+ In Memoriam – Barbara Toma +
Job 19:23-27; 1 Corinthians 15:51-57; John 6:35-40
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Every so often you hear a song on the radio or sing a hymn in church and in an instant you think of someone you know and love. Maybe it was sung at a funeral – like For All the Saints. Or maybe it was your first dance at a wedding. Whatever the occasion may be, sometimes people and a certain song just seem to go together, like a good four part harmony.
Now, there are probably a lot of songs that come to mind when you think of our dear sister in Christ, Barb. But the one that came to my mind this week was the old Sunday School classic, “Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world.”
And what is true of our Lord is true of Barb as well. She loved her children. She dropped out of nursing school to raise them, care for them, and teach them the important things in life, like the finer points of the rules of baseball. She even earned a black belt in taekwondo, no doubt, in part, to protect her children.
Barb loved the children of her church family as well. From VBS to youth group, from Sunday School to preschool she lived and proclaimed, and yes, even sang, of Christ’s love for all his little children. I know my daughter isn’t the only one blessed to have had Miss Barb, as she called her, as one of her favorite teachers.
Yes, Barb loved children. Something she has common with our Lord. And she loved children – not because she was childish – no just the opposite, because our Lord gave her his gift of child-like faith and trust in him and his Son Jesus.
Barb loved children because she herself was a beloved, baptized, redeemed child of God. On a winter’s day in Chicago our Lord adopted Barb by his grace. By water, word, and the Spirit, our Lord made Barb his own dear child. And it was this new birth from above that filled Barb – as it does for all you who are baptized – with the love, joy, and grace of our Lord Jesus. From that day on, and into eternity, Barb was, and is, and ever shall be a baptized child of God, as are each of you, baptized into the death and resurrection of his Son Jesus.
And that is why we have a song to sing. That is why we have love for others, especially the children God places in our lives. The joy, praise, and love are God-given gifts to us, just as our Lord gave those gifts to Barb.
For Barb knew that when it comes to the Christian faith, we are more like children than perhaps we care to admit at times. We are completely, totally, utterly, each and every day, hour, minute, and moment dependent upon the grace and love of our Heavenly Father for this body and life, and also for eternal life. Is it any wonder that our Lord places a child in the midst of his disciples and declares, ““Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God.”
That is why God sent his only begotten Son to become – of all things – a little child for Barb. For you. For all. In love and mercy God sent Jesus to become a child so that in him – his perfect life, his death, his resurrection – we might become children of the heavenly Father. The Father sends the Son. The Son lives and dies and rise again to bring us rebellious, wayward children home.
That our Father in heaven would fill us, as he did Barb, with the hope and comfort of Job’s words. I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in[c] my flesh I shall see God.
That our Father in heaven would strengthen us and console us with the coming resurrection of the body for Barb and for all his children, as Paul proclaims, “For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.”
That our Father in heaven would deliver his word of peace and promise to us in his Son Jesus. “For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
Behold what manner of love the Father has given unto us. That we – Barb, you, me, and all the baptized – should be called children of God. For that is who you are. That is who Barb is.
I say, “is” because this is the way of things in our Lord’s family. Just we tell our children – you are always my little girl, my little boy. So too, God is always our heavenly father. Jesus is always our Savior and brother. And you are God’s children. Today. Tomorrow. And every day as we await the great family reunion of the resurrection of the dead and the life everlasting. Until the resurrection…
The grace of our + Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.
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