Text     Romans 8:31-39

       Theme     Now what?

      Subject     Living the Resurrection Faith

   Occasion     Funeral of Carrie Lewis – 12/5/07 – Zion Lutheran, Iowa City

 

Erv, Bob, Sandy, Howard, Linda,

Friends in Christ,

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

 

Carrie Odessa Graper Lewis

Granddaughter     Daughter     Sister          Cousin

Wife           Mother                 Grandmother        Great-grandmother

Friend                  Co-worker

Child of God

 

I never met Carrie but I’ve come to know her

         Through her relationships

                  Her children

                           Her friends at church

         The photographs

                  The stories

                           The eulogy

 

Yesterday morning I walked to where Carrie’s house and rose garden once stood.

         I went into where I imagined the house stood

                  Where I imagined the alley was

                           Where I imagined the roses grew

 

Standing there

I tried to imagine the neighborhood

for those three decades of raising children.

My imagining is influenced by my own childhood

                  about the same time

                           with three brothers

                                    growing up in another Iowa university-town.

Hold that thought.

- - - - - - -

Saint Paul asks, “What then shall we say to this?” (Rom. 8:31)

         Paul has in mind (see previous verses)

                  Our being predestined

                  Our being called

                  Our being justified

                  Our being glorified.

That’s all in the preceding verse, “What then shall we say to all this?”

         Especially now at a time like this

                  Facing death

                           Carrie’s death.

What about

Predestined?                  Called?        Justified?     Glorified?

 

Comes the question:

         Now what?

 

My Mom would say that: Now what? (with a note of exhaustion)

         I’ve said that: Now what? (with a note of weariness)

                  My bishop has said that to me: Now what? (with a note of frustration)

And, I suspect that Carrie said it more than once.

Now what?

 

The question can be innocent enough. Now what? (with a note of excitement)

         It can be spoken in many and various ways

 

When a person is full of years (94)

         When doctors can explain why body systems and functions fail after time

We might ask, “Now what? (with a note of wondering)

and we could make a list of all that must be done.

 

But in faith, there’s more at stake

much more at stake

 

Death is the last enemy

         always enemy

                  never friend

“What then shall we say to all this?” (Rom 8:31)

 

Now what? (looking toward the future)

         Now that a fun loving

                           hard working

                                    God fearing woman

                                             has died

         Now what? (matter of fact)

 

Though I did not know Carrie Lewis

         I do know her Lord

 

 

And with tenacity equal to St. Paul’s

we can be confident that

“Nothing in all of creation can separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Rom. 8:39)

 

Carrie’s legacy is lived out among us.

         The work ethic and good humor of her children

                  The standards with which she maintained her relationships.

 

Especially her contentment with life.

         No, her life wasn’t easy.

                  Yet Carrie showed a way

                           a way to live the faith

                           a way to do her work

                           a way to raise her kids with principles.

 

Observers thought Carrie’s family meals on Sunday exceptional

         How did she do it?

                  How did she knit those values into her children?

 

Then there’s all those students at the University of Iowa

         students she worked with

                  and those thousands that passed her cashier’s chair the last years.

The volunteering at the Senior Center

         The volunteering here at Zion – a member for 66 years

 

Carrie, like all of us, touched lives with a glance or a word or a conversation

All this is Carrie’s legacy of life and faith

 

Yet most I heard stories of Carrie’s gardens

         her flowers; her roses

Can we dare to imagine her to have been a flower child?

         Knowing the blessing flowers bring – living outside the box

Cutting one and giving it to a stranger walking the alley en route to the hospital

This is the very same grandma with “a need for speed”

 

Carrie discovered something in life

         I’m not sure when or where

No one told me

Maybe no one knows

Carrie discovered something remarkable that many miss

         that giving is a means to enjoying life

                  whether playing cards, cooking meals, bus trips and more

Being with others is central to the privilege of giving

This is the very path the Savior walked

 

Jesus welcoming children

         Feeding thousands

                  Welcoming the sick and strangers

         Sounds like Carrie to me

 

Now what?

 

Carrie followed Jesus’ way

         We get to go the same way: Jesus’ way; Carrie’

                  We are people of The Way.

                           Trusting always in the sure and certain hope.