one who learns I did both but it is distinct my comments this day are as Eugene's pastor as Jan's as the pastor of our church and they sent her around the first chapter of the Gospel of John the word was first the word present to God God present to the word the Word was God and readiness for God from day one everything was created through him nothing not one thing came into being without him what came into existence was life and the life was light to live by the life light blazed out of the darkness the darkness couldn't put it out the life light was a real thing every person entering life he brings into light he was in the world the world was there through him yet the world did not even notice he came to his own people but they didn't want him but whoever did want him who believed he was who he claimed and would do what he said he made to be their true selves their child of God selves these are the God begotten not blood begotten not flesh begotten not sex begotten and the word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood we saw the glory with our own eyes with the one-of-a-kind glory like father like son generous inside and out true from start to finish so like many I imagine I came to know Eugene before I ever met him as a young searching discerning adult it was through the words of the message that I met at the time this mysterious man who dared to try and make the Bible more understandable I thought it was supposed to be confusing the passage and I just read in particular had a profound effect on me particularly the part about the neighborhood you see I'm a child of a neighborhood Walnut Grove neighborhood on the west side of Madison Wisconsin to be exact my neighbors to the right where the Schwartz's Jeff their oldest son my baseball-playing companion across the street where John and Gretchen Smith they never had children of their own but loved the neighborhood kids so long as you didn't hit your balls up against their garage on the other side of us were the burnses three daughters lived there they would come out and we would play neighborhood games of capture-the-flag basketball and much more the neighborhood was always a gifted place for me and when I read in here that it was also the place that Christ entered lived and dwelled suddenly it was much more it was like putting a name to something I always knew to be true but didn't know how to place it so I got to know Eugene through these words treasure the gift of a man who would be so bold so insightful as to name godly realities that would and could speak to the deep places we carry within ourselves that we may not know exist until someone actually touches us there that was Eugene a man formed and shaped by the Word of God in his life so much so that encountering him was to realize that he had moved into your neighborhood following the Spirit of Christ he knew to already be there during the last five and a half years of living alongside and worshiping with him it's that sense of neighborliness that defined him for me I would see it again and again those who entered Eugene and Jan's circle of life soon become their spiritual neighbors humble and ordinary is the day and long it was on more than one occasion that a visiting pastor or other person in worship would come up to me after the service and say I thought Eugene Peterson worshiped here yes I would say he was your usher today they would walk right by you both not realizing who they were seeing but then as soon as their eyes were opened and they were able to greet the man to greet you both the gift from those words of the first chapter of John would become real alive for even in the briefest of encounters Eugene would see to partner gift see speak God's grace into the world to those that encountered him it is as if the invitation in scripture to see Christ's presence in the neighbourhood of our lives had become so ingrained in his that those who entered his orbit could not but know it to be true I imagine that many of you again know something of which I speak for your here this day not just because of words that were once written upon a page but because something about either those words or the person behind them or the holy one who inspired them led to a deep and lasting connection between you the man more in this day and our Christ we all have our own stories of encounters with Eugene and the way in which he was able to take the sometimes complicated story of our lives and gift God's presence or realization of God's presence to us in our own contemporary language the irony of course is that we're living in a moment at a time where we need that Christ inspired lived indwelling neighborliness more than ever in our churches in our homes in the halls of our government in halls of our schools on our inner city streets and our rural County highways we need a Christ and flesh newly inspired neighborliness that can touch that deep reservoir of faithfulness within us that ever binds us together for a good that is not our own but that is God's so I invite you to look around you look to the neighbor next to you the one across the aisle if you're watching at home or wherever you are look to your neighbor as well for what we see and feel around us is a testament to the fact that Eugene inspired and called by God his maker and ours did his job he rests from his labors and we will miss him dearly but God's entrance into his life produced faithful fruit in all of us gathered here this day and around the world but God's work of living into the neighborhood of our lives is not done it is left to you to me to us all carrying on knowing that the word did become flesh and blood what you and I and all of us are the word became flesh and blood and moved into our lives uprooted itself and moved with all that it was all that it is and all that it could be and