A MONTH I DID NOT EXPECT TO HAVE

You all know that the month of December did not turn out anything like I expected it to. On December 8, I preached the second of what was to be four sermons in a Christmas series. It was the last sermon that I preached in that series. On that evening, everything changed. Then on December 14, Christine and I planned to hold a Christmas Open House and 40th Anniversary Celebration. Instead we held a celebration of her life that day. Those are only the highlights.

While losing Christine has not been easy and while the last month has been anything but easy, the Lord has made some things clear to me through it all. I would like to share some of those with you.

(1) Life is fragile. James 4:13-14 says, “Come now you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit’ — yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.” We too often live without any thought that life could end, but sometimes it vanishes as quickly as a wisp of air. Here is a chance for us to pause and consider how we view our lives.

(2) Family is important. Besides the Lord walking with me through this time, I have been immensely blessed by my family walking with me through this. Nancy and Dave were with me everyday from December 9 through the day I came home after Christmas on December 28. They handled a huge number of details. What a blessing they have been!

Then there was our extended family. Christine and I love everyone of them. Our siblings and their families arrived from all over the country. Christine’s brother, his wife, and two of their daughters handled parts of the funeral itself. All of them helped each other with rides to and from the airport. We were all shocked and sad, but all exhibited the spirit of Christ through everything. Christine was influencing people for Christ before I knew her, but perhaps her greatest witness was that of her family at her death. Love your family, make friends with them because you never know when you will have to go through difficulty with them.

(3) The church is important. I lost count in the first day of how many churches, besides Westwood, were praying for us. They not only prayed, but they sent flowers and cards and some came to the funeral and the service at the cemetery. I have found that Christians will practice unconditional love like their Savior in the most trying of times. I have been a recipient of such love before, but never more than at this time. Those of you from Westwood have been leading the way during this time, and I cannot thank you enough. Learn to love like Christ and go out of your way to demonstrate it to people when they need it the most.

One of the blessings that we received came by way of a letter on the last day of 2013 from the Lions Eye Bank. Nancy and I decided early the morning Christine died to make a donation to the Lions Eye Bank of her eyes. On December 31, I received a letter that our donation went to a man from Neenah, WI, who received an opportunity to see again.

We can bless people today with longer and better lives while on earth through organ transplants and donations. The greatest blessing of life, however, comes through the resurrection of Christ. Only through him can we experience eternal life. Christine now experiences eternal life, and by the grace of God we will too. Live for him every day.

Since Christine’s Death…

Since I last wrote this missive a week ago, I have experienced the deepest heartache and the deepest joy. I have been amazed at how those two opposite emotions are often experienced in light of the same circumstances.

First the heartache: we held a brief service at the Oak Ridge Cemetery in Christine’s home town of Buchanan, MI. Nathan Babcock, the minister at her home church, Buchanan Christian Church, read scripture and prayed at the brief service in the cemetery chapel. We sang “Amazing Grace” and closed by singing “It Is Well With My Soul.” Then we walked to the grave site where Michael Driscoll, her professor from Notre Dame whose statement about Christine was read at her funeral, read Scripture and prayed. Then I lowered her remains into the ground. Afterwards we shared lunch at Buchanan Christian Church.

Now the joy: We were joined for the service and lunch by more friends from her home church and the surrounding area. Included in the gathering were friends of Christine from high school, including two members of her bridal party in 1973 and a college roommate. So many people have been such a blessing to us. On Friday evening, I took the family who was still in the area out to dinner, and we enjoyed a wonderful evening together.

On Saturday, Nancy, Dave, and I left our mother-in-law’s to return to our homes. I enjoyed one of the greatest, deepest joys of these last few weeks on my journey home. On Friday afternoon, I had finally made contact with Donna Mitchell, the woman who introduced Christine and I to each other 41 years ago. She had been such a blessing to both our lives, and has proved to be a blessing to me again. I met with Donna and her husband, Chris, for two hours. When we sat down with each other, it was as if all the years just vanished. We talked like the two old friends we were. You can only thank God for friends like that. That visit made my return home so much easier.

In subsequent email exchanges, Donna counted up the significant days in a married couple’s lives that a surviving spouse must now experience alone that I had already been through. She counted six, including my birthday, our anniversary, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Years Eve, and New Years Day. I am looking forward to experiencing those days next year in happier circumstances.

Last Sunday, I attended the Footville Church of Christ and experienced the joy of being with more longtime friends. They hugged me and encouraged me and have continued praying for my family and I.

Since returning home, I have handled personal matters and begun dealing with things in our home that must be faced after the death of a spouse. Through it all, God is being gracious to me.

