1. Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Heavenly Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. At a time of grieving like this, those who are present and I on behalf of the congregation at Grace Lutheran Church Oak Creek, WI offer your family and all who were close to Rosa my deepest sympathy. Today, we grieve with you over her death. Rosa will be deeply missed, but we know that this day isn’t the end for her, but just the beginning of a new life that she shares with her Savior Jesus in heaven! The message from God’s Word today is taken from Psalm 121 and is entitled, “The Lord, Our Helper,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
2. “I’ll do it myself,” is often the contention of the little child learning the skills of life. And often frustration results because he hasn’t yet learned the value of needing and accepting help. Needing help, accepting help, and recognizing help with appreciation after it is given are not signs of weakness. This is wisdom and experience showing up. In the Christian, it’s also evidence of faith. “My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth” (Psalm 121:2). How ready, willing and happy we are to admit this at all times, even as we do in the service each time we go to God’s house. We look to our past with all of its ups and downs, its sicknesses and worries, its sorrows and heartaches, and its joys and accomplishments; and, behold, we made it through them all. As people of faith, by the grace of God, we are not at all ashamed to admit, in fact, we declare it loudly, “I had a lot of help along the way.” God was our help in the past. And that gives foundation to our confidence that he will continue to be our help in the days to come. Correctly, we look to the future with the words, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?” (Hebrews 13:6) That is not a cry of weakness. That is a hero talking—a hero of faith.
3. Psalm 121:1-8 says, “I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.” (Ps 121:1–8)
4. As we read the last verse of this psalm, which is our text, many recognize it as a verse used during the baptismal service. This psalm then was one of the first psalms Rosa heard in the church as it was spoken at her Baptism at Grace Lutheran Church Oak Creek on May 3rd, 1964. It was the blessing spoken over her giving her the promise that the Lord will keep her from then on. In Holy Baptism, Rosa received the Holy Spirit, who created faith in her Lord Jesus in her heart and gave her this special promise of eternal life prior to her Lord’s final blessing of calling her to her eternal home in glory. The Lord never fails to keep his promises. From the day of her Baptism, Rosa grew in the faith given to her, and she clung to her Lord’s promise to keep her to her very last breath and for all eternity. Today we celebrate that the Lord has kept his promise; Rosa has been helped by her Lord Jesus Christ and now He has granted to her eternal life.
5. The Lord provided Rosa with all the help she would ever need, no matter what the circumstances. She was instructed in his Word, which showed her that she was born in sin and also showed her all the sins she committed throughout her life. The Lord here also was helping her see her need for his deliverance from sin and evil. She knew her Lord was calling her to repentance in order to save her from his striking punishment. “For the wages of sin is death” (Rom 6:23a).
6. Rosa knew that is what she deserved. So, she was led to be baptized into the Christian faith and be confirmed in the faith in Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior. Rosa would come to worship where she would confess her sins. At Grace Lutheran Oak Creek, she confessed along with all of her fellow parishioners, the words of public confession, “O Almighty God, merciful Father, I, a poor, miserable sinner, confess unto You all my sins and iniquities with which I have ever offended You and justly deserved Your temporal and eternal punishment” (LSB, p 184).
7. Rosa knew what she deserved, but she also knew the rest of the passage from Romans 6: “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 6:23). Rosa knew her Lord had come into the world to suffer and die on the cross for all her sins. She knew he then rose again on the third day to give her life everlasting. So she confidently believed the words the Lord would speak to her through the mouth of the pastor, the Words of Absolution: “I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (LSB, p 185).
8. Rosa was taught in confirmation class to confess her sins, to confess her faith in the words of the Apostles’ Creed, and to pray the Lord’s Prayer. What a joy and comfort to know her Lord’s ever-present help. Paul reminds us that nothing “in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 8:39).
9. The Lord was there during the joys of her life, as the Lord brought her a loving husband and companion in Carroll. The Lord kept them along the way as he blessed them with children. The Lord was Rosa’s keeper in the tough times too, as he comforted her at the death of her husband Carroll and son, Steven. The Lord was present with her every day and night as she lived out her days in Bluffview Memory Care Center, keeping her from evil and continually strengthening her faith and blessing her through his Word and Sacraments. With God’s promise of forgiveness and adoption as his child and an heir of his kingdom given to her in her Baptism, by the assurance of forgiveness through repentance and absolution, and through the nourishing and strengthening of her God-given faith in the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, Rosa has known the security and joy that “the Lord is your keeper.” Our Lord Jesus the Good Shepherd promises his sheep that “they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand” (Jn 10:28).
10. The Lord granted Rosa long life on this earth, and now the completion of his promise to “keep [her] life . . . forevermore” (vv 7–8) with him in glory has been fulfilled. What a joy and comfort we have today as we celebrate Rosa’s life and know that she has been kept by her Lord for 84 years on this earth and now is kept by her Lord for all eternity. Rosa believed in “the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting” (Apostles’ Creed).
11. And what joy and comfort we can also have for ourselves by knowing our Helper, the Lord our keeper, who has washed us clean of all our sins in our Baptism. As he has created faith in Jesus Christ in us and brought us into his everlasting kingdom, the Lord has promised us the same joy of knowing this: “The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore” (v 8). Our dearest Friend, our great Redeemer, our gracious Lord and Savior, has kept Rosa’s life and continues to keep us and our life too. The Lord, is our helper. Amen. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus until life everlasting. Amen.
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