Martha Kintzel Funeral Sermon

Martha Kintzel Funeral Sermon
Maundy Thursday, 2018
In The Shadow of God’s Wings, Singing For Joy
 
Psalm 63:  5 My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food,
    and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips,
6 when I remember you upon my bed,
    and meditate on you in the watches of the night;
7 for you have been my help,
    and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy.
8 My soul clings to you;
    your right hand upholds me.
 
Dear Christian Friends,
 
There are one of two ways we can cry as we lay this sweet and spunky Christian woman to rest today.  We can cry as people with no hope or we can cry as people with hope.  We can cry as if caskets and cemeteries have the last word, or we can cry as if our risen Savior has the last word.  We can cry as if our souls are crushed never to be quite the same again or we can cry with souls that are satisfied and focused on the promises of our Good Shepherd to be following us around with goodness and mercy and for us to dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
 
In today’s sermon, we would focus on the now and not yet nature of Christianity. Already in this present life our souls are satisfied as often as we rest in God’s strength and in His grace, and the day is coming when our souls will be satisfied in the very presence of Jesus Christ in paradise.  Already now we live by the grace of God as we behold the Lamb of God who taketh away the guilt of our sins, he takes away the consequences of our sins, he takes away the power of our sins, and the day is coming when we will live face to face with Jesus Christ, all of our tears will be wiped away, death itself will be swallowed up forever.
 
This morning I invite you first of all to reflect on how God was Martha’s helper through all the dangers and despairs of her life, and secondly to think through with me what it means to live through all the ups and downs of life, in the words of the Psalmist, in the shadow of God’s wings, singing for joy.
 
I thought of Martha when I read these words of King David in Psalm 63, 6 when I remember you upon my bed,
    and meditate on you in the watches of the night;
7 for you have been my help,
    and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy.
8 My soul clings to you;
    your right hand upholds me.
 
In the year that Martha was born, Hitler’s party was coming into power, when she was 5 Hitler was named chancellor, as a school aged girl she remembers shaking the hand of Adolph Hitler, when she was 17 the war was just ending, in her late teens and early 20’s the Russians were swooping through the countryside raping and ravaging, when she was 27 she and Ludwig were getting married, in the 1950’s he was a coal miner and the coal mines were in their hey day, they were blessed with three children, living in new housing in a new town, at age 33 the Berlin wall was getting built, at age 41 she and her family were moving to Minnesota.
 
While Martha for the most part didn’t seem to want to talk about years of war and death and despair, I found it necessary to read up a bit on the harsh realities of those post war years. One author wrote about how Berlin was divided, people were living amidst the destruction, and everyone was hungry all the time.   He spoke of children and orphans running wild, disease rampant, money was worthless, a thriving black market, displaced people everywhere, nine million German men killed, and women and children suffering atrocities worse than death.
 
I don’t know about you, but I’m certain that if I were in Martha’s shoes, I would have wondered what kind of a good and gracious God would allow for this hell to happen here on earth, what kind of angels were watching over me in the middle of the night, was it really true that Jesus Christ was risen from the dead, sitting at the right hand of his father, ruling all of heaven and earth for the benefit of His Church?
 
So much that we don’t know, I suppose that Martha wouldn’t want us to know, but this we do know.   The Triune God had claimed her as His own in the waters of Baptism, her Good Shepherd was following her around with goodness and mercy, the angels of God were able to guard and protect her over the years, and by the time I was privileged to be one of her pastors, the Holy Spirit had worked in her heart a strong and a steady faith that would not be moved by the winds and the waves of life.
 
The stories we are privileged to share today are wonderful stories!  Stories of Martha being the life of the party, stories of Martha making venison sausage with a cheerful heart and a contagious laughter, stories of a wedding reception where a friend suggested the music was too loud, but Martha suggesting that no, turn the music up, this is supposed to be a party! 
 
My favorite memories of Martha include her sitting still and hearing and holding onto God’s Word, they include her searching her Scriptures, holding onto His promises, watching over and taking care of her family, and eating and drinking at her Lord’s Supper.  Favorite memories include her walking around town, talking smart, crying at the suffering and death of her dear daughter, hurting along with loved ones going through all kinds of hell here on earth.
 
In part #1 of this message we reflected on how God was Martha’s helper in all the stages of life, both smooth sailing and stormy waters, and in part #2 we think through what it means to live through all the ups and downs of life, in the words of the Psalmist, in the shadow of God’s wings, singing for joy.
We noted first of all how there are two ways to grieve the loss of a loved one –we can cry as people without hope or we can cry as people with hope.   So also it seems to me there are two ways to live in every one of our days, we can go through life grumbling and moaning and groaning about what is wrong in life, or we can go through life singing for joy about what is right in life.
 
Amazing Grace is the first song we sang, and it is a song Martha wanted us to sing.  It includes these lyrics, Through many dangers, toils and snare, I have already come.T'was grace that brought us safe thus far And grace will lead us home. On the one hand, how tempting it is to fuss and to fume about all that is unfair and hurtful in life, and yet on the other hand, how sweet life can be when God’s Spirit works inside of us the kind of faith that is able to keep on rejoicing in the forgiveness of our sins, to keep on singing for joy in being the apple of God’s eye, as we keep on taking refuge in the shadow of His wings, come what may.
 
What a Friend We Have in Jesus is a second song Martha wanted us to sing.  How tempting it is to slug our own way through life bearing our own sins, carrying our own griefs, forfeiting God’s peace, stumbling again into discouragement and even despair.  How sweet life can be when God’s Spirit works inside of us the kind of faith that is able to wake up every morning making the sign of the cross, rejoicing in the privilege of prayer, finding refuge and solace in the arms of Jesus, ending each night with a prayer, Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray thee Lord my soul to keep. Guard me through the starry night, waken me at morning’s light, if I should die before I wake, I pray thee Lord my soul to take.
 
Precious Lord, take my hand, is a song Martha specifically wanted us to sing.   How tempting it is to take our Savior’s hand only when we feel the need to do so, how sweet life can be when we admit to God and to one another the reality that we are tired, we are weak, and we are worn.  How sweet it is when we develop those habits, by God’s grace, where we put ourselves in a position every day to be still and to know that God is God, in position to be encouraged and yes, corrected, in a position where we can be held by the one who holds the whole world in his hand.
 
Finally, we sing, I’m but a stranger here, heaven is my home.   (Story of two high school boys getting into the motel room before me and using both drawers to unpack their suitcases.  They thought they had pulled one over me, until I told them how silly I thought it was to unpack a suitcase for a four night stay.)  You can live here and now as if this is your permanent address or as if you are just passing through.
 
Dear friends in Christ, in closing, we praise God that somehow and in some way, God had worked in Martha’s heart a faith that knew she was just passing through, she knew the bad times could be survived and the good times could be enjoyed, and that better days were yet to come.I pray that as we lay dear Martha to rest today, the Spirit of God would work inside of you a faith that is strong, a heart that is calm, and a soul that is satisfied every morning with the mercies of God.  I pray that your faith would be bearing all kinds of fruit in good times and especially in bad, that your cheerfulness would be contagious, that the love of Martha would live on through you, and that she would rest in peace.  In Jesus’ Name.  Amen.