we saw its glory the one-of-a-kind glory like father like son generous from inside and out to all from God who is the start and finish Eugene may have penned those words interpreted them inspired them to become alive in our life but he did not do so for the benefit of the words themselves and certainly not for himself but so that God's movement an invitation to see their truth might ever become more real to all of us we honor and celebrate the memory of Eugene and not just by holding this book or any other that he offered not by the number of our tears or the depth of our grief but by the way in which God's renewing loving embrace becomes ever more real and felt within our own life and the life of the neighborhoods around us may God's peace rest with you this day as surely as our brother in Christ rests within that embrace now and may we ever live into the neighborhoods of our lives as Eugene lived into ours hi my name is drew I'm one of six grandchildren of Jan and Eugene and as a grandchild I have been thinking and reflecting on the life and my relationship with my grandfather those of us who are blessed to know our grandparents have been given a real gift there's something special almost permanence everlasting about their presence in our lives they've always been there and there's a bit of a mystery to that I remember as a kid I would sometimes wonder where did you come from I know that you're the parents of my parents but who did you come from were you born or have you just always been here Eugene in particular has had this sort of Morgan Freeman effect of looking about that old for what I'm pretty sure was his entire life have you always been here mostly though I didn't wonder and just took his presence as a rule of life you've always been here and you always will be maybe some of you feel that way about your grandparents and certainly the way that it's felt for me with mine my sister Sadie who played the piano for us to begin today's service talks about her grandpa as seeming to have this sustenance that gave him this long patient energy some unseen force nurturing his ability just to simply be patients pensive present even right up to the very end of his life his words and his demeanor were matched beautifully when asked if he needed anything he responded quietly no I am perfectly content he was a gifted distance runner Eugene his crowning achievement being the Boston Marathon as a person in ministry and an aspiring runner myself this is yet another way in which my grandfather's set the bar just a little high I have to believe though that it's this being sustained to remain at a consistent pace that not only aided his ability as a runner but assured him along the roads of a long obedience in the same faithful direction Eugene has left so much behind for us contributed so much that in some ways for the world it's almost as if he's still here his writings are here his influence well catalogued but for me my childhood perception of that everlasting presence doesn't get to last for me for us there's a lot to miss I already miss the son of a butcher expertly carving the Thanksgiving turkey for our family I miss the wiry armed hugs of welcome and the long waves of goodbye from the driveway I missed the raspy Pete Seeger's sing-alongs led from the banjo I miss grandpa and I am thankful that we are able to commend his spirits to eternity and that he indeed does live on I love you grandpa most of you don't know who I am I'm not a Peterson I'm not a published author I'm not genes pastor so in many ways I am like the majority of you here to witness to the resurrection or to watch it from afar because God showed us through Eugene Peterson that we are deeply loved and powerfully called and endlessly equipped for Kingdom work or King work as Jean taught us in leap over a wall we are equipped in every capacity whether we are ordained or not my name is Tracy bolus and I'm a small church pastor in the Presbyterian Church USA currently serving in Oregon I worked with Jean at Christ our King in his last years of ministry there where he graciously called me his partner in ministry even though I was a twenty-something an energetic but generally clueless lay pastor who hadn't read any of his books over the years Jean taught me like he taught so many of you I don't presume to speak for you whether you're a pastor or a lay person there are far more eloquent and well-known voices here today but I believe that we have a great deal in common whether we can quote Eugene isms like jeopardy trivia or whether we read just one chapter of the message and soaked it in in ways that we will never forget this is the beauty and the wonder of words they never leave us they never die we each carry on the story that God partly through Eugene stirs in us we may not have learned all of what gene had to teach but we learned what we needed we learned to take a Sabbath and recenter in our Lord not necessarily so that we could be that refueled go to Pastor the other six days of the week but so that we could remind others and perhaps more importantly remind ourselves that we are not indispensable we learn to listen because maybe Jean didn't talk so much because he was quietly listening and when we experienced that kind of attentiveness we listened our selves we learned to understand the word in a way that our contemporary ears could hear sometimes it meant we understood a passage for the very first time for those of us who are pastors we learned to preach the word into our hearers every day lives we learned to shun busyness and embrace contemplating and I am less practiced at contemplation than I'd like to be but the greatest reality check that I receive from someone in my congregation is when I hear pastor I know you're busy and that's my clue to not be busy we learn to see the beauty of imagination