Roger

I had the privilege of celebrating the life of a friend yesterday as we said goodbye to him on this earth. The sanctuary was nearly full of friends and neighbors, many of whom this person had given nicknames to over the years, and there tears mixed with laughter as memories were shared, stories were told, sympathies were offered to the family and the good news of the Gospel was proclaimed. It was an incredible visage as this vast mix of humanity clung to resurrection hope in the midst of deepest despair much like the woman who reached to touch the hem of Jesus' robe as He walked by.

The power of an empty tomb has that effect on us: God gives us a reason to believe beyond the domain of earthly understandings. God grants us a peace which death cannot deny.

I will miss my friend's easy smile, hard-working ethic, wise-cracking ways and, especially, his continual living out of the story of the Good Samaritan. I know when Jesus told that story, He told it of my friend whose life the story embodied. Yet, I know, I believe, I trust, I have faith, that all my friend ever was, as much as I will miss him . . . he is now even more as he dwells in the perfection and wholeness of the One who birthed him from the beginning. Someday, somehow, in the time beyond this time, in the Kingdom beyond this earth, we will meet again and my heart will rejoice when I hear him say, 'How you doin', Preacher? Welcome home!' . . . and I will know, in the mercy of God, my friend, Roger, will have helped to pull one more life out of the ditch - and this time it was me.

Rest in the Peace of God, Roger Trentman, child of God, disciple of Christ, member of the Church eternal.