February 16, 2017
Funeral for Loren L. Bahe
Funeral for Loren L. Bahe
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,
as we gather today seeing that the veil of death has been drawn, we mourn
Loren’s passing, but know and have heard the promise You made to him of eternal
life. Not only did you model for him care
and concern, but you instilled in him and he and Tam passed down to Mike and
Kim lessons of love that have not only formed and shaped who they are not only
as his children, but Yours through the most intimate connection. That connection comes through Loren’s and our
baptism into Your Son Jesus Christ, life, death, but especially His
resurrection. And though, because of
death it seems the connection is broken, because of our faith in You, we believe
it is not and we can be comforted by that knowledge today and every day. May we who gather to say goodbye be comforted
through the Gospel of Your Son, Jesus Christ and through its healing salve,
which is the most powerful medicine, may we be enabled to understand Your love
for us, but especially for Loren as now he and his betrothed Tam are back
together again being held in Your loving arms for all eternity. AMEN.
As we prepared for today, to remember and celebrate Loren’s life,
there were for everyone, from Mike, Kim, Deneyce, Jason and others so many not
only good memories, but great memories. From
Loren’s always having the best looking shoes, because he not only was an expert
in footwear, because he owned three shoe stores in two states. Loren had a passion for kids, not only caring
for his own kids, but countless others here in town when he ran the ‘Teen Club’. To the clear connection that Loren had with
his wife Tam. Never a harsh word was
spoken or disagreement except behind closed doors. They were always together sharing the highs
and lows of not only rural farm life, but also raising Mike and Kim and in the
most intimate way sharing, caring and showing his love and understanding but
especially instilling a work ethic that was clear and today is rare in our
society.
One catch phrase that epitomized Loren’s ethic was simply stated,
but revealed the bedrock of his character instilled both by his parents William
and Nannie, but also his time in the United States Army. It was said, you “gotta work before we
play”. At times the work whether at the
lake or on the farm overcame the play, but the memories created, the character
formed in Mike and Kim and what they have passed down can be clearly and
directly linked to Loren and Tam and their insuring that their family came
first and their children would never want for anything.
As we sat around the table yesterday, we were looking at some of
the pictures that you can see this morning on the screens on the sun deck and
the narthex on the west. One clear
connection that leapt out at me is that Loren was confirmed, married and now
will be buried from here in this very sanctuary. The thread that runs throughout Loren’s life
is the importance of church, but especially God in his life. And this clear connection comes from the
Gospel we heard only moments ago.
Jesus said very clearly that “For this is the will of My Father, that
everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life…” Loren believed in God and with his betrothed,
Tam, clearly instilled in Mike and Kim and others, a moral compass that has
served them well. But it didn’t stop
with a moral compass. The bedrock of who
and Whose they were found its root in the clear belief in God. Was this clearly visible to all people? Probably not, because Loren was a very
private and quiet man, who only let down his guard with the people he knew,
trusted and loved. This closeness and
connection wasn’t just for his two children, but has grown with each addition
to the family and the clear bonds shared with one another in celebrating
birthdays, 4th of July, around a fire ring at Trenton or sharing a
bowl of churned homemade ice cream or with a piece of chocolate cake with icing
an inch thick, the way God intended it.
This intimate connection that was known, loved and cherished by
those close to Loren, even including his grandson Jason and his family and
great grandchildren, now finds its fulfillment with God’s gift of “eternal
life” found in the final promise from John 6, where Jesus says, “everyone
who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself
will raise him up on the last day”.
For today fulfills the gift of eternal life from Jesus Christ to Loren that
he was baptized into when the Pastor made the sign of the Cross over his
forehead and heart. Today the
exclamation point is placed at the end of the sentence that Loren laid claim to
in his Confirmation at this this very rail.
Today God fulfills the gift of eternal life as we lay him to rest next
to Tam. Today we celebrate the
completion of not only the circle of life, but Loren’s entrance into eternity
and the fulfillment of eternal life.
For though it may seem that death has won today, God, through His
Son, Jesus Christ reveals to we who
gather a fuller picture of God’s grace and love for us. We who gather are empowered and called to believe
the offer of grace, not only that was offered and laid claim to by Loren, but
that we share with one another of the free gift of grace and eternal life
through Jesus Christ. For this is as Loren
would hear Paul Harvey say while driving his brown pickup, is the ‘rest of the
story’. It is a clear demonstration of
God’s patience with us and His clearly embracing us, not only in our baptism,
but today with the fulfillment of His promise of eternal life, today for Loren
and one day for each of us.
May we as we gather to say our final goodbyes, look not with
doubt, but with eyes of faith not only believing “that my redeemer lives”. But that today, God has given us the faith to
believe and know the truth found in His Son and Loren’s Savior, of eternal life
with Jesus Christ, where now Loren rests in Jesus loving embrace hand in hand
with his betrothed, Tam and one day with each and every one of us. AMEN.
Now may the peace of God which surpasses all human understanding guard
and comfort each of us this morning as we commend Loren back to His Lord and
our Savior, Jesus Christ. AMEN.
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