Joan's Thanksgiving Service

This afternoon was Joan's Thanksgiving Service following an earlier Committal Service. Joan was an amazing 86 year old woman, and a number of people shared their vivid memories of her with us. I baptised Joan in May 2002 at the tender age of 81. The heating had broken down, the water was freezing, but nothing was going to stop Joan following her Lord and Saviour through the waters of baptism. Below is the short message that I shared towards the end of a moving service....

As we draw to a close, I would like to share a few brief thoughts with you from a verse of Scripture that I read out at the beginning of the service:

‘Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy we have been born anew to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead’ (1 Peter 1:3).

I know that Maryla chose this verse because the night before Joan’s fall, which led to her hospitalization, Maryla attended a talk by John Polkinghorne at the Open University’s Institute of Physics. Afterwards he signed a copy of his Advent book, Living With Hope, followed by this verse, a verse that became a great strength for Maryla over the difficult days that were to follow.

And, talking about following, look at the words that follow and reinforce this verse:

‘Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.’

Peter must have been absolutely broken following Jesus' crucifixion. His hopes, and the dreams of the other disciples, too, had been cruelly dashed and, to make matters worse, he had never had the chance to make his peace with Jesus after he had betrayed him, denying knowledge of him 3 times, just as Jesus had predicted that he would. That look of Jesus and the crowing of the cockerel were images that had burned themselves deep into Peter's subconscious, and now he was bowed down with the twin burdens of hopeless despair and raging guilt.

And then, on that amazing Sunday morning, there had been shouts, the sound of running feet, and Mary Magdalene arriving breathless at the door. "Jesus' has gone. His body isn't in the tomb - it's empty. Someone must have taken him, but who and why and where we don't know!!" And so Peter and John had left Mary catching her breath whilst they retraced her steps, racing to the tomb, their minds awhirl with speculation. John was the fitter of the two and outpaced Peter to arrive first. It was just as Mary had said. Peter lumbered up and ran straight past John who was standing in the doorway looking at the strips of linen that had once encased Jesus' body. In the semi-darkness Peter stared at the wrappings. He turned to find John now at his side. And in the cold light of that dawn hope began to awaken!

And over the coming months, the early church began to understand, with increasing conviction and anticipation that, if Jesus had indeed risen from the dead, then those who were spiritually 'in Christ' were also assured of sharing in resurrection and eternal life.

So it’s no wonder that Peter, writing here as an old and much wiser man, begins the main body of his letter: 'Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead' (v.3).

A new birth. Many people feel just like that when they trust in Jesus and the Holy Spirit comes to live in their hearts and lives. At her baptism, in May 2002 and at 81 years of age, Joan shared briefly, but deeply and movingly: ‘To come to Christ has been a long and thoughtful journey. Having reached the end of that journey, I have experienced a peace which I am unable to put into words.’

Of course, the journey actually continues. The Biblical word ‘salvation’ encompasses having been saved, being saved, and to be saved…the future tense that Joan is now experiencing.

That’s why Peter can write that we have a 'living hope', not a dead hope. The atheist, Robert Ingersoll, wrote, 'For whether in midsea or among the breakers of the farther shore, a wreck at last must mark the end of each and all!'

If I believed that then I would be a much glummer Plummer!! That’s a dead hope....but Peter talks about a living hope, because he worships a living Saviour, the same Saviour as Joan who now lives – ‘with Christ, which is better by far’, as the apostle Paul expresses it!

Peter knew that he’d let Jesus down….and on the shore of the Sea of Galilee early one morning, the resurrected Jesus came to him and assured him of his forgiveness, bringing peace to his soul. Joan asked that we might pray for her forgiveness of sins at this service, which we will do in a little while, but we pray assured of her peace of soul, too, in the near presence of her Saviour and Lord.

A final thought. Someone shared with me the words inscribed on Ruth Graham’s tombstone and I immediately thought of Joan. Ruth had been drawn to these words ever since coming across them on a noticeboard at a building site. Her stone reads simply: “End of Construction. Thank you for your Patience.”

Now, like me, can’t you just imagine Joan sitting at the Saviour’s side and, with that familiar glint in her eye, speaking those same words to us, gathered here this afternoon? “End of Construction. Thank you for your Patience.”

'No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.'