A Service of Witness to the Resurrection (Joseph Thomas Brown)

“Hi, neighbor.” That small, steady greeting opens a much bigger story: the life of Joseph Thomas Brown, a Marine, Vietnam veteran, commissioned lay pastor, husband, father, and friend who served with quiet strength. We gather in a mixture of grief and gratitude, anchored in Christian hope and the promise that death does not have the final word.

We begin at the waters of baptism and the words of Romans 6, then open Joe’s own well-used Bible to Psalm 150, where “praise” is repeated until it feels like breathing. A neighbor’s remembrance brings Joe close with everyday details: the faithful porch greeting, the way he watched over others, the prayers offered in hard moments, and even the gentle humor of a famously slow Corvette drive around the block. These stories paint a picture of service that looks less like grand speeches and more like consistent love.

Joe’s son, Commander Eric Brown, honors his dad’s legacy and tells the truth about dementia, naming how cognitive decline reshapes a family and lifting up the caregivers who keep showing up. From there, we turn to John 14 and a sermon shaped by Joe’s own preaching on fear and the unknown, holding tight to the conviction that neither war nor dementia can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.

If this memorial service meets you in your own season of loss, listen, share it with someone who needs steadiness, and subscribe for more. After you listen, would you leave a review and tell us what line or story stayed with you?

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Transcript

Baptism Waters And Romans 6

SPEAKER_02 12:50

Friends, grace and peace in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We gather today in the shore and certain hope of the resurrection to give thanks to God for the life of Joseph Thomas Brown, to receive the comfort of the Holy Spirit, and to proclaim the good news of eternal life in Jesus Christ. We begin our service today by the waters of Job's baptism, and indeed the waters of all of our baptisms. So as we join today in this curious mixture of grief and gratitude, I invite us all together to hear the renewing waters of God's everlasting mercy. In his baptism, Joseph was clothed with Christ. In the day of Christ's coming, you shall be clothed with glory. And from Romans 6, verses 3 through 5. When we were baptized in Christ Jesus, as we were baptized into his death. We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death. So that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live a new life. Or if we have been united with Christ in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. Help us to believe for we have not seen, trusting you to lead us through our years. And then bring us at last with all your saints into the joy of your home through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

How Great Thou Art Hymn

SPEAKER_02 16:52

Our opening hymn today, you will find in your purple pew hymnal number 625, How Great Thou Art. Please rise in body or in spirit. Help us to turn to you with believing hearts. And in the stillness of this hour, speak to us of eternal things. So that here. The promises in Scripture, we may have hope and be lifted above our distress into the peace of your presence through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Psalm 150 Read Responsively

SPEAKER_02 22:23

It was Joe's Bible that he used for many years. And that Bible is open to Psalm 150, which you and I will read now responsively. And I invite you to do so by reading aloud the words that you will find printed in your bulletin in bold. Praise the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary. Praise him in his mighty firmament. Praise him for his mighty deeds. Praise him according to his surpassing greatness. Praise him with trumpet sound. Praise him with lute and harp. Praise him with tambourine and dance. Praise him with strings and pipe. Praise him with clinging cymbals. Praise him. Let everything that breathes praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. I now invite Phil Mobley, a neighbor of Joe's, to join us at the lectern to give a remembrance. Phil, thank you.

