Rom. 14:7-8
For none of us lives to himself alone
and none of us dies to himself alone.
8 If we live, we live to the Lord;
and if we die, we die to the Lord.
So, whether we live or die,
we belong to the Lord.
We are gathered here today to celebrate the life,
the love,
the kind heartedness,
and the passion for life of
of Edward Culpepper
The Lord gave Ed the breath of life
The Lord watched over his life
And the Lord God watches over Ed through his death.
Opening Prayer
Let us pray....
Heavenly Father,
in whose presence live all those who die in the Lord,
you made us in your image
and you hold us in your care,
we come to you, asking you to be with us now
in strength and power.
We all join together and thank you for Edward
for all he meant to us,
for all he was,
the very presence he had.
We ask that you encircle us with your love,
wash us with you peace,
and move within our hearts.
May the presence of the Holy Spirit be upon us all...
We ask this all in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord - Amen.
Scripture
1Th. 4:13-18
Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep,
or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope.
We believe that Jesus died and rose again
and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.
According to the Lord’s own word,
we tell you that we who are still alive,
who are left till the coming of the Lord,
will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.
For the Lord himself will come down from heaven,
with a loud command,
with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God,
and the dead in Christ will rise first.
After that,
we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together
with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.
And so we will be with the Lord forever.
Therefore encourage each other with these words.
Rom. 5:1-5
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith,
we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace
in which we now stand.
And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
3 Not only so,
but we also rejoice in our sufferings,
because we know that suffering produces perseverance;
4 perseverance, character;
and character, hope.
5 And hope does not disappoint us,
because God has poured out his love into our hearts
by the Holy Spirit,
whom he has given us.
Message
Years ago Ed started out alone on a lonely road,
Not knowing what life would bring him
Not knowing where God would take him
Here he is in Anchorage Alaska, at the end of the road,
Gathered with friends, family, those he cared for…
Ed was one of those people who you just couldn’t help but like.
He loved life, loved working hard, loved his wife Naoma, loved everyone he met.
What more can you say about a man’s character.
If we could all have a little of what Ed had…..
But you know, Ed was such a real person too:
Pat & Ed
Had an old fridge they need to get rid of.
After talking about it they decided their best option was clandestine.
Using an available, and accessible dumpster….
Of course they needed to do it on the sly.
So they load this ugly thing up in the truck
And don’t tie it in…..well it falls out of the pickup!
Face down.
Ed’s a big guy. No problem.
Well they lift it up, the doors open and all the glass shelves fall out making an enormous racket. Many of us would make a change of plans right then and there. Not Ed & Pat, they persevered and got rid of the thing.
Let me remind us of this: We have one continous life, and Ed and all he is has continued on. Life doesn’t just end here. We don’t have two lives – our life now, and something completely new when we die. We have one continous life.
They say you can’t take it with you – but whoever said that is sorely mistaken. We do take it with us. Everything Ed was, all his experioences, all the joy the sorrow...all the good and all the bad; all this stuff follows us, and it has followed Ed too.
Remember those good times? Remember when Ed was there for you, when no one else was? Remember the kindness, the generousity, the hard working let’s get it done so I can go home and have a beer times you had with Ed?
That’s not gone it will always be. See, we live in a spiritual world – hard for us to understand, but its true. God made us spiritual beings and we are destined for spiritual things. You may remember that Ed wasn’t just living life, he was searching for fulfillment, I think like we all are:
You know what Ed figured out, and I believe he was absolutely right, there is a spiritual dimesion to life, and that is what is fuilfilling. Ed found peace in the person of Jesus Christ. Now I’m not talking religion. Acting the right way, knowing the right stuff, all that – you know what I’m talking about; people who say they know God, but you would never know it by how they treat you. Ed didn’t find religion, he found God, Jesus Christ, and those burdens, the past things he wished he could do over, but knew he never could, all those burdens weighing him down, were being slowly lifted and he was being released.
We find St. Paul telling us in 1 Cor. That now we see through the mirror dimly; then we shall see face to face.
Here at this moment it is not possible to comprehend why. Why, Ed Culpepper, this humble man who was as honest as he could be and as real as it gets, why he suffered something none of us would wish on anyone....At this moment things appear in a fog, and even at a loss – for we see the spiritual life with difficulty.
But, through the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, there will be a time when we will be with Ed, when we will walk with him again in the presence of God – and we will see so clearly – we will not be disappointed.
As we saw in our first Scripture, we are not ignorant, in the name of our Lord Jesus we will rise again, we will continue in life – God doesn’t start us out without a chance and then take things away and poof we are gone – ho he gives us a hope, with the knowledge that this certianly is not the end, not our last good bye, but more of: Ed, until we meet again
Ed started out alone on a lonely, desoloate road
Along the way he found us
He cared for us
He laughed with us
He embraced us
He played practicle jokes on us
And now we walk that road together
Gathered together by Ed
And, you know, we don’t find that road lonely anymore
Ed, may the blessing of almighty God be with you,
And may you find peace.
Time of Remeberance (a chance for folks to share about Ed)
Pastoral Prayers
Jesus our Lord,
You have given us a new and living hope in Jesus Christ.
We thank you, that by dying you destroyed the power of death,
and by rising from the grave you opened the way to eternal life.
We know that because you live, we shall live also
and that neither life nor death,
nor things present, nor things to come,
shall be able to separate us from your love.
We ask the you be with Ed’s family,
Lord have mercy
give your peace that reaches beyond understanding,
take away any fear
and bring down your love,
grant a sense of calm,
speak out of the stillness
move in our hearts
be present in our tears
and out of the silence may your Spirit stir.
We ask all of this in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord – Amen
Commital
In sure and certain hope
of the resurrection to eternal life,
through our Lord Jesus Christ,
Edward - we commend you to almighty God
and we commit your body to its final resting place,
ashes to ashes, dust to dust
Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord,
they will rest from their labor,
for their deeds will follow them.
23rd Psalm
Benediction
May the Lord hold you and keep you
May the Lord give you comfort
May the Lord shine his face upon you
and give you peace.
