Duane Strain Funeral
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Opening Remarks
Opening Remarks
“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.”
For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. My heart faints within me!
Let us Pray,
O God, who by the glorious resurrection of your Son Jesus Christ destroyed death and brought life and immortality to your people: We Praise you that your child, Duane Strain, having fallen asleep in this life, has now been brought into the very presence of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
May Duane know the strength of the presence Christ and rejoice in his eternal glory; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Today we gather to remember and celebrate the life of a husband, a father, a grandfather, a brother, an uncle, a friend, and above all, a servant of God.
On behalf of the entire Strain Family I want to thank all of you for being here this morning as we remember and celebrate the life of Duane Strain.
Duane’s godly legacy is carried forward though his four sons, Jacob, Andrew, Jonathan, and Joel and their wives and 16 grandchildren.
GRANDKIDS READING OF PSALM 34.
To begin our time together this morning I want to invite 5 of his grandkids, Taylor, Lucy, Grant, Elly and Molly to come up and read for us Psalm 34.
(KIDS COME UP AND READ)
INVITE NICOLE AND FOUR SONS TO COME AND SHARE A FEW WORDS
And now Id like to invite Duane’s daughter in law, Jacob’s wife, Nicole to come and share a few words. She will be followed by Duane’s four sons.
(Nicole, Jacob, Andrew, Jonathan, Joel come and read)
SERMON
I have so appreciated hearing stories of Duane over the last week or so.
Hearing about his friendships, his hobbies, his love for people, his intentionality, his hospitality, his love for music, and his glorious mustache, have been a blessing.
As you have heard from the testimonies shared, Duane has left a legacy that will, by the grace of God, continue for generations.
The passage I’d like us to look at this morning is found in 1 Thessalonians 4:13
The Apostle Paul is writing to this church to encourage them in the gospel and in this part of the letter more particularly he wants encourage those who are grieving the loss of loved ones.
But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.
This young church in Thessalonica, a first century Roman city, is grieving and trying to understand the death of loved ones.
the grief they are experiencing is real
The questions they have are nagging
And the sorrow they are experiencing can be related to by many of us in this room. For death and grief walk hand in hand.
Though there are many emotion that affect the soul, grief is perhaps the most cruel of all.
the grief of death is a feeling that often leaves us looking for answers.
The grief of death can make us feel lost as if in a dark forest without a guide.
And without the anchor of Christ, grief tends toward despair
Though grief is real, though the pain of death is beyond words, we need not grieve for Duane with a grief of despair.
Rather, our grief is different, we grieve with hearts that are full not of despair but of hope.
And Paul wanted to comfort these early Christians with the same truth in 1 Thess 4 13
But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.
Paul wants these young Christians to grieve (for it is good and right to grieve the death of a loved one), yet he wants them, and us, to grieve as those who have hope.
Hope is the victor of despair.
You see, Hope and despair are fundamentally opposed to each other.
Hope sees purpose in death, its not meaningless.
While despair only sees chaos and pain
Hope can be held on to in the midst of grief
while despair is a free fall away from peace and comfort
How are we to grieve with hope?
Does that mean we keep our emotions hidden?
This cannot be the meaning, for Jesus grieved and wept over the death of his good friend Lazarus.
Hope does not keep us from feeling the pain of losing someone we love, but rather it points that pain in the right direction.
Does grieving with hope mean we pretend to be happy even though we are suffering a deep lose?
Hope does not ask us to pretend to be happy, but rather it meets us in our sorrow and promises that joy will follow the pain.
So How are we to grieve with hope?
We clings to the One who has conquered death by raising from the dead.
You see, we can have hope while grieving Duane’s death because Duane was a redeemed son of God.
Duane’s life was marked by the hope Paul tells us to have while grieving her death.
Duane loved and served the Savior and King.
He was a man of faith
And his faith was not just faith, but it was faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the son of God.
Friends, this is the hope Duane had throughout his life, and this is the hope that kept him anchored to christ even when he himself faced the tragedy of losing his beloved wife and son in a car accident 18 years ago.
Duane’s hope was not in doctors or medication, it was not in circumstances, it was not that he would have a healthy body and mind again. His hope was in the risen savior, Jesus Christ.
I love what Paul says in this verse in 1 Thess 4:13
“But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep”
Why does Paul speak of the dead as those who are asleep?
In fact, this is very common all throughout the NT, when believers in Christ die they are often referred to as asleep.
why is that?
If we were without hope we would not call someone who is dead asleep, we would just call them dead - there gone.
But as people with hope, death no longer has victory. The sting of death has been removed.
Paul calls the dead asleep because they will one day be woken up!
And on that glorious day hope will be realized, hope will no longer be hope, but a reality.
Duane will be raised with Christ, he will be woken up and his body will be redeemed from the sickness of this life, and it will be renewed in the glory of Christ.
And for those of you who share this same hope secured for us in the death burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ will see Duane again in new heavens and the new earth.
This is how we grieve with hope
Friends, Duane’s life was a testimony to the grace and hope of God, and now more than ever, he would hope that his death death would be a testimony to the grace of God.
If you have never tasted this hope, if you have never experienced the grace that comes from a relationship with Jesus Christ Come talk to me, talk to the Strain family.
We would love to share with you the hope we have and why we do not grieve as the world grieves, like those who have no hope.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
O God, who by the glorious resurrection of your Son jesus Christ destroyed death and brought life and immortality to light: grant that your people here will grieve with the hope of resurrection. And may we know now the strength of the presence of Christ, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God forever and ever, Amen.
MUSIC
Now I’d like to invite Duane’s long time friend, Mike Doom, to come and share a song. After Mike plays he will then lead us in Great Is Thy Faithfulness. The words can be found in your brochure.
(MIKE COME AND PLAYS MUSIC)
Graveside service:
at El Paso Cemetery at 700 East Kay, Derby, Kansas 67037.
If you are going to be part of the funeral procession please turn your flashers on.
The family will be leaving here in about 30 min.
Thank you all for coming and go with this benediction.
Rom. 8:38-39 – For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.