| Funeral Sermon of Evan William Campbell 15 Feb 2007 Jesus, Good Shepherd, receive Evan into your arms. Cradle him in your love. Bless him and take him to your Father. Comfort the hearts of his parents and bring them peace and consolation. May he live forever with you in heaven. Amen. We have gathered together in this parish church to lay Evan William Campbell to rest from his earthly existence and to celebrate his life – a very short but a very full life. Evan’s death came to us very suddenly and at a time we least expected it and certainly has caused me at least to wonder what God has been saying to us in taking Evan home at the time he did. Evan had come through six major medical procedures including two open heart surgeries having spent half of his life in the hospital and he had weathered it all. He was truly living up to the meaning of his name “young warriorâ€�. How come Lord now? I wish I had the answers to “whyâ€� and “why nowâ€� but I no more know those answers than you. The prophet Isaiah has written, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," Declares the LORD. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. And so they are. We also know that the Lord promises us “he will never leave us or forsake usâ€� The Psalmist writes “ You know when I sit and when I rise; You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. He is with us always and He has been with Evan since he was conceived in his mother’s womb and made in his very image (“Imago Deiâ€� the image of God). God has been with GR and Amy every step of the way and the promise is he will continue to do so. A friend of Amy’s Cathy Collins created the website www.evansfight.org. If you never have visited it I urge you to do so. In two months of operation it has received over 3,800 hits! These past few days I have visited it often to read the tributes to Evan and to gain inspiration to preach this message. The words expressed on the website express much better than these offerings of mine --- let me share one of them . . . My husband and I keep crying, but we are reminded that our tears are not just tears of sadness, but also of the resurrection joy we share in Jesus. We KNOW where Evan is now and we can rejoice that though he is no longer resting in your earthly arms, he is in the arms of his heavenly father who loves him and loves both of you immensely. Tears of Resurrection Joy. That phrase jumped out at me because as believers we live in the hope of the resurrection. The Apostle Paul writes “Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who have died, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hopeâ€�. We do grieve and we do hurt but we do have hope. In fact at times like these we cling to it. It is all we have. The Apostle also writes “If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he did indeed raise Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all menâ€�. As I said earlier we come to celebrate Evan’s life. Our Anglican liturgy tells us that life is not ended but changed and in Evan’s case this is especially true. We can rejoice that Evan is no longer struggling and in pain. There are no wires or tubes, no ventilators, no drugs, no bags. Words like intubation, plication, chromosome 22 deletion, DiGeorge Syndrome, Tetralogy of Fallot, CICU, PICU, and NICU, are no longer a necessary part of Evans life. He has been freed of all of that. He is dancing in heaven. Let me now suggest three things that we would be well to consider today. First is to be thankful. Many of us gathered in this church never laid eyes on Evan Campbell. Not one of us ever heard Evan speak a word. Yet Evan William Campbell has had a powerful impact on thousands of people. The blessing of modern technology and the labor of love by people like Cathy Collins, Jay Rairigh and Gale Wilson and others (but mostly the personal updates from GR and Amy themselves) have enabled Evan’s life to be an inspiration to countless people all over this nation and perhaps even the world. There are messages on his website from a family in Anchorage Alaska and from military personnel in Monterrey California and in San Antonio Texas. People from Blue Bell PA to Red Bank PA to Red Lion PA, From Pittsburgh to Petaluma CA from Florida to Fox Chapel. Evan had an impact on the faith of so many Christians it is almost unbelievable. Churches from Roman Catholic to Russian Orthodox from Assemblies of God to the Church of God and everything in between. All have been touched by this young warrior. I can testify, and will do so as long as I’m minister, that Evan transformed this parish of St. Paulâ €™s Kittanning and touched many parishes throughout the Diocese of Pittsburgh and also Trinity Seminary in Ambridge. Bishop Henry told us on Monday Evan was prayed for every day at staff Morning Prayer in Trinity Cathedral. He also shared the following on the diocesan website; “GR and Amy have been a fabulous example to me, and to everyone who knows them, of totally devoted parents who loved and cared for their little boy and saw him through his every battle.â€� Evan even inspired Amy’s dad Sam to get out his guitar and play in church on Christmas Eve at St. Paul’s Monongahela! A young mom in this parish told me she would look forward to coming home from work each evening and checking her email to see of there was an update about Evan. Another young mom from our church wrote on the website “We pray for baby Evan every day! Emily has named her baby doll that she got for Christmas, Evan. Just wanted to let you know that you are constantly in our thoughts and prayers (even little Emi's, she takes such loving care of her doll!)â €� We should also give thanks to the wonderful staff at Children’s Hospital and the network of parents who support each other in the ordeals that each of them must endure. God’s hand is upon them too. After his last surgery Evan received from Children’s a string of beads with each bead signifying a medical procedure which Evan underwent. There were easily forty different beads. They are called “beads of courageâ€� and so they should be for Evan was the epitome of courage. All of us have been touched by Evan and by GR and Amy’s strong witness and we all can give thanks to God for that. Second is to be human. No one enjoys days like today. No one likes to say good by to family members or loved ones. When an older person dies who has lived a long life we can look at death as the end of natural process and recognize a long and fruitful life lived. But when we experience a sudden death of a young person or infant (which we have had to endure in this parish too often lately) we are stunned and shocked. But death is something that claims us all, We all must face it. While we who are believers in Christ look forward, even with eagerness to our new life we must also deal with our loss and grief. Funerals are one of the few opportunities we have in life to be fully human –to show our true feelings. We do this being strong for each other, by coming alongside each other and be bearing each others burdens –by just begin there. When this day is over, for most of us life will return to our regular routines and patterns but for GR and Amy and their families it will take much longer. And as life moves forward it is here where the GR and Amy and their families will need our love and compassion. Acts of kindness, a casserole, a card, an email, a phone call, a hug a squeeze of the hand and a kind word of support will go along way to ease the hurt and help the healing. And third and last is to be faithful to God. One of the prayers in our Episcopalian prayer book begins with the phrase “O God, Our times are in your handâ€� And they truly are. The Bible tells us he is the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. GR ‘s dad Greg told me at Children’s on Saturday in a quiet moment God chooses when our lives on this earth will be no more, and he does it in his good time. And Greg was right. We are more often, than not, not ready when he calls a parent or a spouse and, especially a child, home to Him. But make no mistake about it, God does not cause death. He allows it. In fact he hates death. He hates death so much that he was willing to spare his only Son Jesus Christ to conquer it once and for all times. Death does not have the final word. God does. God has conquered sin and death through Jesus Christ and through faith in his shed blood on the Cross. You and I can have the assurance that we will one day be reunited with Evan and all those who have gone on before us --saints, prophets, apostles, martyrs, faithful ancestors, and all the company of heaven as we stand at the throne worshiping God. And so we can join with the Apostle Paul when he said “Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?â€� The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen |