In Memoriam – Wally Holmquist
February 21st, 2026
Isaiah 65:17-25; 1 Corinthians 15:20-28; John 20:11-18
Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church
Milton, WA
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Quite often in Scripture when God wants us to look forward to the dawning day of Christ’s return and the resurrection of all flesh, he appoints his prophets to bend our ears back and listen the dawn of those first six days of creation. When God want us to look forward to his saving rescue in Jesus, he bids us to grab a trowel and dig into the very good soil of Eden.
We heard the prophet Isaiah do this very thing this already this afternoon:
But be glad and rejoice forever
in that which I create…
… for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be,
and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
Now, at first, this might sound strange. But there’s a good reason for the way God speaks to us. For God, creation and redemption are two sides of the same coin. Two peas in a pod.
What God did in his first creation he will do again for us and for Wally, only greater when he stretches forth his hand again in new creation on the day of resurrection.
So, it’s no accident that the story of Holy Scripture is bookended by gardens. Eden in Genesis. The New heavens and earth of Revelation. Christ our Creator-Redeemer, and gracious Gardener at the center of it all, just as he is at the center of the lives of all his saints, tending, nourishing, caring for us, as he did for Wally, as his own precious vines and branches.
And this is something that, I think, would give our dear brother in Christ, Wally, a giant gardener’s grin from ear to ear. After all, he spent a lot of time working with his hands in the garage and the garden. From his beloved bonsai trees to his backyard garden, Wally was known for his green thumb. He had a knack for bringing forth life no matter what kind of soil he was stuck with.
If you didn’t find Wally working at the shop (still working with wood…he made this pulpit and many other things around church), chances are you’d find him outside among the trees and plants, like Adam, tending God’s creation with the utmost care. Dirt under the nails. Callouses and cuts on his hands. Every scratch, scrape, and scar told the story of a steward of God’s creation.
By God’s grace, Wally brought that same care of the plants outside to the branches of his family tree inside the home as well. Wally would nod his head in agreement with the psalmist who thanks God that his wife is a fruitful vine and his children are olive shoots around the table.
And as life and family grew, so too did Wally’s faith and life. Our Lord rooted him deeply in his word and promises. Wally lived as well all do, a seed of God’s own planting, tending, and nourishing. He knew that sometimes our Lord prunes our dead branches, cuts away our sin, but always to bring forth life. The same life he poured out upon Wally by Word and water and Spirit, on that day the new creation dawned upon Wally in holy Baptism. Even when it appeared, at least to our eyes, that Wally’s health and life were withering away – even in his last days and hours, though sin and death take their toll, Wally was and is very much alive in Christ.
And if Wally had a green thumb, how much more is that true of our Lord Jesus. Desiring to save and redeem and make Wally and you and me, into his new creation, he decided to get his hands dirty. To soil himself in the grime of sinners. Looking at Christ’s hands you’ll see the green thumb of the creator, but also the callouses and cuts of a carpenter. Each scratch, scrape, and nail-scar tells the story of your redemption and your new creation. Sown in sorrow upon the tree of the cross for you. Planted in the earthen grave for you. Risen from the dead as the first-fruits of the resurrection for you.
Which is why it’s no coincidence that Christ, who created the first garden, also brings new creation and life by his resurrection from the dead, also in a garden as he appeared to be a gardener to Mary.
Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary.”
And there it is again. Redemption and Creation all in one garden plot. You see, our Lord Jesus is the good and gracious gardener with an unrivaled knack of bringing life out of the worst of soils. Working light in the darkness. Life out of the grave. Resurrection from our dust and bones. All by that same word that he spoke in the beginning and to Mary and to Wally and to each of us.
For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the first-fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.
For us and for Wally, Christ our gracious gardener left the upper room to pray in a garden. To be betrayed in a garden. To be crowned with thorns woven from a bush of his own creation. To hang upon the wood of a tree that he gave life to. To be buried in a new tomb in a garden. And there he rested, like a seed sown in the earth for winter, but only for a short time. He would not remain dead.
Our Lord who called forth the trees of the forest and plants of the field rose from the dead and walked out of his tomb in a garden. But he did not walk out of that tomb alone. Jesus rose from the dead and walked into that garden carrying Wally and you and me. Each of us resting safely in his everlasting limbs
For us and for Wally, the God who said, “Let there be light”, will on the last day say to you who are in Christ, “Arise. Come out of your graves. Let there be life, light, and resurrection.”
So the next time you find yourself digging in the earth, or with a bit of garden soil under your finger nails, remember that our Lord Jesus too has gracious green thumb, and one day soon he’ll use that thumb and his holy word as a shovel to crack open the earth and break ground once again, only this time he’ll plant us in a new and greater garden with undying, resurrected bodies made new. And in an eternal Eden with our Lord the gracious gardener and redeemer, who will gather Wally and all the saints to himself in endless life, eternal joy, and never-ending rest.
Until that day…
The Almighty and merciful Lord, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, bless and preserve you.
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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