Sermon Title: A Life Well Lived
Place: Oakdale Wesleyan Church
Date: April 13, 2008
Subject: Funeral of Lawrie Anderson
Order of Service
Prelude
Welcome
On behalf of Lawrie’s church and as I was always referred to by Bernice from Lawrie’s pastor, I want to personally welcome everyone here this afternoon as we say our final good-byes and share in comfort together as we grieve the passing of truly one of God’s saints here on earth. This is Lawrie’s church
Opening Sentence of Scripture
As many of you know the last few days of Lawrie’s life were hard days as his body simply gave up and was worn out. I spent Tuesday with the family at United Hospital and in the intensive care unit they had a bulletin board affixed with thank-you letters and well wishes for the doctors and staff of the unit from folks who had obviously passed on into eternity or gotten better as a result of their physical efforts. At the center of the board was a homemade card from the family of apparently a Christian man and on the inside of the card were these verses that I believe are so appropriate as we come today to bid farewell to Lawrie. If Lawrie was able to speak to us from beyond the grave I truly believe these might sum up the words that he would share with us from II Timothy chapter 4:
“For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in sore for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day – and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.”
These words I want to be the center of time together today as they so encapsulate the life that Lawrie lived: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in sore for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day – and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.”
Hymn – Amazing Grace (congregational or special)
Scripture: Romans 12 possibly read by Tim Roehl
Reading of Obituary
Moments for Memories
Scripture Reading – Isaiah 53
Prayer
Hymn
Sermon
Introduction
Nine years ago a moving truck pulled away from West Union, Iowa and eventually made its way into the west drive of the church parking lot. All my earthly possessions were in that truck and packed amongst our 3 kids and my wife in our van as we made the move from rural Iowa to the big city of St. Paul.
There were three guys that met this new pastor on the drive that day. They were each wearing old clothes and had gloves on their hands and were ready to move their new pastor into the parsonage. The first man I had already met and talk with several times and that was Terry Cooprider, right behind him was an older gentlemen who always had some smart comment to say: Cecil Rich, and then behind them was a man who was definitely a grandpa figure but had bib overalls on and work gloves on his hands. This man didn’t say much but he was ready to work and his name was Lawrie Anderson.
As we unloaded boxes and furniture I quickly came to know who Lawrie was. We had visited the house about a month before and at that point there was still wall-paper in the living room, no carpet on the floors, the walls were a wreck as everyone had been cleaning, fixing and repairing, and now the house had been transformed into our new home waiting for our arrival. I soon found out that the man we have come here to celebrate this morning was the man greatly responsible for much of the work that had been done to prepare this place for us.
Over the next couple of years it seemed like Lawrie was the one who was constantly at the church. He was painting something, fixing something, mowing the lawn, or changing light bulbs. In fact the first fall we were here I discovered that while the trees make it like a park in here, they also make a mess with millions and millions of leaves inches deep all across the entire property. But just as I was fretting the clean-up job in comes Lawrie with his old John Deer Lawnmower and leaf sweeper. For the next 8 hours he went back and forth across the lawn cleaning up leaves. By the end of the day he was completely black, his clothes were thickly covered in dust and two white slits are all that remained on his face. When he walked the dirt rolled off him, but the leaves were all neatly cleaned up and piled in the woods line.
This is the man that I celebrate today. A man who always had a nail apron ready with nails, a hammer ready for service, and paint brush ready to paint.
Prayer: Dear heavenly father help us today to celebrate the life that Lawrie has lived and the legacy that he has left behind. Amen
Thursday morning Michelle and I were in a conversation that men like Laurie just don’t seem to be being built anymore. There is something about his generation that is going to be greatly missed. It seems that people in Lawrie’s day knew what it was to be satisfied and content. They knew how to work hard, and they never seemed to complain. They were truly a great generation of servants and saints. So for just a few moments this afternoon, let’s look into the heart of a life well lived using these simple tools that Lawrie left behind.
A nail apron full of nail – generosity of stuff
The first picture or symbol of Lawrie’s life that I want to give you today is an apron that was normally full of nails.
One item that I often saw around Lawrie’s mid section was this old nail apron. Here last fall Lawrie was once again over the church helping us remodel the sanctuary. Even though he had no legs, he was raring and ready to go in his wheel chair. Everyday he would come to the church with his nail apron around his waist. On the way to the church one day the nail apron subject came up and he told me Bernice or someone said he should get a new one, but then he went on to tell me that this one just fit right and work fine so he really didn’t need to spend money on a new one.
During this remodel Lawrie took all the nails out of the old trim boards that were around the windows and straighten them and put them in a jar which is downstairs in a cabinet, because someday, somebody may need those nails.