This coming Sunday, I am looking forward to being at Westwood. We will give attention to an annual event in the congregation as we install/ordain two elders to new terms and our other officers for the year. Marty Ganong, Bible translation missionary in West Africa who was with us for Great Communion in October, will preach. I am looking forward to seeing everyone and worshiping together.

God bless,

Ken

SINCE CHRISTINE’S DEATH...

I am nearing the end of the first stage of matters I needed to deal with following Christine’s sudden death on December 10. All of you, our wonderful family at Westwood, have been so kind during these last two weeks to give me time away from my responsibilities at Westwood, to let me know you are praying for Nancy, Dave, and I as well as our extended family, and to see that matters at Westwood that I usually give attention to each week are covered. Thank you for your outpouring of love.

I hope to keep you up, using the Westwood Message, with how and what I am doing while I am away from Westwood. Certainly I am praying for services and events at Westwood and for everyone at Westwood.

During this first stage of things after Christine’s funeral, I have been spending time with family. Nancy and Dave were so kind to stay with me in Cottage Grove during the week after the funeral as we handled many of the details that need to be taken care of after a death. Then I went to their home in Cincinnati over last weekend. We had a lovely dinner on Saturday with some of their friends who Christine and I had become friends with over the last few years, and then attended church with Nancy and Dave on Sunday at their church.

This week we have spent in Buchanan, MI, Christine’s home town, with her mother and family. We attended Christmas Eve service at the church where my brother-in-law and sister-in-law worship. My niece and her husband had parts in the service. Ten of us spent Christmas Day together.

As she always did at Christmas for forty years, Christine blessed me again this year at Christmas. She had already bought presents for my birthday, our anniversary, and Christmas which Nancy found and wrapped for me. While they were opened with tears in my eyes, they provided another lasting memory of her.

We have one task left this week: we will have a brief service tomorrow, December 27, at the cemetery in her home town where her remains will be placed.

Then I will return home on Saturday and will be at home all next week. On Sunday, I plan to visit the Footville Church of Christ, a church which has blessed us many times in the last few years, and to be in attendance at Westwood on January 5.

During the Christmas Eve service we attended, we sang “O Come All Ye Faithful” and “O Holy Night.” As we sang, I recalled our adventure this year in The Story. I thought as I sang that you cannot come face to face with death and not have a deeper appreciation for the story of Jesus. I have certainly sensed that in the last two weeks. I hope my experience can help you do so as well. Jesus came and died to remove all grief and pain and the day is coming when he will do so. While I am grieving, I am not doing so as the rest of the world does who have no hope (1 Thessalonians 4:13-14).

I may be away from Westwood most of the time in the next month, but feel free to call or email me. I will look forward to seeing you in worship on January 5.

A SPECIAL WESTWOOD MESSAGE

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!

One Remembrance of Christine

For seven years, Christine worked on a Masters degree in Theology at Notre Dame University. The leader of that program, Michael Driscoll, sent us a message to be read at her funeral on December 14. His message described her participation in the program:

Since Monday afternoon the phone lines and electronic media have been burning up with requests for prayer for Christine. Her friends from Notre Dame who live around the world seemed immediately connected by FaceBook. In spite of the great geographical distances, the community gathered—at least virtually— to pray for her and her family and then to mourn her departure.

Let me say a word about how I came to know Christine. We began a new program in 2005 for pastoral musicians. We called it SummerSong. When we announced the first SummerSong in 2005 we did not know who would come. Within weeks, however, the applications began to roll in. Christine Henes was among the first group to apply. She came to us with a background in music therapy and had been associated with St. Coletta in Jefferson, WI. Although she was not Catholic, she felt perfectly at home in Roman Catholic circles. She along with several others discovered very quickly that they could manage the academic study of liturgy and that they were benefiting from the two-week program each summer.

As a result of her involvement in SummerSong, this eventually led her to pursue and achieve the masters degree in liturgy at Notre Dame. A year and half ago she received her diploma. I remember how happy she was and how proud her family and friends were, myself included. We had a wonderful celebration afterwards on the banks of the St. Joseph River. I could tell that Christine was happy to finish but not too eager to give up her two-week sessions at Notre Dame each summer, where she made many wonderful friends.

Within the SummerSong program, she and her dear friend Mark Purcell played a wonderful role as ministers of hospitality. Each summer they would arrive early so that they could meet the incoming and returning SummerSingers and help them move into the dorms and get settled. Christine with her deep maternal instincts played the role of counselor to many of the younger participants.

This past Wednesday the Eucharist was offered in her memory in Malloy Hall Chapel, a place where she had celebrated her faith with the other SummerSong participants from 2005-2011 each day of SummerSong. She would bring her mother down from Buchanan from time to time to be a part of the liturgical celebration.