A Neighbor’s Stories Of Joe

SPEAKER_00 23:48

Hi, neighbor. That is the thing I heard so often from Joe Brown, and the thing I enjoyed hearing the most. I would be out in my yard over the 20 years or so I lived across the street. I would be doing something, and all of a sudden, hi neighbor, and I'd look around and there he was. I loved hearing it so much that sometimes when he was on the porch, I was inside and saw him, and I would go outside just so he would say that. It was a great thing. He was always greeting me that way. When he wasn't on the porch, there were many things he enjoyed. He enjoyed preparing sermons. He enjoyed reading that Bible. He enjoyed reading commentaries and many other books as well. And I must say, as Susan knows, that at times he enjoyed watching Gunsmoke and other Westerns in his leisure time. Joe was born on Valentine's Day. How appropriate for a man who was so loving and who was so kind. I remember when I sold my truck, one of the first things he did was to come over and say, Phil, if you ever need to move anything, you can use my truck. And whenever we left town to go on vacation or whatever, he was like the military police. The Marine would come over and he, I knew our property was safe. Twice a day he would come over, he went through the padlock gate and he checked everything, and we never had any problem when we were gone. I will tell you that one year I put up a canopy, a tarp, over my deck and we left on vacation. I came back and found that this very faithful Marine had been out there after a terrible storm with a bucket dipping water out of that tarp that had sunken down. And that's what he did. I never left that tarp up again when I went out of town. But he was faithful in making sure that everything was done and done right. Not only that, but I noticed every time when I came back and I unlocked my gate, the first time it was always a lot easier. Because Joe would always oil the padlock to make sure that it worked well. He would always take care of these things. When other more serious things were happening, eight years ago when I was having brain surgery, he came over and sat on my deck and he looked at me and he said, Phil, are you okay? And he prayed for me. He cared about me. He cared about the people he was with. Now, I will tell you one other thing. This no one's known this until this day. And Joe, I caught you. I used to leave a golf club out in my backyard so that I could take a few swings with a wedge just when I went out there. Now, when I came back from vacation, I would notice that golf club was not in the same place. I know, Joe, you had picked that club up and you had swung it a few times, and it is okay. It is okay. He was a great neighbor. But I'm going to tell you something. It wasn't what Joe said that I will remember the most. It was the way he said it. It was his facial expressions, it was his body language when he spoke. Joe was a deep thinker. He was, he, he thought about things deeply before he said anything. And so if we were, uh I wish I could show you what I'm talking about. I can't, but I can see it. If we were talking about something sorrowful, which means after watching the news usually, and something terrible going on in the world, Joe would stand there and we would be talking about it, or I would say something, and he would just look up usually to the right, and he would look back down past my eyes and just shake his head. His body language spoke so much about who he was. If it was something joyful, uh it would be a flowers in my yard. We would be talking, and he would look over there and he'd say, Bill, look at those beautiful flowers. And he would just smile and look up at the sky as though thanking God. Joe liked to be home. Many of us in this world today can learn something from Joe. You see, people in the world today think we have to go somewhere, do something, or have some adventure to find joy and happiness. He knew that wasn't true. He knew that he could be home. He could see flowers, he could look at the sky, he could be content, he could be happy in the Lord while he was home. Our society needs to learn from those things. He had three great loves in his life. The first was his country. He served in Vietnam. Like so many Vietnam veterans, he did not want to talk about Vietnam. He saw some things none of us have ever seen. And he served patriotically, and he served with courage, and he did things so that all of us can sit here today and so that we can enjoy life in this country as thousands and thousands of other military people have done over the years. He was a patriot. On any holiday, the flags would come out. I love to sit and just watch it because he had wasn't one. He had the Navy flag, the Marine flag, the United States flag. He had all these flags that were out. He was a proud Marine. He was proud. He loved his country. He also loved the Lord and his church and ministry. I will put those things together. He loved the Lord. He was one of those, even though he pastored a church part-time, his ministry was wherever he was. It was when he was at work with a news and record or summit credit union and doing all of those things. And that's what we're supposed to do. We're supposed to be witnesses for the Lord, whether we're on the payroll or what. We're supposed to be witnesses for Jesus. And that's who Joe was. With people he met in lay work, he performed marriages, he performed baptisms with