Lawrie’s nail apron has come to remind me how loosely we need to hold our stuff. Lawrie was an incredibly generous man, he was always willing to share his stuff whether it be toys or tools to help someone else out. Whatever was in Lawrie’s nail apron he was willing to share. He truly knew the lack of value that stuff has. Lawrie was the epitome of a churchman who understood that things have such little value in the time and space of eternity.
This is a lesson our younger generations really need to learn. Living in a commercial oriented society where the accumulation of stuff seems to be the number one priority here lays a man who truly understood the value of stuff.
Luke 12 records that one day during Jesus ministry two guys came to Jesus who were fighting over their father’s inheritance. Isn’t that funny! This sounds like something right out of real life today two kids fighting over what they did not earn! At any rate the one brother was asking Jesus to command the other brother to divide the inheritance so he could have his share. So this is a whole fight over the accumulation of stuff. To this fight Jesus said:
“Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” Luke 12:15
And he told this parable: The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ Then he said, “This is what I’ll do, I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I’ll say to myself, “you have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’”
“But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’”
This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.
While Lawrie was not a farmer but carpenter what he had he was always willing share. So rather then just building bigger and better homes for himself Lawrie took the wealth and the blessings that God had given to him and he passed it on to others. Wednesday, Lawrie’s life was demanded of him but I believe rather then hearing “You fool!” as was the case of the farmer in this story, Lawrie got ushered into paradise with applause because he was so willing to give generously to others, he truly understood the value of stuff.
A Hammer ready to serve – generosity of time and talents
Not only was Lawrie generous with his stuff, but he was generous with his time and talents. Before Lawrie lost his legs it was like we had a part time paid maintenance man at the church. He was always here changing light bulbs, painting rooms, or repairing things, inside or out. I am sure there were plenty of other places Lawrie could have been and things he could have been doing like fishing, but he choose to invest in the things of the kingdom as long as he could. In fact, after Lawrie’s heart attacks climbing ladders was not an easy chore so one of the board members suggested we remove all the ladder form the church because no one could keep Lawrie off of them. He always had to be up a ladder changing a light bulb or painting.
I don’t know if you know this or not, but behind these very walls which got rebuilt are a bit of Lawrie’s handiwork. Last fall we began the process of insulating and refinishing the walls. To do so we had to put 2 inch strips of wood onto the concrete block so that we could hang the sheets of dry-wall. Lawrie came over and with his crippled hands still managed to find a way to drill hundreds of holes in each board so that we could screw them fast to the walls. And this was so comical, once he completed that job he found a way to tie up a canister vacuum cleaner to his wheel chair and here he was sweeping the floor with the vacuum being pulled behind him it was an interesting sight and unfortunately we didn’t get any good pictures of that.
I just don’t know if I will ever be that generous. If I was in his state I would be home watching T.V. or something probably, but not Lawrie. For as long as he could he gave himself to others. He was not only generous with his stuff, but he was generous with his time and talents. I know there is a church in Minneapolis area that got dry walled and painted because of Lawrie’s generous spirit.
I believe Lawrie’s old hammer is a great reminder of his generosity with his time and talents. A few Sunday’s ago as we prepared for Easter I ran across the most interesting little blurp in Jesus’ life. It’s the story of Blind Bartamaus from Mark 10:46-52. Basically Jesus is at the pentacle of his earthly journey. He has come up to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover and is now on a direct path which will lead him to the cross and the forgiveness of all mankind. So you could say in a way, this was the precipice of all of human civilization form the start of the earth to it’s end. Jesus is focused, on a mission, nothing will distract him from what he has come to do.
In walks a blind man. Right in the middle of this pentacle experience a blind man begins to call for Jesus mercy. The crowds tell the blind man to shut-up, go home, leave us and leave the messiah alone. But Jesus hears him. Not only does he hear him, but he stops during his busy journey to take time out to care for a man blind no body. What a powerful illustration of the love of God.
Lawrie’s life so resembles the life of Jesus at that point. No matter how busy Lawrie was, no matter how much was on his plate, he was never too busy to help someone in need. That hammer he had was always ready to help others.
A Paintbrush full of paint – a vision of what could be - transformation
The final symbol of Lawrie’s life has got to be the paint brush. I don’t know how many gallons of paint Lawrie has spread across the walls of our church and parsonage and can’t imagine how many hundreds of gallons more he has painted in other churches and homes.
You know, there is something fascinating about a good paint job. Have you ever walked into a run down and let go old house. The walls are dingy and the atmosphere is just a bit depressing. I’ve been in homes like this and it is amazing the transformation that takes place as someone begins to simply paint the walls with a fresh coat of bright paint. I guess you could almost say it is transformational.
This was probably the greatest attribute that I admired about Lawrie’s life. He had an ability to see what could be and not just what was. I believe this was a God given gift not just because he could see this with a room, a house, or an old car, but he could see this in the lives of the people he met. Lawrie was able to see beyond what was, the messes, the problems, the disillusionment and bring hope to people who otherwise had little hope. If you don’t know what I am talking about all you have to do is walk through the halls of Greely Nursing home in Stillwater, or walk through the halls and talk with the nurses and staff at United Hospital or the Stillwater Hospital. Wherever Lawrie went he spread the good news that Jesus loves you, so do I, and that can transform who you are.
