A SERVICE OF DEATH AND RESURRECTION for Hosea G. Richards, Sr.
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GATHERING
GATHERING
Dying, Christ destroyed our death.
Rising, Christ restored our life.
Christ will come again in glory.
As in baptism Hosea (pronounced Jose) put on Christ,
so in Christ may Hosea be clothed with glory.
Here and now, dear friends, we are God's children.
What we shall be has not yet been revealed;
but we know that when he appears, we shall be like him,
for we shall see him as he is.
Those who have this hope purify themselves
as Christ is pure.
THE WORD OF GRACE
THE WORD OF GRACE
Jesus said, I am the resurrection and I am life.
Those who believe in me, even though they die, yet shall they live,
and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die.
I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.
I died, and behold I am alive for evermore,
and I hold the keys of hell and death.
Because I live, you shall live also
GREETING
GREETING
Friends, we have gathered here to praise God
and to witness to our faith as we celebrate the life of Hosea G. Richards, Sr.
We come together in grief, acknowledging our human loss.
May God grant us grace, that in pain we may find comfort,
in sorrow hope, in death resurrection.
PRAYER *
PRAYER *
Let us pray.
O God, who gave us birth,
you are ever more ready to hear
than we are to pray.
You know our needs before we ask,
and our ignorance in asking.
Give to us now your grace,
that as we shrink before the mystery of death,
we may see the light of eternity.
Speak to us once more
your solemn message of life and of death.
Help us to live as those who are prepared to die.
And when our days here are accomplished,
enable us to die as those who go forth to live,
so that living or dying, our life may be in you,
and that nothing in life or in death will be able to separate us
from your great love in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
PROCLAMATION AND RESPONSE
PROCLAMATION AND RESPONSE
NEW TESTAMENT LESSON
NEW TESTAMENT LESSON
Revelation 21:1-7 (NLT)
Revelation 21:1-7 (NLT)
1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. 2 And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.” 5 And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” And then he said to me, “Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.” 6 And he also said, “It is finished! I am the Alpha and the Omega—the Beginning and the End. To all who are thirsty I will give freely from the springs of the water of life. 7 All who are victorious will inherit all these blessings, and I will be their God, and they will be my children.
GOSPEL LESSON*
GOSPEL LESSON*
John 11:1-4, 20-27, 32-35, 38-44
1 A man named Lazarus was sick. He lived in Bethany with his sisters, Mary and Martha. 2 This is the Mary who later poured the expensive perfume on the Lord’s feet and wiped them with her hair. Her brother, Lazarus, was sick. 3 So the two sisters sent a message to Jesus telling him, “Lord, your dear friend is very sick.” 4 But when Jesus heard about it he said, “Lazarus’s sickness will not end in death. No, it happened for the glory of God so that the Son of God will receive glory from this...”
20 When Martha got word that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him. But Mary stayed in the house. 21 Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask.” 23 Jesus told her, “Your brother will rise again.” 24 “Yes,” Martha said, “he will rise when everyone else rises, at the last day.” 25 Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. 26 Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die. Do you believe this, Martha?” 27 “Yes, Lord,” she told him. “I have always believed you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who has come into the world from God...”
32 When Mary arrived and saw Jesus, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died.” 33 When Jesus saw her weeping and saw the other people wailing with her, a deep anger welled up within him, and he was deeply troubled. 34 “Where have you put him?” he asked them. They told him, “Lord, come and see.” 35 Then Jesus wept...
38 Jesus was still angry as he arrived at the tomb, a cave with a stone rolled across its entrance. 39 “Roll the stone aside,” Jesus told them. But Martha, the dead man’s sister, protested, “Lord, he has been dead for four days. The smell will be terrible.” 40 Jesus responded, “Didn’t I tell you that you would see God’s glory if you believe?” 41 So they rolled the stone aside. Then Jesus looked up to heaven and said, “Father, thank you for hearing me. 42 You always hear me, but I said it out loud for the sake of all these people standing here, so that they will believe you sent me.” 43 Then Jesus shouted, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 And the dead man came out, his hands and feet bound in graveclothes, his face wrapped in a headcloth. Jesus told them, “Unwrap him and let him go!”
SERMON
SERMON
What a powerful message we receive from this Gospel reading in John.
Did you catch what it said there two-thirds of the way through the reading?
It said, “When Jesus saw her weeping and saw the other people wailing with her, a deep anger welled up within Him, and He was deeply troubled.
Jesus wasn’t angry at Martha or Mary for questioning him…
He wasn’t angry at the people there for crying and wailing…
After all, it says that Jesus himself was weeping…
The anger that welled up in Jesus came from his own grief…
He had lost a dear friend…someone whom he loved as a brother or a cousin…someone close to him…
He was witnessing the pain it was causing Lazarus’ sisters Martha and Mary…whom he also loved…
He was witnessing the pain it was causing Lazarus’ family and friends…
And, again, he was experiencing the pain that it was causing him…
AND HE GOT ANGRY…
Anger is a part of the grieving process.
It’s natural for us to go through these different stages of grief…
To be in denial of the death of a loved one…
To get angry that they died…
angry with the person,
angry with others,
angry with God.
To find ourselves bargaining with God to have things return back to the way they were.
To find ourselves utterly and totally depressed
And, hopefully, we eventually get to a place of acceptance and peace…
Jesus was angry and he began to weep.
His friend’s death was sudden and not expected.
It wasn’t a part of Jesus’ plan.
Rather, Lazarus suddenly fell ill and, as a result, died.
Yes, Jesus knew that Lazarus would live again, but that still didn’t erase the feeling of finality that we all experience in death.
