A Funeral Sermon for Jonathan Mindrum. February 10, 2024

This sermon was preached at Grace Lutheran Church (River Forest, IL) for the funeral service of Jonathan Mindrum. The livestream recording is available to watch here. Jonathan was a light for so many in this world. May God comfort all who mourn. Rest eternal grant him, O Lord; and let light perpetual shine upon him.

Donna, Craig, Jennifer, Jessica; family and friends; sisters and brothers in Christ, grace be unto you and peace in the name of God the Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

1. Let your light shine before others. Consider the lilies of the field. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. These words of Jesus, first from his Sermon on the Mount near the beginning of his ministry, and then from the Upper Room near the end of his life, provide not only bookmarks for Jesus’ teachings but also benchmarks for us as we gather today with broken hearts. Let your light so shine? For 36 years, Jonathan’s light shined brightly. His smile! That laugh! While many of you have known Jonathan his whole life, or nearly so, even I was blessed more than once by his warm, open hospitality. And what a light, luminously gifted in so many ways. And with light, love. As son, brother, friend, Jonathan lived with love, helping us learn along the way that the love of which Jesus speaks – the love of God for us, the love for one another with which God gifts us – is always more expansive, more inclusive, than might once have been imagined. Consider the lilies of the field? Consider Jonathan, this beautiful child of yours, this beautiful child of God, gifted in so many ways to the glory of God.
2. Today, too, we consider the awful reality of death. We know, even though we try to keep this knowledge at bay, that life will come to an end. Mostly, we can make some sense of it, wrap our heads around it, as we sadly let go of those who have gone before. But what of when those who go before us into death came after us into life? Jonathan should not be gone. To say his death comes too soon is only part of it; while this is true, isn’t all death too soon? Even more, Jonathan’s death is out of order, more than any parent, any community, should ever have to bear. But in this out-of-order world, death happens. It is not always given for us to know why. But it is given to us to know that death is not the will of God. Our God is always, always, the God of light and life. While serving as Senior Minister of Riverside Church, William Sloane Coffin lost his son, Alex, who died in a car accident. Ten days later, he preached a sermon to his congregation, in which he spoke of where God was in that moment: “My own consolation lies in knowing that it was not the will of God that Alex die; that when the waves closed over the sinking car, God’s heart was the first of all our hearts to break.” Just so was God with Jonathan on that ship, surrounding him, and those near him, with grace and love in those moments, the divine heart breaking open in sorrow as Jonathan’s bright light was inexplicably dimmed.
3. Love one another. Jesus speaks these words as he prepares to enter the valley of the shadow of death. God’s love for us is such that, while God does not cause the hurt and heartbreak of this world, neither will God leave us here on our own. Jesus’ love for us is such that he is willing to enter all the way into what it means to be human. Into our sorrow and grief, even into our death. And in so doing, God gifts us with faith, perhaps at times more tenuous than tenacious, but faith enough to trust that the God of life and love is doing something new. That death – no matter how sudden or heartbreaking, no matter how out of order – death does not get the last word. First of all, because Jonathan is not defined by his dying, but by the way he lived. For thirty-six years this world was blessed, we were blessed, by his presence. For this we give thanks. And because, in the mystery of the gospel, we claim in hope that death is not the end. That in the promise of the resurrection, we can trust God will bring life out of death in the world to come, whatever that will look like, as we are gathered in by the Good Shepherd who refuses to let us go on either side of the grave.
4. Friends, while I wish desperately that we didn’t have reason to gather together today, I am so thankful that we are here, together in our grief, not alone. Never alone. In thanks for Jonathan, let us keep our lamps lit for one another, however flickering our faith feels in this moment. Let us do the work of today, which is the work of every day, loving one another as Jesus loves us, carrying one another forward in hope. Today, we cry and mourn. We laugh and tell stories. We sing songs of praise to God and in protest against the power of death. We gather around tables, at this altar and then in Fellowship Hall, to receive the gift of Jesus and the gift of each other. We do so together, for how else will we make it through? Love one another. As we do, we find the grace to entrust Jonathan Christian to God’s unfailing care, this son who is forever your beautiful child, this one who is forever a beloved child of God. Amen.

And now may that peace that passes all understanding keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus, this day and forever. Amen.