of creativity of word magic that take us straight to God's throne like Psalm 27s light space zest that's Yahweh we learned the value of names and stories because every person every name matters and each story is then woven into God's grand story we learned to marvel at the wonder of madam day and professor night we learn to spot the holy in the ordinary we learned to pray honestly and boldly we learn to love the people we serve imagine that such a novel idea in the church love the people you serve we learned to get out of God's way or to try to at least I hear again jeans phrase a pastor's role is to find out what God is doing in another person's life and then get in on it we learned to trust the God who is always working we learned to embrace the depth of community because if we can't see that our Lord moved into the neighborhood for the purpose of relationship then we haven't seen at all you know what lessons I'm talking about don't you you hear the echoes of listen listen to the word wind words the spirit blowing through the churches not that we do all of those lessons that consistently well but I am inspired to do them in my vocation as a small church pastor because Jean showed me that one can do so with integrity and with substance by the power of the Holy Spirit and these lasting words Jean wrote to guide us maybe just maybe we have a chance from the message I'll close with how Jean captures the essence of where we all start in this journey of loving God back in this long obedience in this leaning in to each of our calls somewhere in Romans 9 because Jean taught us that verse numbers just interrupt the story he translates hosea put it well I'll call nobodies and make them some buddies I'll call the unloved and make them beloved in the place [Music] they're called Dean Peterson is calling each of us God's beloved living children and that is who we are so partners in ministry as God's living children we have King work to do amen [Music] strong god of jacob [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] I'm getting all I've ever felt over before does death concern you not really Jan and I talk about us sometimes we sit out here and talk about I don't think so what are you looking forward to in the future [Music] Kevin we're gonna hold hands and walk into heaven together that's what we'd like I don't think I'm any regrets I would I wouldn't know what else to do I'm just grateful I get grateful is there is the word I think I would use that I've been able to live my life feeling like Eugene not somebody else [Music] what would you like your legacy for your echo on humanity to be this might sound really unrealistic but it's it's my hope I hope I could be part of changing the pastoral imagination of American pastors happened on found things found in gutters found on a cross not under a stone heard in the rustling grass heard in a tongue stammering Sabah Connie found when I wasn't lucky heard when I wasn't listening found beauty I treasure the way other people love her except her celebrator yeah I treasure his spirituality the depths of him [Music] I don't treasure that the boy doesn't talk much I wish she talked a little more what's been the best bits living for you my marriage and my children again all the rest could go to pot I think I'd still make it yeah my marriage and my children thank you for sharing your life with us you're welcome thank you for listening affirming it [Music] how are we doing so that's the question in life isn't it [Music] I do not know what I was thinking when I put myself here again that line I don't know what else I would do well of course not you've done everything what else could you do I wanted to gather our imaginations around a final text it's somewhere in the second Corinthians here the Word of God we're not keeping this quiet not on your life just like the psalmist who wrote I believed it so I said it we say what we believe and what we believe is that the one who raised up the master Jesus will just as certainly raise us up with you alive every detail works to your advantage and to God's glory more and more grace more and more people more and more praise so we're not giving up how could we even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us on the inside where God is making new life not a day goes by without his unfolding grace these hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times the lavish celebration prepared for us there's far more here than meets the eye the things we see now are here today gone tomorrow but the things we can't see now will last forever for instance we know that when these bodies of ours are taken down like tents and folded away they will be replaced by resurrection bodies in heaven God made not hand made and we'll never have to relocate our tents again sometimes we can hardly wait to move and so we cry out in frustration compared to what's coming living conditions around here seem like a stopover in an unfurnished Shack and we're tired of it we've been given a glimpse of the real thing our true home our resurrection bodies the Spirit of God wets our appetite by giving us a taste of what's ahead he's he's put a little of heaven in our hearts so that we'll never settle for less that's why we live with such good cheer you won't see us drooping our heads are dragging our feet cramped conditions here don't get us down they only remind us of the spacious living conditions ahead it's what we trust and but don't get see that keeps us going do you suppose a few ruts in the road or rocks in the path are going to stop us when the time comes we'll be plenty ready to exchange exile for homecoming this is the word of the Lord there's a prayer in the old Book of Common worship which has been retained in the new Book of Common worship it's known as a prayer of illumination that my dad