James Doyle tells of when he was a 5 year old and would pretend to fall asleep during the evening worship service! If I did, I knew my dad would carry me home. I would do this because we walked to and from church. It was about 1 mile each way. Being little wasn’t my problem. The length wasn’t my problem. I enjoyed the walk with my family. However, my older brothers teased me by telling me that in one of the fields we’d walk through there was a "boogey man" who would "get me". Now that frightened me! One night I really did fall asleep. Dad picked me up. I woke up right away but continued to pretend to be asleep as he carried me. That night we went right through that frightening field and I was not one bit afraid. I felt the warmth, the strength and the protection of my dad’s arms. To this day, some 50 plus years later, I can still "feel" his arms and "hear" his breathing as I remember his ultimate protection. So, it wasn’t long until I would constantly pretend to fall asleep on the pew knowing I could go through that frightening experience safe in my dad’s arms!
And then he writes, “Today, when I talk about death and dying I realize that it, too, can be a frightening experience. But one thing I know for sure, I am always safe in Abba’s Arms. He made me a promise that when my room was ready, He would come for me and take me there. Even the frightening experience of death’s field is no match for our Father’s secure and strong Arms!”
And that is where we find ourselves today, in the strong loving arms of Jesus. God knows what it means to love and He knows what it means to lose someone He loves, for that is exactly what he experienced when Jesus died on the cross. The Jesus’ fourth saying on the cross, he cries out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" The further along the journey to the cross and death, the more Jesus must have felt alone. But all of that paled in comparison to the overhelming feelings of separation from God Jesus experienced in that moment. It wasn’t that God has abandoned Jesus, He was right there on the cross with Jesus the entire time. But Jesus on the cross carries with him the sins of the whole world. And suddenly he finds himself for the first time touched by sin, submerged in it, drinking it, breathing it, tasting it, smelling it and experiencing it and its effects on his relationship with the Father, with whom he has always been one. For the first time he experiences the anguish of separation from God, now separated physically, emotionally and spiritually from the Father as He took on the sins of the world.
In Jesus’ last words, he cries out ’Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.’ With this last breath, Jesus was committed to remaining in submission to the Father. It is a reflection of his total trust in the father. ). It was the ultimate act of submission. His cry was not for the hands of men. Prior to this moment, His life was in the hands of men. Not because they took it but because He gave it. Voluntarily He delivered Himself into the hands of sinners, and now, voluntarily He delivers His spirit into the hands of the Father. Now he fully and completely places himself and his life into the hands of God and once again feels unity with the Father in the face of death.
So God knows sorrow, he knows the pain of a loss but he also knows death because it was in the very midst of death that he was with Jesus and he is with us today. We are comforted by His presence which strengthens us and encourages us in these moments.
Today, we have come to remember the blessings, memories and lessons of Madelyn Lirett. We come to give thanks for her life and what she gave to us, for she was an example for us all: a true embodiment of a life focused on giving to others and a life focused on God. No matter the need, Madelyn was one who always put others first in her life. She’d give you the shirt off her back, if you needed it and she always had the time and the place for people to come and go. Whenever she cooked her wonderful meals, there was always more than enough to go around. She never knew who was going to be at the dinner table but there was always an extra chair and plenty of food. Her home was where everyone was welcome whether it be the kids in the neighborhood after school or the firemen who just stop ped by to chat. And they knew if they needed a snack, there was always a loaf of bread and a huge tub of peanut butter and jelly just waiting to be dipped into.
She was a good friend and had a way of touching people’s lives. People seem naturally drawn to her and when they had problems in their life, it was to Madelyn they turned. I believe they came back again and again to her because when they came, you felt she was there for you and her love, but were given her wisdom to help guide you. She had a sense of right and wrong and not only shared it but lived it. I love the story of when she was living in Lafitte and they drove in for groceries. When they got home, she was unpacking everything and discovered that she hadn’t been charged for the roast. She immediately got in the truck and drove 50 miles round trip t pay for that roast because she would choke on it, if she tried to eat it and hadn’t paid for it.
