Memorial Service for Fred Weiss

May 12, 2007

I.N.I. (In the name of Jesus)


Bringing up Fred's name in typical conversation will bring about a smile. He was a tease. He loved puttering around, in his garden, on a dollhouse, and over various and sundry other projects. He loved his Dorothy, and his daughters, and their husbands, their children, and their children's children. He loved people, and wasn't afraid to talk with others.

He would press his pastor with profound questions, like "what was before God?" because he was a man of faith, He would press his pastor with questions of a practical nature like "whatever happened to the Luther League?" because he was a product of the church, and it was in Luther League that he was introduced to Dorothy. He would press his pastor with off-putting questions like "where's the scrambled eggs and bacon?" at Men's Breakfast because he liked to joke (and he liked scrambled eggs and bacon!).

Frederick Walter Weiss was a love. Fred was and is most certainly beloved by God, who claimed him by the waters of baptism. He was first brought to the community of faith by his sister because she thought it was the right thing to do.

I should say that it stuck, because at age 95, Fred was still connected to the community of faith, these last ten years here at Christ the King. Though not as able to physically bring himself regularly here, he was regularly surrounded by the prayers of this community, and girded by the sacrament of Holy Communion at his home. And on special occasions, for Men's Breakfast, a Sunday School Christmas pageant, or a Christmas Eve Celebration, I would find Fred taking it all in. I will continue to look for him in the sea of his extended family on this side of the church, in the front pews, a proud and faithful patriarch.

For Fred and for us, on this day, we are pressed with the question, "what's next?" What's next for Fred and for those who make their way through life and through death?

There is a place that has been prepared In Jesus' own words to worried disciples, who press him with profound questions, he declares that in his own being and doing that he himself is the path: the way, the truth, and the life. In Jesus we will find our way to God. Through Jesus we will see the truth of God's love. With Jesus, we will discover life with God.

Knowing and believing in Jesus is knowing and believing in God. Jesus Christ gives us that connection to life beyond this life. Jesus' own pathway to heaven through death on a cross is our own path, through baptism, by faith, in our own death, with others who sing, cheer, and pray us onward.

At this time marking Fred's death, we sing, cheer and pray him onward. We trust that by making Jesus his own pathway to God, Fred is safe. Fred is saved. In the future that God holds in store, Fred is connected to the community of new life, and is secure in heaven's joys, beyond the burdens of age and illness.

We who are still here mark death by giving glory to God. We mark death by gathering and being connected as the community of believers and new life, because it is the right thing to do.

To get ourselves set on the path with Christ, to give and receive comfort, we strain to hear what's next as it is imaged in God's Word. We walk to receive bread and wine as it is our own continuing connection with Jesus, with Fred, and with countless others who bring a smile or a tear to our faces.

The image of that continuing connection set forth in the prophet Isaiah is feasting on delicious food. This is what God prepares in the face of suffering and death. For Fred and for us who love him, in addition to bread and wine, that feast must be sauerbraten and sausages, red cabbage and potatoes, cuchen and strudel, an Oktoberfest in the middle of May. In the midst of great emptiness without the ones we love, and as we face suffering, illness, and death, God feeds us and covers our tears with an endless Easter and an endless feast.

There may even be dancing and singing. What do you think?

I.N.I.

The Rev. Timothy J. Keyl, Pastor
Christ the King Lutheran Church
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