Delivered by My Daughter Nancy Moore at Westwood Christian Church’s Worship Service on December 15, 2013 Following the Death of My Dear Wife Christine
My dear brothers and sisters,
Thank you for all the support you have given to Nancy, Dave, and I, as well as to our extended family over the last few days. We appreciate it beyond words.
As hard as these last few days have been for me and the coming days will be, I know they are hard for you to and that they will be hard days for our church. With that on my heart, I asked the elders and their wives to join us at the house on Tuesday evening after we had returned from Green Bay earlier in the day. We spent a wonderful two hours together talking about what happened, remembering Christine, discussing how we can help the church, and praying together.
I told them that I needed some time away, and they graciously accepted that. I need time to grieve, handle personal matters, and spend time with some of my extended family who are in other parts of the country. I anticipate that time lasting no longer than the end of January, and will keep you informed about what is happening in my life during that time. The elders have already began to plan for covering my responsibilities during that time. I will be in town some of that time and probably at Westwood on some Sundays. Please feel free when I am in town – or by phone when I am out of town -- to call me, visit me, or do whatever else you feel you need to do.
In the days immediately ahead, I will be in Madison this week and Nancy and Dave will be here through the week. On Thursday, there will be a service of remembrance for Christine in Jefferson at a facility she worked with in her business for over fifteen years. If you would like information about that service, we will be glad to provide it and would be happy to have you there. Over next weekend, I will go to Cincinnati to be with Nancy and Dave and then to Christine’s home town, Buchanan, Michigan, to be with her family over Christmas as we had planned. While there, we will place her remains to rest at the cemetery in Buchanan, probably on December 27. I should return to Madison just before January 1.
You have already received information about some gatherings we have planned for this week to help you – and I – to deal with our grief. I hope you will attend one of those meetings where I can share with you some of the events that have taken place, answer your questions, and also share with you how the Lord is working in the midst of this. I know this will be a hard time for the church and that there is no blueprint for how a church should handle something like this, but we hope these meetings will help. I am confident that the Lord will make us stronger through this.
Now one last thing. Please, please, do not take my grieving as a loss of faith or a questioning of my faith or of God. If anything, I find my faith deepening during this time. That does not mean that it is easy; it is not, but the Lord’s arms are strong enough to sustain me and to sustain you. I am angry, but I have never once thought about being angry with God or of asking him why. I am angry at Satan. Satan is the one who caused all this. From the day that Satan tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden, he is the one who has caused and perpetuated evil and death upon us, and we dare not give in to him, because God did not give in to him. God came to earth as Jesus and died for us and by that act and by Jesus’ resurrection has defeated sin and death. That is now the victory that my beloved Christine has experienced, and it is my great hope and your great hope. As Christine often sang, it is indeed well with my soul.
So as we requested and as she would have wanted, we will celebrate Christmas today through our children's program. Let us rejoice! The Lord has come!
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