Revelation 21:1-5: funeral sermon
I would like to thank you again for
coming to the service today. As I said
at the beginning, this is a time for us to celebrate Mavis's life. Of course, we all know that in many ways the
last few years have been very difficult for Mavis and for you as you have
watched her struggle with illness. But
it is important that even while we acknowledge how difficult that has been, we
are able to celebrate the full picture of who she has been, of all the she has
given to you.
It seems to me from talking to Bill
that Mavis was someone who was relied upon by others throughout her life. From an early age following her mother's
death Mavis was the one who had to look after her family. Then during the war when she was in
Edinburgh she became a nurse, and others relied on her there for their health
and well-being. And of course,
returning from Edinburgh, she met the man who relied on her for so many years,
and on whom she came to depend as well.
From their first meeting at a dance to a married life of nearly 47
years, Bill and Mavis have known and learnt what it is to rely on another
person. Their marriage has been one
of joys but also of learning to love
each other through thick and thin, for better, for worse. They have lived what they promised to one
another. Bill has told me how the
trials that he and Mavis have faced have in fact drawn them closer and deeper
together. This is the testimony of a
true marriage. And as a family you have
had to make some difficult choices for Mavis, and in the faithfulness you have
shown her you have revealed yourselves to be those who can be relied upon. Bill, especially today, we pay tribute to
you for the love and care you have shown your wife over the years, particularly
through her illnesses.
And of course John and Peter had to
rely on their mother for their upbringing.
She was the kind of mother who would make an effort to do the difficult
things being a parent required, like learning to swim so that she could join in
with the boys. As a family you enjoyed
camping and cottage holidays, memories of happy times and a life together which
has stood you in good stead over the past years. As the extended family grew, Mavis could be relied on to be a
loving and caring grandmother.
Mavis knew that she could not rely
on her body-she had to endure so many things, but remained brave
throughout. Bill told me that you would
not come across a braver person. She
wouldn't show that she was worried about operations, and she endured 13 trips
to Hammersmith to check on her arteries.
Despite all this discomfort and the frustration of the last two and a
half years following her stroke, Mavis was someone who loved life-knitting, her
dogs, walking, gardening, and she enthused others with her optimism and her
smile. She was someone who talked with
her looks, someone with a smile to remember, and as one of the carers at
Wroughton quoted, "she's sticks in your mind."
And Mavis was someone who knew that
she had to rely on a power much stronger than her. She relied on her God, the God she worshipped here so faithfully,
where her boys sang his praises in the choir.
"O love that will not let me go," we sang in our first
hymn. The man who wrote those words,
George Matheson, did so immediately
after his fiancee had broken off their engagement because of his growing
blindness. As he sat there with his
vision deteriorating around him, his torch of sight flickering, he knew that
despite all the pain of his life the one thing he could rely on was the joy
that sought him through pain, the love that at the very start had given him
life.
Throughout our lives it's good when
we can rely on each other, and as we face difficulties we face them better
together. But through pain and joy the
one we can really rely on is the one who promises to wipe away every tear from
our eyes, to abolish death and mourning and crying and pain, to make all things
new. The Jesus who is the beginning and
the end is the one who we can rely on through death. In fact, he is the only one qualified for the journey. He promises us that what the Bible calls a
new creation of everything-our souls, our bodies, even the world we live in-a
new heavens and a new earth-awaits those who trust in God. Mavis was a woman you could rely on, and
that is something to rejoice in. But
today we can rely on the greater promise that for Mavis now there is no more
pain no more suffering. The home of God
is with her, he dwells with her and she is his. God himself is with her.
As we face our lives without her, he calls us now to rely on him.