children, and he did celebrations of life because they knew who Joe was, and they came to him, and he was a servant in doing that. He absolutely loved the people at Dogwood Acres Presbyterian Church. He loved even driving down there, even though it took a while to get there. He loved studying God's word during the week. He loved preaching when he got there. He loved the fellowship. He talked about the lunches sometimes afterwards that people would go to. And I'm telling you, when he talked about that church, those facial expressions just came alive. I could see just the joy that he felt in being able to be with those people for so many years. He served them. He loved the people in that church and other people. The third thing is Joe loved his family. Joe loved these people right here. He had a brother, he had sisters, he loved all of these people. He was proud of his heritage growing up in Rockenham County. I think the two things that I think in my 20-some years of knowing Joe, he was most excited about, other than the Lord, was the fact that he got to marry Eric and Sarah. And he got to baptize two of those three children. And he would just shake his head like, like, I just can't believe I got to do that. I got to do it at the Naval Academy. I got a question for you. How'd you get a Marine in the Naval Academy to do these things? It was hard. It's hard. Okay. No. They're all one group. They're just different branches, right? They're all serving us and protecting this country. But he was just awestruck, totally awestruck by being able to do that. Eric and Sarah, thank you for allowing him that privilege. It was one of the greatest things in his life. And Eric, back to you. I don't think there was hardly any time I ever talked to Joe that he didn't point to the sky. Well, how's Eric doing? Well, he would point south. I think he's over Florida flying today. I remember when he's this, I can't really tell anybody. I'm sorry. If he's in Alaska on this secret mission, flying in Alaska, you know, he would point the sky which direction Eric was one time. He said, I think he's probably flying overhead. He's going this direction today. Eric, he loved you. He was proud of you as any man would be because of the man you are, because of the woman you're with and the children you have. He was proud of you. Because of your military service and how you served our country, because of who you are now as a pilot and taking care of your family and nurturing them. And this man does everything. He flies commercial, he flies famous people across this country whose names I will not divulge. He had every right to be proud of you. And he was, and we hardly ever talked your name. Did not come up. I know that you called often and talked to your parents. I know that they knew what was going on in your life. I know that you were a great son. I know that. And I know about the 1972 Corvette. You see, Eric had a 1972 blue Corvette that he didn't have a garage and wanted his dad to keep in his garage. And of course, ever so often you need to crank up those Corvettes and let them run a little bit so the engine won't go bad. Eric, that's the slowest Corvette I have ever seen. I could see him starting to back out of the garage. And I could call Jenny, come over here in the next 10 minutes before Joe gets to the end of the driveway, because he backed that car up so slowly, and he would get out in the street, and he would take off so slowly, and he would drive around the block, he told me, and come back, and I thought he'd probably been to High Point back. But he drove, he took care of that car for you. Susan. What is most important to a man? It is not a Corvette. It is not a job. We looked to the Bible, Proverbs 12, 4. A good wife is her husband's crown. In some translations it says pride and it says joy. You were his crown. You were his pride and joy. That's how I know he felt about you. And he talking about awestruck. If we would talk about Susan, he would just always kind of look to the right and always go as though he's looking to heaven. And he would look down and say, Phil, I am so blessed. Wow. And I have seen you love him, care for him. I've seen you in this disease do amazing things, Susan. You have been a woman of prayer. You have been a woman of courage and faith. You have gone forward like Joshua with the strength going forward every day to do whatever needed to be done that day. You never felt sorry for yourself. You cared for Job, and you showed amazing patience and wisdom. You sought advice, wise counsel. You did all the things that any great wife would do. There's nothing more you could have done. And that man loved you so much. Joe is a happy man today. You see, 2 Corinthians 5.8 tells us to be absent if you know Jesus. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. He is with the Lord this day. You cannot be sorrowful. You can only be happy with no pain, no illness, no disease, no nothing if you're with the Lord. But we're still here. That means God has a plan for all of our lives. There's a reason we are here today, and we'll be here tomorrow if we are. Because He has a plan for us. And we all need to think carefully about what that is and follow through with that. Because time passes quickly. There's going to be a time real soon when I hear, hi neighbor, and it's going to be the day I show up in heaven, and Joe speaks to me. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 37:44