If you ever needed help, there was Madelyn no matter what was going on in her life. She was a person who touched others with her compassion and her concern. When you left her, you left a changed person, a little better person than when you first came. But that’s what happens when you encounter true love and concern. It’s such a rarity today and yet it was in such abundance in the life of Madelyn.
Family came first in everything she did, whether it be in raising the kids while John Paul worked offshore or providing and doing for John Paul when he was home. Her happiest times always centered around those she loved the most, her family. She was a wonderful mother who guided and directed her children with the wisdom God had given her. She was the loving mother when she needed to be and the stern parent when she needed too as well. But through it all, you knew that she had your best interest at heart. But you could always go to her and ask her questions or seek her advice and you knew that it was going to be dead on. Through it all she always supported you so that you could be your very best.
Madelyn was a dedicated wife. I believe they both knew how blessed they were to have one another. They completed each other. She also cared for John Paul. Every morning he would wake up before dawn and by the time he walked out of the bedroom, his clothes were laid out, his toast was made and his lunch was sacked up and ready to go. She’s then drive him to work and after she would drop him off she’d head to the grocery store or the thrift store to get what he or the kids needed. There’s was a loving and caring relationship, filled with laughter and fun. And they had the joy of reaching 50 years of marriage just last December.
And I know that I can speak on Madelyn’s behalf when I say thank you Red for bringing Madelyn and your step dad into your home and for the sacrificial love and care you gave to them. Thank you for every one of you who in the last weeks and months of her life, even when Madelyn was not quite herself, that you came and visited her and shared those precious family moments together.
Alzheimer’s is a vicious disease that can rob you of the person you once were. It was an answered prayer that the last two weeks of Madelyn’s life were lucid and clear. It was a gift that allowed her to say what needed to be said. And on eof those things was that she knew the time was near. She turned to Red one day in the hospital and said, I’m ready to go home. Red responded, We are mom. We’re going to take you home.” And she said, No, I’m ready to go home, implying going home to God. And that brings up our last thing to celebrate today” Madelyn was a follower of Christ. That not only makes all the difference in this world and Madelyn’s life here on earth but also in her life come. And the fact is that it makes all the difference to us as well. For even in the midst of death we can celebrate new life and give thanks for the life which we have shared with her. And we have the hope of life with her in the next life.
Dr. W. A Criswell, Pastor of the First Baptist Church of Dallas Texas, said on one occasion on an airplane flight he found himself seated beside a well-known theologian. He desperately wanted to start a conversation and they did get to talk. The man told Dr. Criswell about how he had recently lost his little boy through death. Dr. Criswell listened as he told his story: He said he had come home from school with a fever and we thought it was just one of those childhood things, but it was a very virulent form of meningitis. The doctor said we cannot save your little boy. He’ll die.
And so this seminary professor, loving his son as he did, sat by the bedside to watch this death vigil. It was the middle of the day and the little boy whose strength was going from him and whose vision and brain was getting clouded said, "Daddy, it’s getting dark isn’t it?" The professor said to his son, "Yes son it is getting dark, very dark." Of course it was very dark for him. He said, "Daddy, I guess it’s time for me to go to sleep isn’t it?" He said, "Yes, son, it’s time for you to go to sleep."The professor said the little fellow had a way of fixing his pillow just so, and putting his head on his hands when he slept and he fixed his pillow like that and laid his head on his hands and said, "Good night Daddy. I will see you in the morning." He then closed his eyes in death and stepped over into heaven.
Dr. Criswell said the professor didn’t say anymore after that. He just looked out the window of that airplane for a long time. Then he turned back and he looked at Dr Criswell with the scalding tears coming down his cheeks and he said, "Dr. Criswell, I can hardly wait till the morning."
