Sermon: Funeral of Gretel Verret

16 October 2020

Text: John 14:1-6 (Job 19:23-27a, Rom 14:7-9)

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

Dear friends, peace be with you!

Gretel was an intense person.  And she was brutally honest.  Some might be shocked at her candor and directness, especially in this day and age of political correctness and syrupy niceness.  And when it came to her faith, Gretel was very blunt with me: she believed in Jesus, she knew that she was a sinner, she demanded absolution for her sins, and she insisted on receiving the body and blood of Christ as often as possible.  Not because she was worthy, but because Jesus is worthy!

She knew well the passage from Job that I read – which is also quoted in a hymn often sung at our church: “I know that my Redeemer lives.”  In this passage, Job confesses this very reality, that he needed a Redeemer, and his Redeemer lives.  And because of this Redeemer: our Lord Jesus Christ, Gretel confessed with Job that she would die, and her skin would be destroyed, but nevertheless, in her flesh, she would see God.  Just as we confessed in the creed that Gretel knew so well: “I believe in… the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting.”  Gretel received the body and blood of Christ, who rose from the dead, knowing that she too would rise from the dead.  And she believed and confessed this with the typical Gretel intensity.

Gretel had the perfect Christian attitude toward death.  She knew it was coming, but she wanted to live as long as God gave her breath.  She had a sense of purpose in caring for her dogs, but she also knew that God would call her home at some point.  And as her body became more and more frail, she became fine with living or dying – according to God’s will.  And indeed, she lived a long life of 90 years as a baptized Christian making her way in this fallen world.  As St. Paul said, “If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord.  So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.”  There is both a realism and a sense of joy in this sentiment.  For Gretel, like St. Paul, took life as it came, and was not afraid to die.  She didn’t care much for the aches and pains of age, but she took up her cross and lived out the life that her Creator gave her.

And in spite of her attitude that could come across as harsh –Gretel told me many, many times how much she loved and appreciated the many people in the neighborhood who looked after her when she was living alone on Romain Street.  And many times when I was visiting Gretel, Sarah from across the street would already be there, or would show up to check on her. 

Of course, Gretel read voraciously until her cataracts became too bad to read.  She had quite an eclectic taste in books: things about animals, British royalty, but she also read the Bible.  She knew it well, and she loved to hear me read the Word of God to her. 

She knew the Gospel, and she knew about Jesus – the fact that He died for her, He shed his blood on the cross for her, to forgive her sins, and to give her eternal life.  And when she had to leave her home and move to the nursing home, she was not happy.  She had a real love of her home.  But she also understood that her true home was with Jesus, who said, “In My Father’s house are many rooms… I go and prepare a place for you… and will take you to Myself.” 

Gretel is now at home with Jesus in eternity, in heaven.  And she, like us, awaits the Day of Resurrection, when her body will be restored, when we will be physically reunited, when we join Job in seeing God in the flesh, with our own eyes, with bodies that no longer ache or age or wear out.  This is the “resurrection of the body and the life everlasting.”  This is indeed what St. Paul meant by saying that even in death, “we are the Lord’s” – for He is indeed our Redeemer who lives! 

And this is also what it means that Jesus speaks to us anew today, saying, “Let not your hearts be troubled.  Believe in God; believe also in Me.  In My Father’s house are many rooms.  If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?”

Gretel lived her life with intensity.  She was able to do so because of her Christian faith.  For she read, she heard, she believed, and she confessed what her Redeemer said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through Me.”  Let us confess this Gospel with Gretel, looking forward to seeing her again in the flesh in eternity.

Amen.

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.