Thank you, Phil. And thanks me for a neighbor like Joe. Now I'd like to welcome up Joe's son, Commander Eric Brown.

A Son’s Tribute And Thanks

SPEAKER_03 38:10

Good morning all. Thank you for being here. I don't know what it would be like to be a Little League batter when they called you up to bat after Babe Ruth. But that's how I feel right now. Phil, thank you so much. That was just wonderful. Thank you so much. As um Stephen said, thank you. Um my name is Eric Brown. Um and Joe was my dad, as we've already talked about. Um my mom Susan and I would like to thank all of you for taking the time to come to Joe's Memorial today. As we've talked about, but I'll talk about a little bit more. Uh Joe battled dementia for many, many years, and anyone here who's been close to this disease knows how vicious it is, not only of the afflicted, but the family as well. His battle was not different. Before I go any further, I'd like to recognize my mom yet again for her steadfast loyalty and devotion to Joe these past years. No day passed, but she did not fret over his health, both physical and mental, when she was no longer able to provide adequate care for him, she made the difficult decision to move him to an assisted living facility. Faithfully visiting him several times a week, taking him to medical appointments, and advocating for his needs, she never rested physically or emotionally. To those of you out there who have supported or will support in the future those affected by cognitive decline, I thank you and wish you the strength of Samson and your endeavor. Mom, thank you for your steadfast support to dad during this battle. Fulfilling your wedding vows in sickness or in death. So in sickness or in health, excuse me, you've set a standard of compassion and dogged determination that we can all look up to and emulate. Mom, will you please stand? Will you you all join me in saluting this woman for a job? Well done. Thank you. I'd like to also take a moment and recognize the staff of Brookdale Assisted Living Facility, some of whom may be in the audience today, I believe. May have a member right there. Thank you for coming. Your care was pivotal in providing Joe the comfortable environment over the past several years, not only taking care of him, but many others who had the same or similar issues. Your patience and compassion toward all those in your charge is very appreciated. Thank you for everything. Thank you for being here. Joe Brown was born to Gertie and Billy Brown on February 14th, 1947. Once again, we'll talk about a Valentine baby here. He was a true product of the post-World War II baby boom, a Valentine baby. He used to joke that everyone loved his birthday so much that they decided to give him and everyone else cards to celebrate the occasion. His dad was a salesman and a painter, and this meant that his family moved quite a bit during his early years. They lived in Eden, North Carolina, Lynchburg, Virginia, and Atlanta, Georgia. This allowed him to experience multiple environments and cultures from an early age. Six siblings he had Bill, George, Liz, Luann, Laura, and Sylvia. And having three children who I've moved with Sarah and myself, I cannot imagine moving a family that big around to all those places. Well done, Gurdy and Bill. Let's see, certainly all this moving and shaking had an impact on his life moving forward, but I think one of the greatest influences was his dad's military heritage. Billy Brown was a member of the United States Marine Corps serving in World War II, a member of the U.S.'s initiative to capture the Japanese island of Okinawa. And he brought home a sense of service and sacrifice that he imparted upon his family. Once he finished high school in 1965, my father Joe made the selfless decision to enlist in the Marine Corps as well. Serving honorably for 14 years, he saw 13 months of combat in Vietnam, which Phil already talked about. But that man experienced a hell on earth that none of us here will hopefully ever experience. He rarely talked about it, like many of the veterans from that war, especially. To him and my grandfather and all other veterans in attendance and their families, and if we have some active members here, thank you for your service and sacrifice. After returning home, we soon met my mom. My mom tells me of a story of the first time that Joe met her dad, Marian Clark. I guess this is the first time she was taking her to meet her parents in rural South Carolina. And when they pulled up to they live way out in the middle of nowhere. Judy, you knew this. Well, mom, you knew this well. This beautiful, beautiful property. And they they big long sloping driveway that if you weren't watching or got icy, this driveway can be very, very treacherous. But I think this is summertime. So um they pulled up to the base of this driveway of their home, and um they noticed a truck stuck down at the bottom of it. And mom said, Well, that's my daddy. Well, my dad, if you knew him, knew him well, he was not a shy man. He hopped right out of the car, which happened to be a Volkswagen bug, which only had one headlight that worked all of the time. The other one apparently would come on when they hit a bump on the highway and then go right back off again. But um, he walked over, stuck his hand out, and introduced himself, and of course he helped Marion get his car out of that ditch. And from then on, Marion was a fan of his to the day that Marion passed away. They uh married in 71 and they settled here in Greensboro and enjoyed 50. 55, 55 years of faithful and devoted marriage. Anyone that knew Joe knew he loved, loved to work. He was when he was obtaining his associate's degree years ago at the Guilford Technical Community College, he took a vocational aptitude test. And as you probably know, these were designed to give a person the idea of a career which would suit their strengths and their personality. The story goes that when he sat with the career counselor regarding the results of his counselor, uh results of his test, the counselor looked at him and said, Are you terrified of people thinking you were lazy? He loved to work that much and apparently came across in the results of this. No one would have ever accused the man of being lazy. He was always moving, always doing something, and working. He started off as a camera operator at the local Sibus affiliate WFMY, and he moved into the accounting department there after a short time. During the late 80s, when I was about eight or nine, I recall that sometime I'd have to go into work with him every now and then. This is because my mom was a hairdresser and they did a lot of business on the weekends. So he'd have to take me in. And this, of course, meant at eight and nine that I had to be occupied in some