Ella Mary Wagman Funeral
9/4/21—6/26/14
92 years 9 months 22 days

Pixley Funeral Home, Rochester, MI

Text: John 11:25
Date: 7/1/14

Jesus meant it when He said, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.” Now that may sound like anything from a silly to an obvious statement, “Jesus meant it.” But at a time like this we look for a certain amount of understanding as well as faith. Did Jesus mean only that He is a heavenly cheerleader bringing the hope of consolation, an illusive sense of peace and even joy to our otherwise dreary lives? Or did He mean to predict His own physical resurrection from the dead and promise that we too would be raised at some indefinite future date? When a loved one dies it isn’t right. Death is not part of God’s will or plan. There’s nothing good about the last enemy. Then we begin to either question or to take more seriously what we mouth with little emotion every Sunday, “I believe in the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.” To all of our questions, hopes or doubts we say today, Jesus really meant it when He said, “I am the resurrection.” Continue reading Ella Wagman Funeral →

Carol Ann Lewsley Funeral
May 1, 1927 – January 22, 2014
86 years 8 months 22 days

Date: 1/14/14
Text: Romans 10:8-9

       There was a wonderful prayer that we prayed together in the family of Incarnate Word congregation on Sunday as well as in the family here yesterday. It is wonderful because it accurately describes our dear Carol when it says:

“Merciful Father, the generations rise and pass away before You. You are the strength of those who labor and the repose of the blessed dead. We give You thanks for all who have lived and died in the faith, especially for Carol, our dear sister. In this body You gave her life and poured out Your Holy Spirit when You washed her in the renewing waters of Holy Baptism. By the same Spirit You led her to confess with her mouth that Jesus is Lord and to believe in her heart that You have raised Christ from the dead….” This prayer reflects the passage in St. Paul’s letter to the Romans that gives the mighty and blessed assurance, saying, “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:8-9). Continue reading Carol Ann Lewsley Funeral →

Date: 6/15/09

St. John Lutheran Church, Fraser, MI

Dear Christian friends, friends and acquaintances of Ron Smith, Pastor Merrill, Pastor Fischer, and especially you Diane, Pastor Bradley and Judy, Corey and Alison, Nathan, and you Tim, Jacob, Ian and Lauren:

Peace be to you, and grace, from Him who freed us from our sins (Rev. 1:4-5). In the Name of the Father and of the  Son and of the Holy Spirit.

We are gathered here today to commend our beloved brother, husband, father, grandfather and dear fellow Christian friend Ronald Smith to the safe-keeping of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who said, “if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also” (Jn. 14:3). We do this with great faith and confidence that Ron’s faith and confidence was always in that certain Word and promise of Christ. A faithful, confessing member of the Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, he has been walking with us accompanied by God’s Word every step of the way. As such we take God’s Word with us from Sunday to live it out in the days and the weeks following. And it is because of our connection with God’s Word in the lectionary from Sunday to Sunday that I would like to draw your attention to that Word which we have heard even as our dear Ron has departed to be with the Lord. That Word is the little parable of the growing seed. Jesus said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come” (Mark 4:26-29). Continue reading Ron Smith Funeral →