Funeral Sermon for a Home-Maker

Scripture is the Gospel Lesson from the UM Book of Worship Service of Death and Resurrection:
John 14: 1-4, 18-19, 25-27

From speaking with members of this family and the friends of Pat, I’ve gathered that this woman whose life, death, and resurrection we celebrate today took great pride in being a mother, a wife, a cook. She was a home – maker. What a tremendous profession that is! To make a home, to be the one that turns four walls and a roof into a place where “family” happens….this is indeed a great gift and one that Pat had great expertise in sharing with the world. It is a testimony to her great ability with “making a home” that her children are here today, and that though separated by many miles they seem to have the ability to “pick right up where they left off.”
Pat’s life as one who took great pride in “home-making” is also a witness to this beautiful, powerful, “Living” God who makes a home in us. We celebrate a God who gives us life by breathing into our very bodies the “Breath of Life” as is said in our Creation Story. This Holy Breath or Holy Spirit makes our bodies into temples, and if we live our life empowered and motivated by this Power, we’re made into “members of the One Body—the Living Body of the one who revealed God’s love and mercy in a unique way on Earth—the Body of the Living Christ.” This man called Jesus was also a “home-maker” without a place to “lay his head.” This wandering Rabbi taught his followers how to make a home in their hearts for the Living Loving Lord whom he knew as Abba—or Daddy. This man named Jesus taught us to make a home in our midst for reconciliation, renewal, refreshment, and renouncing our lives of self-centeredness. This man called Jesus also assured us that he was going ahead of us into Death and was going to make a road through Death to prepare a home for us beyond death. Just in case we were worried about making the trip there on our own, Christ promises us to return again and take us there himself. Do not worry, he says, I will not leave you here orphaned. Christ indeed does not leave us orphaned. The Living Christ makes a home here among us, “where two or three are gathered,” and with us shares our loss, our heartache, our joy, and our celebration.
We gather today to celebrate the home that Pat made for her family, we gather today to celebrate the God who makes a home in our midst and who now draws Pat into her eternal heavenly home. God is a home-maker for us in this life and in the next. God is trying to burst through our barriers and walls to make a home for us in this life. Pat believed in a man named Jesus who brought that vision to Earth in a unique way. After pass through the doorway of death, we enter the home that God prepares for us in the mysterious life to come. This is the home that God is attempting to utilize us to create on Earth. This is the home that Jesus calls us to in this life and after this life. In our gospel passage, Jesus comforts us with the knowledge that Jesus prepares a place for us there, and there are many rooms—room for everyone!