What a powerful message for us this afternoon because, though we wish we weren’t
We find ourselves in a similar situation as Jesus was in.
Someone dear to you, someone you loved and you knew intimately…
Someone who loved you back and who supported you and filled your souls with joy…
Someone who you were invested in and who was invested back in you...
Has passed on from this life and...
Here…we…are…
Grieving the loss of Hosea…
Grieving what once was…
Kinship, friendship, loving relationship…
Here we are grieving what once was but is seemingly no longer.
Sadly, I never got to know Hosea, though I understand he…
I have heard what a simple, loving, hard working, loyal, and devoted man he was
He was a loving and devoted son, friend, husband, father, and grandfather.
He was a patriot who was proud to serve his country honorably During World War II.
He worked hard and long for the Sprint Telephone Company...
Hosea was a charter member of the Andover Twp. Fire Depart ment
and the oldest member at the Newton VFW, as well as a lifelong Legionnaire.
You all, on the other hand, did know him
And you know doubt touched his life as much as he has touched yours..
One thing I am sure of is that Hosea loved his family and he loved his friends…
And he didn’t just love his friends and family…he was very much loved by them too.
As you all can attest to, Hosea was a caring and compassionate man.
He knew what it meant to love and sacrifice for his family…
I can also tell he loved life!
He loved the simple things in life.
Bowling, playing football, and playing softball well into his 70s.
In short, as much as you loved sharing in his life,
Hosea loved sharing in your lives as well.
He loved life and, no doubt, he was ready to experience more of it…
I can only imagine, even at 97 and having seen it all, he had more life he had hoped to live and yet his life came suddenly to an end.
So many hopes and expectations…gone…
Yes, friends, we are grieving the loss of Hosea today.
So, acknowledging our grief, what a powerful message for us this evening
because we believe in a God who is not only with us in our grief,
but we believe in a God who has experienced grief…
Who knew the pain of losing a father…
Who knew the pain of losing his best friend…
Who knew the pain of living life in the day-to-day struggle of coping with loss and despair…
Who knew the pain of losing his own life…
and the grief that one goes through in their own journey toward death.
Understand this, when I say that God is with you all in this time of grief, I’m not blowing smoke…
For our God IS WITH US and, more importantly,
our God knows what grief is all about…
what it means to be in denial,
to be angry,
to bargain with God in the darkness of the garden,
to be depressed and in despair...
What’s more, our Lord knows how to lead us to a place of acceptance…
to a place of JOY and to a place of the PEACE that passes all understanding.
What is important to remember is that, while we no longer can see Hosea face-to-face…while we can no longer share in conversation with him…
All that he meant to us,
the legacy of love he built up in his life and shared with you,
can be lived into and embraced.
The best way to honor the people we love, is by showing the love we had for them to each other, and to others…
That our love for those we no longer see grows to include those around us and those beyond our reach.
Humanly speaking, our legacy of love is always complicated…none of us are perfect…but it is LOVE nonetheless and, if we open ourselves up to Christ, we will be perfected in LOVE.
My friends, Jesus Christ did not come to establish a new religion, but to establish God’s Kingdom…and to establish LOVE as the law…
If we build our lives around LOVE, and if we live our lives in LOVE…
We will honor those who came before us and inspire all who follow us…
We will truly find ourselves at peace and filled with purpose.
Let us honor Hosea in such a way…
And to do so TRULY honors God…for God is LOVE…
Let us honor Hosea, live each moment in LOVE, and look forward with HOPE and JOY
For I, like the author of the book of Revelation, firmly believe that:
God is making all things new.
That God will one day wipe the tears from our eyes.
That one day there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain.
That one day we will be in the fullness of God’s presence with the ones we love…
That we will see each other and God face-to-face…
And that we will all know that we are God’s children,
LOVED, embraced, and included in God’s Kingdom. Amen.
REMEMBERING HOSEA
REMEMBERING HOSEA
COMMENDATION
COMMENDATION
PRAYERS *
PRAYERS *
God of us all, your love never ends.
When all else fails, you still are God.
We pray to you for one another in our need,
and for all, anywhere, who mourn with us this day.
To those who doubt, give light;
to those who are weak, strength;
to all who have sinned, mercy;
to all who sorrow, your peace.
Keep true in us
the love with which we hold one another.
In all our ways we trust you.
And to you,
with your Church on earth and in heaven,
we offer honor and glory, now and for ever. Amen.
O God, all that you have given us is yours.
As first you gave Hosea to us,
now we give Hosea back to you.
Receive Hosea into the arms of your mercy.
Raise Hosea up with all your people.
Receive us also, and raise us into a new life.
Help us so to love and serve you in this world
that we may enter into your joy in the world to come.
PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING *
PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING *
God of love, we thank you
for all with which you have blessed us
even to this day:
for the gift of joy in days of health and strength
and for the gifts of your abiding presence and promise
in days of pain and grief.
We praise you for home and friends,
and for our baptism and place in your Church
with all who have faithfully lived and died.
Above all else we thank you for Jesus,
who knew our griefs,
who died our death and rose for our sake,
and who lives and prays for us.
And as he taught us, so now we pray.
THE LORD'S PRAYER *
Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. 10
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. 11
Give us this day our daily bread. 12
And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. 13
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil:
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.1
1 The Holy Bible: King James Version. (2009). (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., Mt 6:9–13). Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
DISMISSAL WITH BLESSING *
DISMISSAL WITH BLESSING *
The peace of God which passes all understanding
keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God,
and of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
And the blessing of God Almighty,
the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
be among you and remain with you always. Amen.
A Service of Committal follows at the final resting place.