There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under heaven... A time to be born, and a time to die... Life is full of partings. No matter how close our relationships with our loved ones, we cannot have them with us 24 hours every day. We have to part with them from time to time. The more we love someone, the more painful is the parting we feel. It is often only when we have to part with someone that we realize how much they mean to us. And while that might be true of the ordinary partings in life, it is of course, even more true of the parting caused by death. Death is the most irrevocable parting of all. And in the case of a sudden death, such as Jerry's has been, we are not even given a chance to say a proper goodbye. We haven't had a chance to tell him what he meant to us.... to tell him what was on our heart... how much we valued him and loved him. But, I want to tell you, even as you feel the pain of Jerry's passing today, that not all partings are devoid of joy. We can be happy that he has gone to better things. In the sadness of Jerry's sudden passing, the Bible comes to our aid. The night before Jesus died, his disciples were plunged into despair at the thought that He was leaving them. But He said to them, "You have sorrow now, but I will see you again and your hearts will rejoice". In other words, death does not have to be an everlasting parting. Jerry has not gone from us forever.He has not disappeared into nothingness, he has not ceased to exist. He has merely gone to that farther shore on the other side of the lake...that shore which is the final desitnation of us all. I love this time of year...the fall. I am always struck by the sheer beauty of the trees in their fall beauty...the golds and the reds and the remaining greens. I enjoy going out into the bush at this time of the year, to soak myself in the harmony of the fall colours. It is my favourite time of year, I am sure. Deep down inside, though, I know, as we all know, what this colourful patchwork means. We know what it means to see the leaves change colours, to see the first frosts cover the ground and the gardens. It is the unavoidable, relentless cycle of the seasons, and we know, as surely as the sun courses across the sky, that the seasons will continue their cycle, the leaves will all fall from their branches. We know that soon dark billowing clouds will appear, and the first sprinkling of snow will gently settle across the land and we will slip into the cold, sharp deepfreeze of winter. And so, we learn to live the life that we have been given by God. Life is a gift, to be cherished, not squandered or abused. We live and we learn to expect the inevitable decline that we face as the seasons pass and we move from the autumn of our existence into the cold of winter, to eventually experience the inevitable, as we pass from this life into God's merciful hands. But we learn to live, not focussing on our end, but living life to the fullest, enjoying the gift and the beauty of life. That's how Jerry lived...finding fulfillment in all that he did...finding joy in the relationships he'd made...appreciating his time...sharing his joy and love and goodness with all of us. If the seasons teach us anything, it is that death does not have the last word. For as surely as the sun crosses the sky, the days will lengthen and there will appear, once agian that day when the temperature slips over the freezing point. The first trickle of water will appear, the snowbanks will shrink, and the first green will peek through the once frozen soil, to begin the cycle anew. The bush will once again teem with life and the dance of creation will continue for yet another year, until once again, the killing frosts seize the land. And so we are promised the cycle will continue, until that day promised by the Creator, when all will be made new, and out of the cold darkness of death will come life. We are promised by the Creator, who set the planets and the stars in the sky...who set time on its unending course...that in the end all will be made new...where there eill be no more crying or pain...where loneliness and bitterness will be ended...where life itself will blossom forevermore. It is in this promise that we can find our greatest comfort...that in the end the Creator will make all things right...we will be reunited withour loved ones...with Jerry...to live in the glory of the new creation, where death shall be no more. This parting is not goodbye...it is only goodnight, we will meet again at the dawning of the new creation on that farther shore on the other side of the lake...For this is the promise of God. Alleluia!