1 Thessalonians 4: 13-18
13But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who have died, so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. 14For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have died. 15For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will by no means precede those who have died. 16For the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call and with the sound of God’s trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be with the Lord forever. 18Therefore encourage one another with these words.
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our risen Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
When Margie called me last week to tell me that Thekla had passed away, I hung up the phone and images and memories started flooding into my brain. As they passed through, one became particularly vivid.
It is our custom at this church to have a Halloween hay ride. During my first years here, we went all over Cat Spring, and I mean all over it. We’d stop right here in town, drive down 949 all the way out to Franz Road, up to Newberg Rd to just before the church cemetery. The kids had a ball–except when it was cold. Then it was a test of endurance.
You may have realized already that one of our stops along the way was at Thekla’s house. I found out early on, she loved it when we came by, and my memory confirmed it. I still see her in my mind’s eye as we arrived at her house. She was out alongside the fence sitting I think in her wheelchair. The kids being kids jumped off those trailers like they had never trick-or-treated in their lives, and they ran to get what was offered. I remember seeing Thekla almost shaking with excitement. Her eyes gleamed with joy as she laughed and smiled as the kids came forward. She was consumed with utter exuberance as she watched two trailer loads of kids come to her house to receive goodies. I didn’t blame those kids. For you see, Thekla wasn’t content just to put a couple of pieces of candy in a bag for those kids. Nope. Not at all. She had to add in some home made cookies, and if you had ever tasted any of Thekla’s baking, it was worth jumping off a trailer and running for. In fact, I used to make sure I was one of the last ones to go up to Thekla or Margie just to see if there was extra and I might be rewarded with two treat bags instead of one. Those cookies were that good! It was probably because Thekla used a secret ingredient in those cookies–she baked those doggone things with joy and the knowledge they would be used for something God had His hand on.
For you see, Thekla was a woman with a very deep faith, and that faith was central to her life. Early on, her family was instrumental in having Bible study within the community. She remembered clear as a bell hearing the bell rung in the first building constructed on this site. She made this church a part of her life holding every position possible in the Ladies Aid which is now Women of the ELCA. The church newsletter was read over and over and over. When her 90th birthday arrived, and her kids asked her what she would like to do for it, there was no hesitation. "I want something at the church." Even when she turned 93 this past weekend, she received a birthday card from the ladies of the church, and she read every name of every person who signed it. Church wasn’t something she just went to–it was her family.
This was evident in that Thekla didn’t just go to church–she realized she was the church. I mean that in this way. As Christians, we collectively are the Body of Christ in the world. We represent Jesus, not only on Sunday mornings, but every single day of the week. Thekla knew this at a very deep level. She was, as I said earlier, a person of faith. It was lived out in the midst of her daily life in the things she did and in the person she was. If you knew Thekla or Wah, you knew she didn’t have a mean bone in her body. She was kind and thoughtful and caring. Each year, the West End Industry Lioness Club would send a basket of goodies to her for Easter, and each year, Thekla would take the time to send a thank you card with a hand written note expressing her gratitude and joy at receiving the basket. A month or so ago, her step-grandson got fantastic news that he was cancer free after battling leukemia. Wah and Margie worked to make homemade candy to send to Steve’s care givers. Even though she was declining at this point, she wanted to share her kindness and thankfulness to all who had helped him through that difficulty. Whenever a prayer request came through either the email or from the prayer chain, she stopped whatever she was doing, and she gave her attention to that prayer need. She was indeed a prayer warrior. And, according to Margie, no morsel of food was ever eaten in Thekla’s house without giving thanks to God for it. And, finally, Wah had one of the most positive attitudes of any person. She would say repeatedly, "It will get better." And she believed it. Each of these things are only a sampling of the way she lived out her faith, and I mean it when I say it, she lived out her faith.
And there is a reason she not only believed her faith but she lived it. It has a lot to do with what was one of her favorite passages from the Bible. We heard it just a few moments ago when I read 1 Thessalonians 3: 13-18. I will spare you from having to hear the entirety of that passage again, but I will concentrate on verses 13 and 18. They read respectively, "13But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who have died, so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope." Then there’s a lot of stuff about what will happen to us when Christ returns, and then these words, "18Therefore encourage one another with these words."
Both of these statements are fundamental to a life of faith. First, we are people of hope. Yesterday, we celebrated the day of Easter. It is the day Jesus was raised from the dead signaling the beginning of the defeat of death, evil and suffering. The unique thing about Easter is that one has to have Good Friday as well. They both walk hand in hand. To get to the resurrection, one must go through the cross. If Christianity were just about the cross alone, one would be left to ask, "Where is the hope?" If death is the end; if suffering is the end; if pain is the end, then what is the point? Christianity does not stop at death. It does not stop at pain. It does not stop at suffering. It pushes through to resurrection. It pushes through to promise. Sure, we will suffer. We will have pain. We will die, but it won’t be the end. God has a plan and a purpose that includes redemption. It includes eternal life. It includes a righting of the wrongs. Those of us who believe this do not live our lives in fear, in grousing, in anger or in turmoil. We live them in hope. And Thekla had that hope.
So, she shared it with others as Paul urges us to do. "Encourage one another with these words" is the exact quote. Now, Thekla might not have necessarily done that with a lot of words, but you can be darn sure she did it with her actions. Through prayer, kindness, caring, baking cookies, making candy, celebrating her daughters, grand kids and great grand kids–in all these things and much more, she encouraged us to have that same hope. And now it is a hope she is experiencing in its fullest.
Margie told me that a few nights ago, Thekla and she had a conversation about life after death. Margie told Thekla about Steve Jobs who changed the world running Apple Computer. This genius of a man spoke two words as he died from cancer, "Oh wow." Thekla wondered what that "Oh wow" was like. She was sure it would be grand. On Wednesday night, as she was laying down to sleep, Thekla fell into Jesus’ arms. She fell into the eternal hope–a hope that you and I share as believers in Jesus Christ. We will all have our wow moments, and let us encourage one another with these words. Amen.
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