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! Gracious Lord
of heaven and earth, in our mourning for Kathryn we have heard Your voice of
comfort and peace that enables us to not fear death, but embrace it with her
entrance into Your Kingdom. When Kathryn
was cleansed with the waters of baptism at St. Paul’s Lutheran, You promised
her eternal life and have fulfilled it for her and we are here today to
celebrate it. May we be comforted with
the salve of Your Gospel message and the offer of grace for her and each and
every one of us. For though the veil of
death does separate us today from Kathryn, Your love overcomes and connects us
to her and You through our belief in the forgiveness of sins freely offered by
Your Son Jesus Christ on Calvary for all of mankind, especially including
Kathryn and all of the saints of her family and friends as we gather here at
Emmanuel to say goodbye. AMEN.
If you take 1 egg, enough flour, a pinch of salt and broth for
boiling, anybody could try and make homemade noodles. If I lived on a rural farm in Northwest
Kansas and if I wanted to do it the old fashioned way in making homemade
noodles, I would have eggs that my own chickens laid, wheat flour from the harvest
of my own fields and even the broth would come from the chickens that I had
raised from chicks and butchered in the back yard. The salt I would have to buy when in town
unless I was lucky enough to find a natural salt lick which are not that common
here in Western Kansas. Granted I’m not the best cook in the world, but this
simple recipe for homemade noodles would get me started.
Kathryn on the other hand having grown up here in Northwestern
Kansas was a master at making homemade noodles, cakes and everything that would
satisfy the hunger of anybody who graced her table or darkened her doorstep. Kathryn couldn’t just sit around, she always
was moving and the sparkle in her eye always seeing what was happening and
hearing even the most-minute sounds even caused one to wonder if she had a
sixth sense or a heightened sense of smell.
Self-sufficiency here in Western Kansas on the farm was not only a
necessity, but a requirement in Cheyenne and Sherman County and Kathryn and her
family knew how to live on what God provided on the farm and make it last and
stretch. The greatest love for Kathryn was
cooking, cleaning and taking care of her family, from her own kids to her grandkids. Whether it was playing hide the thimble or
Old Maid, trying to play catch with Dallas in the yard, making crafts and
growing garden vegetables to enter at the fair, or even making mouthwatering
meals, whether of simple shakes or the pies and delicacies that sold for even
by her own reckoning for more than they were worth, Kathryn was the epitome of
a home maker and a true farmers wife here on the plains of Northwestern Kansas.
As a home maker, Kathryn knew what worked and what didn’t, what
tasted good and what didn’t and she wasn’t afraid to let you know, but in her
own feisty and loving way. There wasn’t
a recipe that she couldn’t make sing like angels and fill the hunger that
sounded from the pit of anyone’s stomach.
Yet, that hunger wasn’t just about recipe’s or food, it was also a
hunger that she had nourished in a far different way and at a more familiar
setting for we who gather here this morning.
You see Kathryn learned from a young age the importance of church and
how the greatest cook was Jesus Christ.
The recipe for eternal life that Jesus shared and showed Kathryn
was of her being saved in the waters of baptism at St. Paul’s Lutheran
Church. When the Pastor by the command
of God and invitation of her parents poured the waters of baptism called for in
the recipe of salvation and eternal life, over Kathryn’s head, Jesus Christ called
and made Kathryn His own. With the
words, “I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Spirit”, Kathryn became a child of God and the recipe of eternal life
and salvation that began in the Garden of Eden and was fulfilled on the Cross
of Calvary was brought closer to completion for Kathryn in her own life. For in that simple action of Kathryn’s
parents bringing her to the font and the right elements of Water and Word
intimately combined when brought together made Kathryn no longer just an infant
child barely 16 days old, but orchestrated the greatest recipe for eternal life
for her and for each of us in our baptism.
We gather here today, not just to mourn, but to hear of the
ultimate completion and fulfillment of the recipe of salvation for all of
mankind, but especially for Kathryn this morning as we celebrate her entrance
into the church triumphant and eternal life.
Usually with recipe’s there is some ‘wiggle room’ that most good cooks
like Kathryn had, where they could stretch one way or another depending upon
the weather, the directions and the desired outcome and make the ingredients
hum. And Jesus Christ is no slouch at
this either, Jesus knew exactly what was required of Him in order for Kathryn
and all of us to be saved and have eternal life. This wiggle room is what Jesus Christ was
willing to offer on the Cross of Calvary and which Kathryn and each of us was
baptized into. But it didn’t stop with
her, Kathryn continued with her own children being brought to font for baptism
and being raised here in the church and learning about the gift of eternal life
that God offers for all of mankind.
You see, the gift that Jesus Christ gave to Kathryn on April 15,
1927 in Water and Word was the perfect recipe that we gather here today to celebrate
its completion and are reminded of not only by the Pall that covers the casket,
but reminds us of the promises made to and for each of us in our Baptism. We are finally bringing the finished product
out of the boiling pot of broth in the homemade noodles or out from the oven
and enjoying the fruits of God for Kathryn from the recipe of eternal
life. For the promises have been
fulfilled and completed and we celebrate Kathryn’s entrance into heaven and
eternal life. You see, the Great
Shepherd, Jesus Christ walked with Kathryn during her entire life, from her
baptism, her confirmation, marriage, birth of her children and the burial of
her betrothed. And God did not abandon
her then and especially in her last days, for God has fulfilled her entrance
into the church triumphant. Jesus Christ
like when David wrote the 23rd Psalm walked through the ‘valley
of the shadow of death’ with her and insured Kathryn’s entrance into
paradise and the fulfillment of the promise of eternal life for her as well as
for all of us.
We who gather this morning can be assured of God’s promises are fulfilled
for Kathryn today, for Paul’s confession of Kathryn’s ‘being justified by faith’
and which gives us the greatest peace through our Lord Jesus Christ strengthens
and comforts us as we mourn. For not
only can we have peace, but assurance that God has ‘prepared a place’ for
Kathryn in His kingdom and God has sent His Holy Spirit unto us today to not
only comfort us as we mourn, but remind and embolden us to lay claim to the
demonstration of His love toward Kathryn and unto each of us gathered here
today in God’s Son, Jesus Christ. This
was the recipe of eternal life that God orchestrated for Kathryn and that we
lay claim to today and remember was and is offered for all of mankind, including
all of us saints gathered here at Emmanuel to say goodbye to Kathryn. AMEN.
Now may the peace of God which surpasses all human understanding guard our hearts and minds and comfort us today, because of what Jesus Christ did for Kathryn and each one of us! AMEN!
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