My brother Aldo (#3 Hoyt sibling) conducted Mother's memorial message and committal ceremony. Due to unusual time constraints, we had to interrupt the service and proceed to the cemetery. Though we returned to the church to continue, we were unable to live stream or record the second half. Today I received the full text of the rest of the service.
Memorial:
Reflecting on our upbringing, I am more and more impressed with the tremendous privilege we had to have parents like Solon and Kathryn. The training and example they gave us has served us a lifetime. Like others, I learned the basics of life from Mom, from how to eat, dress and talk, plus learning the multiplication tables, spelling and other important things. On the spiritual side, she taught me to love Jesus and to serve Him.
Sometimes she would say things that appeared on the surface to be routine instructions, but over the years I realized they were principles to live by. What appeared to be a guideline for when to put my shirt in the dirty clothes hamper for washing, was also a good principle for proper behavior. “If it’s doubtful, it’s dirty” she would say, and I later realized that questionable conduct or conduct that didn’t come from assurance of its goodness was actually bad conduct, because I would be violating my own conscience. This agrees with James 4:17 “So whoever knows what is good to do and doesn’t do it is guilty of sin.” And it also agrees with I Thess. 5:22 “Stay away from every form of evil.”
Mom taught me the honor of work by her example. She never let grass grow under her feet and she didn’t want me to let the grass grow too tall in the yard either. Though she exhibited the good character traits of many biblical characters, I would compare her most to Martha, the sister of Mary and Lazarus.
Now, before you think this puts her in a bad light, let me point out that Martha, like Peter and Thomas have been underestimated and unfairly judged. It is true, that Thomas didn’t believe when he was told that Christ had risen from the dead, and only believed when he saw Jesus. But the same could be said about all the disciples.
Likewise, we remember Peter for wavering faith in the presence of wind and waves and how he began to sink in the Sea of Galilee, but we forget that he was the only one who had the courage to step out of the boat. We also remember him for denying the Lord three times. Yes, in fear He denied the Lord verbally. But in effect all the disciples denied the Lord in actions when they fled out of fear of being arrested. We should instead remember him for his statement of faith “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God” which Christ commended as the foundation on which He would build the church.
Martha has also been wrongly judged. She is always put beneath Mary based on one incident and her life is not seen as a whole. Martha made the mistake of not understanding that there is a time for everything. She got so caught up in service that she neglected fellowship and personal growth. But she didn’t always do this. She learned from her mistake. John shows us a different view of Martha in chapter 11:11-27
After he had said this, he went on to tell them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.” 12 His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.” Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep. So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” Then Thomas (also known as Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Now Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home. “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”
Martha had learned from her previous experience. She was now the first to meet Jesus when He came to Bethany. She was now a woman of faith and conviction. She knew that Jesus could have healed Lazarus. She also believed that Jesus could raise him from the dead if He chose to do so. This total faith in Jesus was based on her conviction that “Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.” This confession of faith is very similar to the highly valued confession of faith made by Peter (Matt. 16:13-19).
Like Martha, Mom was industrious and serving, but more important, she was also a woman of conviction. Like Martha, she knew that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God and it is this faith that gives us the assurance that we will see her again some day.
If you share this faith and have trusted Jesus to forgive your sins on the basis of his death on the cross, this is not “good by” instead it is “see you later.”
The Bible tells us that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Furthermore it says that the wages of sin is death, meaning eternal separation from God in hell.
By God’s grace it not only tells us the plight we are in, but it tells us of God’s love. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should have everlasting life.”
If you have not believed yet, I urge you to do so today. The apostle Paul tells us in I Thess. 4:13 that as believers “we do not grieve like those who have no hope.” While we do grieve, we have hope. While there is sorrow, there is also joy.
Committal:
John 14:1-2
Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house there are many rooms; if it were not so I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you.
John describes this place in:
Rev. 21:1-5, 9-11, 22-23, 25
Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal.
I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.
On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there.
It is with calm assurance and eager anticipation of a blessed reunion in that glorious city whose builder and maker is God that we lay to rest the body of Kathryn Hoyt until the day of resurrection.
