Funeral homily for Canter Chase Gerardine

Funeral homily--Canter Chase Gerardine February 21, 2014 There are just no words for the loss of this child—Canter Chase Gerardine. There are no words that can articulate the sudden absence of all that hope, all that joy, all that anticipation, promise, and expectation. There are no words for the sadness, the sorrow, the loss, and the emptiness. There are no words for the unanswered questions. There are just no words. We gather together today, Jordan and Becca, with you, around you, and our presence and our prayers and our music testify to the mystery that is life and death and the love that is woven in and through it all. We gather with you today to hope for you when perhaps you cannot, to carry you along on the wings of our belief, when perhaps you do not. And what is our hope? What is our belief that we are willing to give our lives to and to stand in this sad place along side you for? It is that the single, unique person that is Canter Chase Gerardine is loved and cherished by the God who created him, and it is that he is at home with God, even now. Our hope, our belief is that someday we will feast with Canter at God’s heavenly banquet, a great big party where we will be reunited with all whom we love who have gone before. Our hope, our belief is that because of who Jesus is, how he lived, how he gave his life away in death, we trust that death is not the end but a change, the entry into new and eternal life in the heart of all love and belonging that is God. Our hope, our belief, even on this sad day, is in the resurrection of Jesus Christ; it is in Easter morning; it is in an empty tomb, that all show, once and for all, that God’s love is stronger than broken dreams and unfulfilled expectations. God’s love is stronger than our helplessness and our grief. Our hope is in the resurrection that shows us, once and for all, that God’s love is stronger than anything, even death. Someone once wrote, “Our Lord has written the promise of Resurrection, not in books alone, but in ever leaf in springtime.”i So Becca and Jordan, may you look at the new leaves, at the spring that is coming, and remember how God gives us resurrection. May you know that every morsel of food, every hug, every card and phone call and visit from those who love you are also reminders of God’s resurrection, working in and through us—working in and through our love and our hope. We love you and we are with you. God loves you and God is with you. Even when there are just no words. i. attributed to Martin Luther