Did you hear? Grandma Schultz died last night. The news was not really unexpected because she had had a bad winter with flu and cough sort of hanging on, and she was up in years. Yet the news left everyone sort of sad. They had all known Granmma Schultz. She had been in this church and this town all her life. Was born here, grew up here, had much family here, and everyone knew gramm’s touch when illness or sadness struck. She was there.
For years she had sung in the choir. She was ready with a pot of soup and a word of cheer when illness struck; she introduced people around when they moved to town and were new to the congregation. She was regular at Bible studies, held morning coffees in her home to help people meet and feel at home. She always had a garden full of produce to share, and can, and flowers for anyone who asked. Often her flowers graced the altar for a service.
People would miss seeing her at Church. Always there with her family, and when they married and left, with her husband, till he had died several years ago. Now alone, but always with a ready smile and a cheerful word for old and young.
People came to her for advice in trouble, or just to hear a warm word of encouragement from Scripture. Yes, she read the Bible much, prayed often, and was an eager student of Luther. She knew Church history, and the struggles that have gone into keeping the doctrine pure. She knew the history of the church, and so was aware of the many disasters that a church faces in this sin-riddled world.
What brings all this to mind is the funerals we have been seeing at our Church lately. All children of God, “Born again of water and the Spirit”, and their lives showed the Holy Spirit’s presence. One was a member of Houston pioneer families, another as born in Germany, still anther only in her 30’s. Yet all part of God’s family.
That is what a Church is. It hears His Word, it follows His teaching, and the Spirit leads and directs this Church in the way He will have it go. It’s desire always is “Send forth Your light and Your Truth, let them guide me” Ps. 43,3. And in this Word, this Bible, the Church finds its food, from this flows its strength, in it lies comfort for times of trouble. And the Church knows and trusts God, for it confesses always that “The LORD is my Shepherd, I shall not want.”
Yes, in Holy Baptism we are “born again’ and are, indeed, children of God.
GPD 2/17/08
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