way. And what other way to do that? So he showed me how to open the mail, put the invoices into the stack in which they belonged, but he realized this is monotonous work, so he paid me a quarter a day. But this pauper's age had a kicker associated. At least two Snickers bar and two Cokes a day for my uh toils. Joe enjoyed people. He reveled in talking with them and joking with them. I remember he'd speak about his friends at work, and he had friends in every department anchormen, anchor women, accountants, production engineers, facilities maintainers, field reporters, all of them. He knew no lines. He was friends with everybody. And they were a close family at Channel 2, and he loved them all. And apparently, shortly after my first uh Soire as an administrative assistant, we shall call it, he told some of his co-workers about how I helped him occasionally, but he made the error of telling them what he paid me. And I guess they chastised him so poorly, so badly that he received too much to bear, and I got a raise during my next ship. 35 cents. Faith was always a very important part of his life, and that only grew with age. He became a member of the program of the Presbyterian Church called the Commissioned Lay Pastor Program, and they would, um, as Phil said, uh, they'd go to churches that were without a pastor due to a sickness, vacation, medical leave, or something like that, and he would pastor to them and work with the congregation. A small church uh in Ashborough, Dogwood Acres Presbyterian Church, was without a pastor for a time, and he went down one week to help out for a week. Filling in one Sunday turned into filling in for well over a decade. During his time there, he presided over weddings, funerals, and baptisms, and he treasured the relationships he made there and enjoyed working with members of that congregation. And think, and I know they enjoyed being with him equally. My dad loved, loved, loved, loved his grandchildren. When my wife Sarah and I had our first Sullivan, he and mom would take the night train, a few songs written about that, um, to Jacksonville, Florida to see Sully, my oldest. I guess he uh came to see us as well, but he came to see the Sully. And about 12 months later, Oliver arrived and the train tips, the train trips continued. He enjoyed playing with them and watching them grow. As they grew older and they would converse on the phone every now and then. His first question was to ask each of them, how is school going? Joe Brown was always, always a proponent of education. My wife and I were honored that not only did my dad marry us at the United States Naval Academy Chapel on October 15, 2011, he also baptized both Sullivan and Oliver. We've talked about. A few years later, Evangeline arrived and he finally got his granddaughter, and he doted on her even more. I told him that she was going to be a Division I women's golfer at Wake Forest. And he said, Why can't she play at Navy? And he saw no limitations in the abilities of his grandchildren. About a month and a half ago, as his health was rapidly declining, he was admitted to the hospital. I drove down from Maryland to Sullivan and Oliver, and we stayed with my mom. At this point, his cognition was severely impacted. So at times, communication was quite difficult. All the time. Communication was quite difficult if not possible. That being said, when the boys went to his room to visit, he looked at the eye, he locked his eyes on them and remarked several times, my main man. And he left his grandchildren. My wife Sarah always treasured her relationship with my dad. They got along well from the start. I have a little button that says small talk survivor. That's something I'm working on. This was not the case for Joe Brown. He could chat with folks and continue chatting. Sarah and my dad Joe enjoyed chatting well after I had reached the point of fatigue and loved talking to each other. And I'm so glad they did. Sarah, I know he loved you very much and was very thankful that you could take such good care of me. Joe also enjoys spending time with my mom's family. He was very close with his in-laws, Francis and Mary and Frank, and lawyer. He also had a wonderful relationship with her sister Judy. And her daughter Jennifer. And her daughter Shelley. They're all in attendance today. Thank you for making the trip. Trips to visit them, Mark and Andrew and others in South Carolina, were always filled with good fellowship, and if possible, even better food. This is a funeral, as we know. When we look at a dictionary, there's a time of degree remembrance. I view funerals, in most cases, as a time of celebration, also. Sarah knows about this. We talk about it a lot. That I have a maybe a bit of an unorthodox view on that, some may think. That's not a word you hear much at a funeral. Instead, it's a time of sadness, but this is not the end. It is only the beginning. One of my dad's favorite verses, printed in the well-used Bible in front of you, is from the book of John, chapter 14, verses 2 through 3. Jesus says, My father's house has many rooms. If that were no so, would I have told you that I'm going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me, that you may also be where I am. Jesus said this to his disciples during the Last Supper, the night before he was crucified. I believe words of comfort or comfort to his disciples then. These are words of comfort to disciples and comfort to us now. Jesus meant these words for Joe and Bob. He meant these words for all of us here. And if I could put my arms further back and put it and signal to everyone in this entire spinning ball of rock in the middle of space, he means it for every one of those on it. Joe Holy believed these words are true. He once told me he did not fear death. This is not macho bravado. This is because he took comfort that once he passed from this earth, we would finally get to meet the Lord. There was no uncertainty in his heart, no fear, no trepidation about what would happen. Rock solid faith. Today we remember a man who lives 79 years on this earth, 79 years of service to family, country, and God. He is no longer a prisoner in his own body. A body that was limiting his ability to do the things he loved that we've already talked about quite a bit. He is free. Grieve how you must in your own personal way, I ask of each of you. But once that emotion has run its course, make the time to celebrate his life. Celebrate his time on earth, his service, and his love. Celebrate the time you had with him and the intricacies of each of your personal relationships with him. I ask you to task yourself today, moving ahead to make your own life worthy of your celebration one day. Joseph Thomas Brown, a life well lived and worth the celebration. Thank you.