offered every Sunday for 29 years before preaching his weekly Sunday sermon at the congregation he founded Christ our King Presbyterian and this prayer has become something of a liturgical connecting point for me it's one of the ways I have carried Eugene with me into my pulpit for the last 28 years let us pray prepare our hearts O Lord to accept your word silence in us any voice but your own that hearing we may also obey your will through Jesus Christ our Lord amen we carry this precious message around in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives for we have this treasure in clay jars praise God from whom all blessings flow it's well I've been thinking about containers in recent weeks and it brought to mind an ancient proverb which tells the story of a young girl whose task it was to daily fetch water to the from the river for her household suspended on a pole between her shoulders were these two water pots that supplied her family's daily needs one of the pots was perfect but the other one was cracked and by the time they made it home on the return trip the second pot was only half full after some time the little cracked pot ashamed that she wasn't able to function at full capacity expressed her embarrassment and sense of failure to the girl why do you keep me when all I do is leak she asked why don't you replace me with a new pot smiling the girl gently responded have you seen the beautiful flowers that grow along the path between the house and the river and have you noticed that they only grow on your side of the path as we walk home together that's because every spring I plant seeds on your side knowing that you will water them as we walk home together I've been picking those flowers for years filling our house with beauty and fragrance I couldn't do it without you what you thought was a flaw there's actually a gift to us all in ways that continue to simply astound me God consistently chooses to accomplish divine purposes through human agency through human imperfection through the weaknesses and shortcomings of the clay pots which are our lives uncommonly beautiful things emerge praise God from whom all blessings flow the message of God's love is it's this magnificent story of creation salvation liberation and it's been entrusted to the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives in other words the container of good news is the broken body of Christ we're a bunch of crackpots we leak this is not a design flaw it's a part of the creator's intent so that the blessings might flow one of the most important things Eugene taught us is that everything about the life of faith is livable if you can't translate an idea into an experience it's not gospel abstractions are enemies of the way of truth and life which is why I'm so deeply grateful to have grown up with a man whose life was so well integrated and congruent such that the dad who served up mashed potatoes on Saturday night was exactly the same pastor who served up the Word of God on Sunday morning he was someone who embodied the message he proclaimed it's not a figure of speech his body was a sacred temple a habitation for the holy a container for the Spirit of God I know this to be true because the evidence is irrefutable in as much as he manifested the fruits of the spirit he was a container for love and joy and peace and patience and kindness and goodness faithfulness gentleness and self-control he was a flawed and cracked container of these gifts never hoarding always leaking what a holy vessel he was praised from whom all blessings flow moreover I think about his many books which endure as containers of the words he wrote to us inspired words full of truth and grace words that we will be able to treasure for many years but for right now in these moments I wish to draw your attention to two particular containers that are here they are common enough as containers go what is unusual is that they are in the same room at the same time there's a cradle and a casket the one is a container for life the other a container of death one is open to the world the other clothes having finished this world the one holds promise and hope and future anticipation the other holds completion it is finished the one represents a glorious beginning the other a glorious end a cradle and a casket these are the bookend containers of our lives when Eugene delivered this cradle freshly crafted from his basement woodshop in Maryland to New Jersey where his first grandchild was born I kind of gushed exclaiming to him how beautiful it was and as we were carrying it into the apartment together that day he confessed that it had a flaw and he had to shim it I knew all about shims because he had from an early age taught me all about them every carpenter he said needs to know how to use shims I've scrutinized this cradle over the years and I still can't find the flaw he wasn't just a master word worker he was a master woodworker and among the things he left us in the craft of words and wood is this exquisite piece of work that our family will treasure for many generations many of Eugene's grandchildren and grandnephews and grand nieces were held in this little container and all their names are inscribed inside this all came back to me as I was building his casket a couple of weeks ago the miter joints weren't lining up quite right and I had to use some shims to tighten them up I'd never built a casket before and so I set out doing what many of us have learned to do in this age I went to YouTube and and in the process I came across a coffin maker named Marcus Daly who doesn't just build wooden boxes he contemplates the human condition night I like very much the way he reflects on his work here's what he says I think one of the most important aspects of the coffin is that it can be carried and I think we're meant