I was always amazed when I visited Lawrie and Bernice at the hospital or the nursing home. They were both eager to always tell me who they had invited to church this week and they really hoped they would come. I remember one male nurse I think it was at the Stillwater hospital that was getting married and was so impressed with them have been married and being in love for so many years that he took time out to sit and talk to them and Lawrie and Bernice had the opportunity to tell him the reason for their marriage and that was their faith in Jesus Christ.
A paint brush is a very powerful symbol of transformation. It holds the power to change what is old into what looks new, but Lawrie new of a more powerful transformation that can take place. You see, a paint brush is only able to change the outside appearance, Lawrie new of a God and his son Jesus Christ who desired to change the inside appearance of any person alive. Lawrie knew that the change God desires to make in us all is one that starts from the inside out. He understood what Paul wrote in II Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is form God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin, to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
This was Lawrie’s heartbeat that those don’t know God would be reconciled or made right with God. Lawrie understood the hope that those who are in Christ are a new creation and the old would be gone and the new would come!” Because this was such a driving force in Lawrie’s life we can not leave this place with out continuing Lawrie’s legacy by asking, have you been reconciled to God?
I have found that death has a profound affect upon the living. There is something about coming to the funeral of a friend and loved one that makes us contemplate our own mortality. As we stand next to the casket and say farewell we begin to realize that someday it will be us laying there and so we begin to ask those questions no one like to talk about. What will happen to us when we die? Is there life after death? Where did we come from? Let me tell you, Lawrie knew the answers. There is life after death, we can know where we came from and thus we can know for certain where we are going. God desires that all come to know him as Lord and Savior. As this verse from Paul’s writing tells us, God desires that all of us experience transformation, that all of us experience new life in which our old way is gone and a new way a new life has come. This is much more then a paint job, this is transformation from the inside out.
As you stand here next to the grave today, have you experience the heart changing transformation of Jesus Christ? Jesus came and died so that our sins could be forgiven and we could be made right with God. If you have not experienced this kind of transformation, let me encourage you to seek Bernice Anderson out just as Lawrie loved the Lord so did his wife and she can tell you exactly where Lawrie is right now and how to be with him when you die.
The paint brush has got to be the most powerful symbol of Lawrie’s life, a symbol which declares to all of us that the old has gone and the new has come.
Conclusion
So now here we stand at the end of this service and literally at the end of this life lived through the man called Lawrie Anderson. It is at this point in most funeral services that we would say our final good-byes but I would like to encourage you not to say good-bye today. Good-bye seems so ominous and final. It is the feeling that we will not see each other again but as Lawrie knows that is not so for those who have made peace with God. For those who have received God’s forgiveness death is so different it’s not a final good-bye but rather just a final transformation into God’s heaven. For those who are following Jesus Christ it is simply a temporary parting of the ways until we meet again in paradise.
A young child was diagnosed with a terminal disease and the parents knew that he would soon die. They wished they could keep this scary news form their young child but he was able to figure out that his life was coming to a close.
One night he was sitting in his mother’s lap watching television with her when all of a sudden he looked up into her eyes and asked, “Mommy does it hurt to die?” The young mother was overcome with grief and the sadness of the situation that she had to set him down for a few moments to go into the kitchen to compose herself. While in the kitchen she asked for God’s help so she could answer this horrible question. She felt God met her in that kitchen and gave her a wonderful answer.
Composed she went back into where he was still watching television and sat down next to him. “Honey, do you remember how so many times you have fallen asleep in front of the television watching your favorite shows and then the next morning you wake up in your bed room? Well I will tell you what happens. When you go to sleep your father comes in and with his strong arms he picks you up and carries you into your bed. And then the next thing you know you wake up in your room. Well death is just like that. When you die, you fall asleep and Jesus Christ gathers you up in His strong arms and carries you to heaven. And then you wake up in another room!”
Thursday morning Lawrie woke up in heaven! So as we stand here today, let’s not say good-bye but rather let’s say fare-ye-well. Fare-ye-well is an old English phrase which simply means may you do well until we meet again. In the phrase fare-ye-well there is expectation, there is hope, there a future. So Lawrie we do not say good-bye to you today, but we say fare-ye-well. May you fare well until we join you in heaven! May you fare well with your new legs, your body which is now free of diabetes, may you fare well fishing, jumping, running, hammering, painting and doing all the things that your body would no longer permit you to do down here. Lawrie, as we too accept the love of Christ that you have discovered, we look forward to seeing you again: Fare ye well!
Chorus: Thank You, Lord for Saving my Soul
Closing Prayer
