May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts
be pleasing in Your sight O Lord, our rock and our redeemer!! AMEN!!
Let us pray!
Heavenly Father, we come together today mourning the loss of Lowell Dean
with his entrance into the Church Triumphant.
Enable we who hear Your message of salvation offered for all mankind to
understand that though the veil of death separates us today, Your promises from
the Cross are for each of us who mourn.
Sooth our hearts this morning with the salve of the Gospel and allow the
Gospel to be heard clearly by all of his family and friends who gather here
this morning to say goodbye. AMEN.
With a hammer and nails a carpenter can build almost
anything. When I visited where my father
grew up in Northeast Iowa, I visited with many different people who knew my
grandfather Frank. You see Frank, my
grandfather was a carpenter just like Lowell Dean. With the tools of his trade on the back of
his beaten up, hand painted pick-up there were many farms, families, houses and
homes that had been built by my grandfather.
From steps to the cellar, to the foundation of a chicken house to pole
barns on farms to sidewalks in the town, Frank had touched many different
places as well people in the local community of Fort Atkinson, Iowa. I bet Lowell Dean as well could drive through
Goodland and point out each of the places that he had worked and the people
that he helped and had met along the way.
Ironically Jesus Christ was also a carpenter as well. With his father Joseph being a well-known
carpenter Jesus Christ learned from Joseph all the ins and outs of being a
master carpenter here on earth. From the
construction of corrals to hold livestock to homes for families to grow old in,
Jesus as a carpenter also in His hometown of Nazareth easily knew every home he
had worked at during His life. But what
is ironic is that Jesus Christ wasn’t just a small town carpenter, He was the
Great Carpenter of our universe.
In our Gospel reading this morning we heard how Jesus
Christ the great carpenter had to go to prepare a place. Jesus as any good carpenter went to prepare a
place for all of mankind including Lowell Dean and each and every one of
us. The promises that Jesus makes to us
in the Gospel this morning is fully fulfilled on the Cross of Jesus Christ with
His life, death and especially His resurrection. Jesus went to prepare a place,
build it and make it ready for our eternal entrance into His kingdom.
Jesus went and prepared a place in order that “there
you may be also”. This promise is
fulfilled in our hearing this morning for Lowell Dean. Because of Jesus Christ preparation, God has prepared
the place for Lowell Dean and each and every one of us to live for
eternity. For Jesus Christ through His
life, death and resurrection for all of mankind prepared a place for all of
us. This is the promise that we lay
claim to this morning, this is the promise that a humble carpenter made to
Lowell Dean and makes to each of us this morning. May we not only hear God’s promises, but heed
and understand that we may not doubt like Thomas, but believe this is for all
of mankind, including Lowell Dean and each and every one of us gathered here to
say goodbye. AMEN.
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