It is with deep sadness that we let her go but with great joy that she is now in the arms of her loving God. I am sure that the testimonials on FaceBook will continue as the community of SummerSong comes to terms with such a great loss. Our prayers go out to her family and friends. Although we are scattered throughout the country and the world, we stand in the solidarity of prayer with you today.

Michael Driscoll

Learning to Trust God From the People God Used at the Birth of Jesus

There are many fascinating characters in the Bible, some of whom trusted God and some of whom did not. They can teach us many things about trusting God. Certainly this is also true of the characters in Luke’s narratives about the birth of Christ. Their songs, which we are examining this Christmas season, speak of the greater purpose of Jesus’ birth. But what can we learn from the people who participated in and witnessed the birth of Jesus?

Consider the couple whose story prompts the song of Zechariah that we shall consider this week.

Zechariah was a priest who would become the father of John the Baptist. Luke tells us that he and his wife Elizabeth “were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord.” When an angel appeared to him while serving as a priest in the temple and told him that he and Elizabeth would have a son in their old age, he could not help but ask “how?” From that time, he could not speak for nine months.

While Zechariah’s question is a natural one, it still indicated he had limits on how far he was willing to go in trusting God. It took the birth of his son for him to completely believe the promise of God. So when his son was born and Elizabeth surprised their family and friends by announcing that their son would be named John, he confirmed her announcement. Suddenly his voice was given back to him, and he broke out in praise to God.

In the meantime, Elizabeth lived for nine months with a husband who could not talk. They had to communicate silently during the entire course of her pregnancy. What was she thinking during that time? Was she marveling at what God had done when she became pregnant after years of being barren or did she question whether it really was the Lord at work?

All we know is that sometime during the course of her pregnancy, she came to believe that the Lord was using she and Zechariah as the parents of the one who would announce the coming of the Messiah. Her trust in God was demonstrated when she declared that her child would be called John.

If we were in their place, would it have taken nine months for us to believe and trust God? Or would we never have trusted God and not allowed him to use us? We need to decide because some day, any one of us may be in a position where we need to trust God without question. When we face such circumstances, we need to trust God completely as they and others did.

SEVEN KEYS WHICH UNLOCK THE BOOK OF REVELATION

On Sunday, I led the adult class at Westwood Christian Church through an overview of “Seven Keys Which Unlock the Book of Revelation.” These keys were developed several years by Stafford North when he was on the faculty of Oklahoma Christian University in Oklahoma City. Here is a brief summary of the seven keys:

1. Revelation is Written in Symbols. Revelation falls in a type of writing called apocalyptic literature that was well in ancient days. Apocalyptic writings generally (1) use symbols or figures to express their meaning, (2) predict historical events, (3) use numbers figuratively, and (4) are based on visions. This “code” approach was used in Revelation for the same reason Jesus used parables during his ministry—so the meaning could be known by his followers while being withheld from others.

2. Revelation is Written Primarily About Events Which Will "Shortly Come to Pass." Phrases such as “things which must shortly come to pass” and “the time is at hand” are used throughout the book. This key suggests that “the major events of the book would happen soon, and we must apply the book to the needs, problems, and hopes of the first-century Christians to whom it was addressed.”

3. Revelation Was Given to Comfort Persecuted Christians.The book mentions the souls of those beheaded for Christ and tells us that the second beast would kill those who refuse to worship the image of the first beast. When you follow this theme through the book, you see that “those who first received the Book of Revelation were beset by persecution and that it was going to get even worse. Much of the book is to reassure Christians in a time of trial—they should overcome, they should hope, they should expect the eventual overthrow of their persecutors, they should look to heaven.”

4. Revelation Identifies the Dragon and Two Beasts. The Dragon is clearly identified as Satan. The First Beast represents the Roman Empire, and the Second Beast is associated with the First Beast and enforces worship of the First Beast. This worship was the practice of emperor worship that prevailed in the Roman Empire of the day.

5. Revelation Identifies the Harlot and Babylon. The Harlot is a powerful city and represents Rome. Babylon was a great city which had fallen and also represents Rome. Because of the evil of Babylon, the term is another way of referring to Rome as a city of evil.

6. Revelation Identifies the Period of 1260 Days. The period of 1260 days and 42 months and 3 1/2 years are all codes for a limited period of intense persecution that was soon to come upon the Christians. The vision is intended to encourage Christians to stand firm in the face of that persecution.

7. Revelation Tells of a Spiritual, Not a Physical Kingdom. Much of the misunderstanding about the Book of Revelation comes from a misconception about Christ's kingdom, which attempts to understand the Kingdom of God as a physical kingdom.