Nothing Separates Us From Love

SPEAKER_02 53:42

For I'm convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor dementia, nor anything else in all of creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Friends, this is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

Fear Faith And Being Called By Name

SPEAKER_02 54:15

So I trust that we all know that saying goodbye to a loved one is always as unique as the relationship itself. Some goodbyes happen more quickly than we would ever imagine, and others can be painfully long. Sadly, I never knew Joe before dementia began taking its toll, but I have had the honor of walking with Susan and Eric and his family over the past several years as they have sought tirelessly to care for and love Joe until his dying breath. And although Joe is no longer with us in this life, we gather on this day to surrender him to an eternal life, whose claim on Joe, or for any of us for that matter, can be undone by something even as cruel and relentless as dementia. We gather this day by the waters of Joe's baptism, which are the same waters as our own, to give thanks to God that Joe is again his whole self, body and mind with his Savior Jesus Christ. Now I've been doing this pastor thing for more than a dozen years now, and I believe this is the first time I've presided at the funeral of a fellow preacher and pastor. So it is an honor to stand before you and provide for Joe and his family a particular kind of ministry that he himself provided many folks in his more than 20 years of ministry as the supply pastor, as you've heard today, at Dogwood Acres Presbyterian, south of us in Ashborough. A congregation that has since closed, but was nevertheless blessed by Joe's ministry of word and sacrament during his time with them. So as I prepared for this service, I asked Susan to share a few of Joe's sermons with me to get a sense of his preaching and teaching, and I had some time this week to read through them. And one of them stood out to me in particular, a sermon titled Called by Name, on Isaiah 43 that he preached at Dogwood Acres almost exactly seven years ago to the day. And in it, he opened up with the following anecdote about something that we all feel, which is fear. His sermon opened up as such. There was a five-year-old boy named Johnny. He was in the kitchen as his mother prepared supper one evening. She asked him to go into the pantry and get a can of tomato soup, but he didn't want to go in alone. It's dark in there, he said, and I'm scared. She asked again, but he persisted. Finally she said, It's okay. Jesus will be in there with you. Johnny walked hesitantly to the door and slowly opened it, peeked inside, and saw that it was dark, and started to leave, and all at once an idea came to him, and he said, Jesus, if you're in there, would you hand me that can of tomato soup? I love that story. Because A, I have a six-year-old daughter who would have asked the exact, it would have uh would have responded the exact same way if I had asked her to go into a dark pantry by herself. And B, it's a universal story about the fear we all feel when we're compelled to go into the unknown, when the path ahead seems uncertain, and our ability to see before us is impeded when uh when visibility is low. It's natural to feel such when we stare death in the face when saying goodbye to a loved one, or perhaps even facing our own mortality. And after that anecdote and that sermon, Joe said the following. Joe said, it's one thing to trust God, to feel close to God, to feel his care for us when life seems stable, secure, and safe. But what happens in those times when the old world where we thought we were safe and secure dies, and the waves crash, and the world shakes, and changes, and uncertainty seems to be around every corner. Indeed, Joe said, the greatest challenge of faith may come in those moments when the earth seems to shift on its axis and everything around us shouts fear. Friends, there are many things on this ground, or many things in this world that can cause the ground beneath us to shift. That dreaded phone call, the test results, the diagnosis, the dreaded goodbye, either long or short. And I'm deeply appreciative of Joe's reminder that the greatest challenge of faith comes in those moments. And you and I might just perhaps find ourselves in just such a moment on the threshold between life and death, a time when we gather to say goodbye to a beloved husband, a beloved neighbor, a father, a preacher, a marine, and a Vietnam veteran. His military service in that savage war certainly meant that Joe knew a thing or two about death and its sting. Yet even after seeing the untold horrors of that war, Joe had the faith to stand in that pulpit week after week and proclaim a God whose authority and power dwarfed even the darkest valleys of death. Joe's life, though scarred by the ghosts of war and dimmed by the descent of dementia, was nevertheless an offering of praise to the Savior who has now called him home. Joe was kind. Joe had a quiet strength to him, an unwavering faith built on service to God, his country, his family. And all those gifts are truths that neither war nor dementia can ever undo. His life was an offering of praise mirrored in the words of the Psalm we read a few minutes ago, Psalm 150. It's a brief one. It's