to carry each other and I think carrying someone you love committing them is very important for us and when we deal with death we want to know that we have played a part and that we have shouldered our burden so if we make it too convenient then we're depriving ourselves of a chance to get stronger so that we can carry on at various points in their lives Eugene carried six of his grandchildren both physically and emotionally he was a strong steadying presence in their lives as he was for so many of us he carried them up mountains he carried them through school he carried them through heartache today those six grandchildren carry him and at the end of the day they will be stronger for it today the rest of us watch while the heavy lifting is accomplished through their fierce love as they carry him to his final resting place but if we've been paying attention we will also know that as Eugene has been wielding the words of his craft over the years we too have become more fit strengthened readied for citizenship in the kingdom of God this casket container is now holding the body container that was Eugene Peterson I say was because by the mystery of the Resurrection to which the baptised are heirs his body has been exchanged for something much much more durable perishability a st. Paul once famously said it has taken on in perishability mortality has been swapped for immortality that temporary traded for the eternal the casket and the cradle these are temporary containers pretty much everything is there's only one thing that isn't we don't know much about it don't know much about what heaven is like the preferred biblical metaphor is that of a city suggesting that it is inhabitable it's populated but the particularity is that st. John describes make it clear that it's unlike any city we have ever known or experienced here on earth for starters it's a city without limits that's I'm constrained by zip codes or boundary lines unencumbered by fences not obstructed by walls in other words while it's a container for the host of heaven it's not in any way confining it's a place well perhaps better said it's a reality in which the limitations of our present mortality give way to the full expression of that which we now only know in part namely perfect love unmitigated joy deep eternal peace it's quite a design as City Planning goes there's no temple in this New Jerusalem no church container of any become of any kind because it's no longer necessary the presence of God being so pervasive holding everything everyone together there's a river running through the city suggesting that the blessings flood freely and there's a tree whose leaves we are told are for the healing of the nation's in my how this world needs those leaves right now all of which is to say that what we sort of know as we look through a glass darkly is that heaven is a glorious container for all the saints where life is free to flow unbounded unencumbered where blessings no longer contained rush like whitewater where there are no more tears no more pain no more death and because the former things have passed away and because it's a city which is built by a master carpenter there is no longer any need for shims it's a most perfect everlasting container for all the scenes praise God from whom all blessings flow in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit as it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be world without end amen please join me in prayer eternal faithful God he was founded us with a great cloud of witnesses who have blazed the trail ahead of us calling us to keep our eyes on Jesus the founder and the perfecter of our faith we've gathered here today to recognize Eugene as one of those inspiring pioneers who have gone before us and is now joined that great cloud of witnesses cheering us on all of us here have stories of Eugene's impact on us personally I'm grateful to have him as my only brother for 73 years I've received rich inspiring legacy in his love his affirmation an encouragement to be just the me that God created me to be we thank you for Eugene's relentless call to faithfulness in prayer working scripture deeply into our hearts and the care of our own Souls and encouragement to care for the souls of others he gave us courage to resist the efforts of the world to squeeze us into its mold and letting the Holy Spirit shape each of us into the unique expression of God's nature that his will for us expressed in Christ Jesus as our hearts are softened by grieving this loss we pray that you'll strip away all this false and superficial in us help us each one of us to run with endurance the race marked out for us thank you for the gift of Eugene's life the name of Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith amen [Music] [Music] Christ um quickly [Music] [Music] right [Music] that's one sort [Music] lass [Music] finally friends insurance certain hope of the Resurrection to eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord I declare that the baptism of Eugene oil and Peterson is now complete blessed are the dead who die in the Lord says the spirit they rest from their Labour's and their works follow him now receive this blessing may the Lord bless you and keep you the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you deep and eternal peace in the name of God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Spirit [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] and the light [Music] Oh God now let your servants have seen your same [Music] you

Channel: jaker599371

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Keywords: Eugene Peterson, The Message, Eugene Peterson Funeral, Peterson Memorial

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Length: 94min 1sec (5641 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 07 2018