+ In Memoriam – Ray James +
August 22, 1931 – January 23, 2020
Psalm 23; Isaiah 25:6-9; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; John 14:1-6
Beautiful Savior Lutheran
Milton, WA
Grace, Mercy, and Peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
On one of my visits with Ray, a few months back, I asked him, “Are you up for communion today, Ray?”
“Yes sir. Always,” was his reply.
That little exchange may not sound like much to most, but Ray’s words reveal a lot about the faith and life of our dear brother in Christ. Much could be said about Ray. His love for Lavonne and his children. His care for his fellow brothers and sisters in Christ here at church. I’m sure everyone here has a favorite memory or story or conversation you share with Ray. It seems to me, though that the thing that made Ray, Ray; the thing that shaped his identity, and his love for others the most was this.
Ray was a man who loved the Gospel, the Good News that God is in Christ reconciling the world to himself. The Good News that even though the wages of our sin is death the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. The Good News that Jesus saves sinners by his redeeming blood shed for us on the cross.
The Good News that we heard from the prophet Isaiah this morning. That the Lord will destroy on this mountain The surface of the covering cast over all people, And the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death forever, And the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces.
Ray was a man who loved the Gospel, for he heard in those promises the very voice of God who loved him and gave his Son Jesus up for him, and for you, and for all. Ray loved the Gospel for he heard in God’s Words the God who loved him and loves him eternally in Jesus’ death and resurrection.
Such a love for God’s Word and such faith in Christ and his promises can only come from one place. Not from anything inside of us. Not by our brains or brawn or our behavior. Faith in Christ is God’s gift to us, as it was for Ray. All God’s doing. All by God’s free, unconditional, no-strings attached, abundant, overflowing grace in Jesus crucified.
Ray knew this well, which is why he loved hearing and receiving God’s promises. For he knew he needed to hear them, as we all do. We need to hear that we are great sinners who have Savior that is greater than our sin. We need to hear that we have broken God’s commandments and yet Jesus kept every one of them on our behalf. We need to hear that the punishment we deserved -judgment and death – fell upon Jesus instead of us. God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us. And in Jesus, death – Ray’s death; our death – is swallowed up forever. Jesus took it all for Ray and for you, and gives you in return, his good news, the Gospel that Ray loved so much.
On the day Ray was baptized all of this – all of God’s love in Christ - came raining, pouring cascading down upon him. The same happened to you in your Baptism. God attaches his promise and blessing to some ordinary water and pours out and floods you with his extraordinary gift of life and salvation, of faith in Christ, and the Holy Spirit who dwells with you as he did with Ray. Working that great faith in Christ and love of others within him.
In those waters, with his word, God joined Ray to the death and resurrection of Jesus forever. God drenched Ray’s heart and mind, body and soul forever with the Good News. From that time on Ray was clothed in Christ, robed in his righteousness, and covered by the Gospel.
It was this gift – of faith in Christ and love of his promises to Ray – that gave him love for those who had not yet heard the Good News. It’s what motivated him, and others here at Beautiful Savior, to work at starting a mission church in Orting, which by God’s grace and Gospel, is still there, filling more ears, hearts, and minds with God’s Gospel and promise in Jesus crucified.
This Good News of Jesus crucified and risen is also what gave Ray hope and comfort the last few years of illness, of losing Lavonne, and in his last days. Ray lived, as we all do, every step, every breath, every day by the grace of God in Jesus who lived and died and rose to save you. To declare to you as he did his disciples:
“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.
You see, as much as Ray loved the Gospel, our Lord loves to give us his good news even more. That is what he lived to do. Why he died for you. Why he rose again for you. Why he feeds us his body and blood. Speaks to us in his Word. Pours out his Holy Spirit upon us. Works faith in our hearts. Guards, keeps, and sustains your life.
Jesus lived to give you his life. Jesus died to save you from death. Jesus rose again so that one day, we along with Ray and all the saints, will rise again too.
For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.
And that, dear brothers and sisters in Christ is the best news of all. For Ray and for us, death is but a sleep. Jesus’ death destroyed death. In Jesus we will rise again. In Jesus those who have died in the faith now rest from their labors. In Jesus our flesh and soul dwell securely, forever. In Jesus we live each day, until that great day of the resurrection, as Ray did, in the love and grace and mercy of God’s Good News in Jesus crucified and risen for you.
The peace of God which surpasses all understanding keep you in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting. Amen.
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