one of the shortest of the 150 in the Psalter. It's a mere six verses, but in those mere six verses, the word praise, by my count, is repeated 13 times. And in this very Bible of Job's that sits before us this day, in this Bible that's held together by packing tape and adhesive crying out for mercy after years and years of pouring over its pages, we read that final verse of Psalm 150. Let everything that breathes praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. And in the footnotes of that Bible that I was looking at earlier this week, the following is said about that final verse of the entire book of Psalms. That Bible says, the climax of the Psalm and a fitting conclusion to the book of Psalms. Indeed, that fitting conclusion to the book of Psalms is likewise a fitting conclusion to Joe's earthly life. We have not gathered here today to praise Joe, although there is much within him that was certainly worthy of commendation. Now, as I'm sure Joe would agree, we've gathered this day, as we do at every funeral, to give praise to the God in whose eternal arms Joe now rests. And so on this day, let us do what Joe himself did every Sunday for those twenty-three years. Let us praise God. Let us praise God for a life that sounded its notes in three registers, the discipline and courage of a marine who served his country, the steady hands and steadier heart of a preacher who served God's church, and in the quiet, daily faithfulness of a husband and father who served his family without ever needing to be thanked. Trumpet and cymbal, strings and tambourine, Joe's life had a sound all of its own, and it was from first note to last a song of praise. And so Susan and Eric and Sarah and Oliver and Sullivan and Evangeline. That packing-taped Bible on that table before us bears the mark of a man who wore his praise into the very binding of the book he loved and the God that he loved more. And he has left you the far better inheritance, a life that you watched him live, sentence by sentence, just as he preached. And he has left you this too. The same baptism he received is the same one that each of us carries. We began the service by the waters of Joe's baptism, and it's worth remembering what those waters actually mean. Paul tells us that in baptism we are buried with Christ, so that just as Christ was raised from the dead, we too might walk in newness of life. Those waters were never a single Sunday. They were a claim laid on Job that death itself could not wash away, and dementia, for all it took from him in these last years, was never strong enough to touch it either. What the waters marked, the resurrection makes good on. He is, as we said at the outset, his whole self again, body and mind, restored, alive in Christ, who was himself raised on the third day, so that Joe and all of us may follow. So we do not close today by praising Joe. We close as Joe would have closed, by praising the one who called Joe by name before Joe ever learned to speak, who held that name secure in the waters of baptism even when dementia stole it from his lips, and who has now at last raised him up and welcomed him home to say it back to him face to face. Well done, good and faithful servant. Friends, let everything that has breath praise the Lord. In the name of God, the Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer, may all of us God's beloved children say. Amen.

Creed And Prayers Of Commendation

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I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who is conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried. He descended into hell. The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen. Let us pray. O God, before whom generations rise and pass away. We praise you for all your servants who, having lived this life in faith, now live eternally with you. Especially we thank you for your servant Joe, whose baptism is now complete in death. We praise you for the gift of his life, for all in him that was good and kind and faithful, for the grace you gave him, that kindled in him the love of your dear name and enabled him to serve you faithfully. We thank you that for Joe death is passed and pain ended, and that he has now entered the joy that you have prepared through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Military Honors And Reception Details

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Immediately after the service, any who would like to join us may do so in the columbarium on the other side of this wall, where we will present military honors and gratitude to Joe's service. Everyone else, there will be a reception in the Westminster room, which is back through that door to your right. Into your hands, O merciful Savior, we command your servant Joe. Acknowledge, we humbly pray. A lamb of your own flood, a sinner of your own redeeming. Receive him into the arms of your mercy, into the blessed rest of everlasting, and into the glorious company of the saints and life. The peace of God who brought back from the dead, our Lord Jesus has made you complete in everything good, so that you may do God's will, working among us that which is pleasing in God's height, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. In the name of God, the Creator, Redeemer, and Susan, may all of us God beloved children say.