Today’s Word from Pastor Jim…
Sunday is All Saints Sunday at TLC.
We will be lighting candles as we remember and give thanks for the lives of those saints who journeyed with us at TLC: Ed Oetken, Web Halvorsen, Else Mills, Agnes Morgan, Betty Lehman, Sylvia Jackson, Irene Christofferson, Pauline Dean, Ilse Smit, Roy Billings, Gayle Childs, Lynn Dakin, Bud Hossfeld, Brenda Kidd, Mark Hanson, Virginia Booth, and Pastor Daniel Erlander. In the past year we lost our oldest member, Web Halvorsen, and one of our last remaining charter members, Betty Lehman.
“For everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven. A time be born and a time to die.” Ecclesiastes 3
After nearly 800 funerals, I can say that I have little fear of death; I just don’t want to be there when it happens.
I would like to encourage you to leave something behind when you depart this world. The first is a very practical gift to your children, grandchildren, or spouse. Fill out a funeral planning guide that will be available tomorrow. Put a copy with your final papers in your home, and return a copy to the church office.
At a time of grief and loss, it is very difficult for loved ones to make plans that will honor your journey and comfort a grieving community. What a gift it will be to them to have your funeral and burial preferences as a guide. Choose your favorite music, scripture, and prayers. Share a story, a kind word, or some wisdom. The funeral planning guide available for pick-up tomorrow at church will make it easy for you to do so.
Leave something behind. Consistent with your lifetime of charitable giving, I would encourage you to remember the TLC Endowment in your estate plan. This will be your final statement, a legacy teaching to leave to your children and grandchildren. You can designate your final gift for local benevolences or you can be remembered by establishing a named scholarship. Make your final statement consistent with the priorities and values that guided your life.
I hope to see you in church tomorrow, in person or online. It will be a day to remember and give thanks.
Blessed to be a Blessing.
Ashes to ashes,
PJ
