The recent
death of my
9-year-old
granddaughter
Hannah is
one of the
most trying
situations
I have ever
faced. I was blessed to preach this
eulogy at her funeral Jan. 28. Below is
an excerpt.
If anyone would have suggested
that a grandfather would be giving the
eulogy for one of his grandchildren, I
would not have believed it. No great-grandparent,
grandparent, mother, father,
older brothers or sisters would ever think
of having to bury a child, but such is
our occasion today. My good friend, the
Rev. Dr. Hector Grant of San Antonio,
reminded me that "the deepest sorrow is
not death, but the unnatural ordering of
death." In our minds, we usually think:
great-grandparents die, grandparents die,
parents die and then their children. That
is our hoped-for ordering of life and
death.
However, we all know that this is
not always the way in which our human
experience is lived out. And when that
hoped-for ordering is broken, there is
true mourning. So the question for us
is, "Where is God in the process?" Dr.
Grant had to remind a bishop of the
church, and I remind us all that God cries
with us.
The name Hannah in Hebrew means
beauty and passion, and that she was. Not
only was she a beautiful child from the
inside out, but one who had a passion for
life. Hannah was precocious.
She had a special insight that enabled
her to get along with everyone and to
show the love of God in very special ways.
Hannah at an early age developed a love for
technology and used it quite well. When her
mom gave her a cell phone for emergency
purposes, Hannah would call all those in the
family needing an encouraging word. The
only problem is that the calls were often
made late at night.
Hannah's dream was to go to college,
study veterinarian medicine and become
a veterinarian. She loved people and she
loved animals.
We may not be able to see Hannah
complete her dream, but we can enable
Hannah's dream to be lived out in the lives
of others. An endowment/scholarship fund
has been established at the Texas Methodist
Foundation in Austin to enable Hannah's
dream to become a reality in the life of
another.
What can we say during a difficult time
such as this? I have learned that our words,
though many, are just not adequate for such
an occasion. The prayers, visits, cards, flowers, gifts and expressions of love enable us
to know that we are not alone in our grief,
that others have walked this path and empathize
with our loss. I've walked this path
with many families and uttered words of
hope and comfort, but it is so different when
it is your own family that grieves the loss.
The only sense of peace that I have
experienced is from the word of God. That
word begins in the Book of Samuel with the
name Hannah and her devotion to God, crying
out to God for a son and making a vow
to God that when the child was weaned, she
would give him over to the Lord for service.
God heard Hannah's prayer and blessed her
with a child. She named him Samuel and
gave him over to the temple for upbringing.
The second word comes from the Book
of Psalms and reminds us "that weeping
may endure for the night, but joy comes in
the morning."
We all have done our share of weeping.
If I could take away the pain of a loving
daughter weeping for her baby child, as a
father I would. However, that is not possible
– we all have to weep and cry for our
children. Weeping is a part of the natural
process of grieving, and everyone grieves in
his or her own way. Hannah would remind
us that it's OK to cry. The tears for the loss
of a child are ways in which we experience
catharsis and get our hurts out. For some, it
may be for a short time; for others, the hurt
and pain may be there for a long time. No
matter how long, each of us must grieve in
our own way.
There will be a time when we come to
know the love and care of the true and living
God that enables us to experience what
those first believers experienced when they
discovered that Christ was not dead, but
alive for ever more.
We will see Hannah again because of
the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Until that
time, we have all these signs and reminders
of the gift that God gave us in the life
of Hannah. When we see her pictures, her
smile and her unique way of expressing the
joy of life, we will rejoice in the Lord for
such a great gift.
The Apostle Paul reminds us that nothing
can separate us from the love of Christ,
"neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers,
nor things present, nor things to come,
nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor
anything else in all creation will be able to
separate us from the love of God in Christ
Jesus our Lord." So weep on . . . joy comes
in the morning!
Mexican activist Juan Fraire Escobedo,
whose mother, Marisela Escobedo, was killed
while protesting the lack of justice for the
murder of his sister, Rubi, will speak at 7 p.m.
Feb. 8 at First UMC Plano about the struggle
to end violence in Ciudad Juarez and along the
Texas border.
Escobedo brings a powerful testimony of
the human costs of the drug war, militarism
and gun trafficking, and is part of a movement
to forge peace in Mexico. His story has been
featured on NBC's Dateline.
John Lindsay-Poland of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, who addresses gun trafficking
to Mexico, the drug war and what the United
States can do, will also speak.
One of the most common complaints
that I hear from clergy and
laity is the difficulty of recruiting
volunteers for some of the ministries
of the local church, district, annual
conference and general church.
Maybe you want to try a new approach.
TAMPA, Fla. — In a three-day
briefing, more than 300 delegates,
communicators and others got a preview
of the diverse issues that the lawmaking
body of The United Methodist Church
will tackle in spring.
The 20-member Committee
to Study the Worldwide Nature
of The
United
Methodist
Church
considered
how to
forge deeper connections, establish
greater local authority and
create a more equitable sharing
of power and representation,
reported Kansas Area Bishop
Scott Jones, who chaired the
committee.
Juan was detained for three months after seeking asylum in the wake of his mother's murder, and has since pressed for justice through vigils in front of the Mexican consulate, as well as participated in events seeking justice for all those victimized by the drug war and gun violence in Mexico. His story was featured on NBC's "Dateline", while Marisela's story was dramatized by Mexican actor Ely Guerra.
Juan will be joined by John Lindsay-Poland of the national interfaith peace group Fellowship of Reconciliation, who will speak about gun trafficking to Mexico, the drug war, and what we in the United States can do.
