Anita
Crawford Memorial
(Read from a greeting card) Dear Anita, I have it on good authority that
your portrait has a place of honor at the Greeting Cards Hall of Fame. How many cards did you send over the years?
Hundreds? A Thousand? Sometimes the
church believes it must think big to serve its members. But you took something small – a greeting
card – and made it into a big thing.
Making home visits folks would show me some of the cards you sent
them. A couple of people said, “I don’t
even know this lady.” It didn’t matter
to you. You, as you said, were blessed
by God and grateful for His promises and so you were motivated to send these
cards of encouragement. We won’t soon
forget how you touched our lives, Anita.
Love, Pastor Spicer.
St. Mark 8:28-31 reads: One of the teachers of the law
came and heard them debating. Noticing
that Jesus gave a good answer, he asked Him, ‘Of all the commandments, which is
the most important?’ ‘The most important
one’ answered Jesus, is this – Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is
one. Love the Lord your God with all
your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your
strength. The second is this, Love your
neighbor as yourself. There is no
commandment greater than these.’
The first command is to love the Lord with all you’ve got,
your whole being. God is worthy of such
love. He gives us everything we
need. He blesses us beyond what we can
want or desire. He treats us as a loving
Father who cares for and loves his dear children. He blesses but he disciplines. He is always ready to hear us when we come to
him with our fears, hurts and concerns.
Joshua taught Israel that they could love God by doing four
things. First, walking in His ways,
living each day being guided by His Holy Word.
Next, we love God by obeying His commands, in which he gives us His will
for our lives. We never need ask, “Lord,
how shall I live?” His commands teach us
how.
Then, we love God by holding fast to Him. Interestingly, the verb ‘hold fast’ is the
same verb found in Genesis 2:24 where a man is to cleave to his wife.” To cleave to something is to come so close,
so tight, that nothing can come between you and that thing or person. Loving
God is to let nothing separate you from Him and His Word.
Finally, we love God by serving Him with heart and soul. The apostle Paul taught ‘whatever you do,
work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.’ That means that whether you are a nurse in
the ICU, the accountant for several small businesses, or the altar guild member
who prepares the bread and wine for communion, we reflect His love, giving Him
the glory and praise.
Love your neighbor.
Give respect and honor. Provide
protection from physical and emotional harm and danger. Offer a defense when nasty or evil talk takes
place. Make sure your neighbor can keep
what they have. Very practical ways to
love your neighbor.
The Scriptures are full of examples of neighbors showing
love. Abraham opened his home to
traveling strangers; Ruth who was unwilling to separate from her mother-in-law;
The early church shared everything with
one another.
Then there is Jesus’ parable about the Good Samaritan. The Samaritan had every right to pass by the
helpless and beaten man. But he did
not. He cared for him, made sure he had
a place to recover, paid for the cost of his care. A perfect example of love.
Love God. Love your
neighbor. Sounds so simple. But you and I know how impossible it is.
And so, God loved us. He
sent Jesus to lovingly, willingly live a perfect life under the Law and then
became the sacrifice for us who can’t keep the law perfectly. Jesus showed us His great love for dying on
the cross of Calvary, and rising on the third day, the perfect payment for our
lack of love and sin.
Now, through Christ’s forgiveness and salvation, we are free
to love God and love our neighbor.
That’s what Anita did.
No, she didn’t love perfectly. Who among us can do that great thing. But by what she said and what she did, Anita
demonstrated her love for God and her love for her friends and neighbors.
She loved worshipping the Lord in this house. She was here every Sunday until her health
would let her come anymore. I can still
see her right over there (point to the right).
She sang the hymns, confessed her sins and received absolution,
confessed the creed, listened to God’s Word, received the Holy Supper.
She had a smile for everyone she
met. And she was happy to let people
know how blessed and grateful she was to her Lord. I miss hearing her say that but I won’t
forget it.
And those greeting cards. What a wonderful way to bless and love your
neighbor. Sometimes those cards were
given at anniversaries and special events.
And if it was your birthday, you might get a card mixed in among the
best carmel corn known to man and I’ll debate that with anybody. Was there ever a treat that was better than
that?
Then there were the cards that Anita
sent that comforted those who were grieving, offered hope to the sick and
suffering and provided encouragement for those who were going through a hard
time. Speaking personally, so often,
when I was struggling in some way, one of her greeting cards would show up in
our mail. The cards gave me a lift when
I needed it. And I would guess that
there are many here today that would say the same.
So now we wait for a day when
greeting cards will no longer be needed.
We will be gathered up by our Lord who will take us into heaven for a
family reunion we can’t begin to imagine.
We will be with Jesus. We will
rub shoulders with our loved ones who proceeded us.
And you, dear family, will recognize
Anita. You’ll hug each other and rejoice
that all the pain and suffering of this life is in the past. You’ll know each other in a greater way than
you ever did before. Best of all, we
will see the One who moved us to want to love God fully and completely and to
love our neighbors as we would be loved.
Praise you, Lord Jesus. Anita’s Savior and ours. Amen.
