In that prayer for Marianne and the family,
he referred to God as the
"Giver of Peace that makes no sense."
I really like that, and told him so.

We might think that much in this world
makes no sense,
and somehow should.
But such is the stuff of torn souls.

How can it be that people
in the prime of their lives and good works,
are so taken from us
that we don't even have a chance to say good-by?

How can a life end so quickly? so violently?
with no evil intention anywhere?

Unfortunately,
it does make sense.
People are vulnerable
life is precious, but perilous.
This world is an unfinished, dangerous place.
It makes sense, all right.

Rather, it is God that doesn't make sense to the world;
for God is beyond all logic,
all human love, all compassion,
all expectation
that we might ordinarily have.

Today's readings were chosen by Marianne and Christine
and clearly say this is so.

In the first reading, which was from Hebrews,
Abraham and Sarah do a lot of things
that are contrary to the world's expectations.
and they do them because they choose to live faithful
to the promise of God.

They obeyed God, and set out for an unknown land,
just left everything; wealth, position,
flocks, servants.
It just makes no sense.

But, Abraham and his wife, Sarah,
trusted God,
followed him in faithful steps
along the journey they were called to make.

They arrived in a foreign land, a strange land,
and lived in tents for a long time.
Why? It makes no sense.

But, God said, "Go there";
and they went where God directed,
regardless of what the neighbors might have said
or what they had to leave behind.

And, because they went,
God made to them a promise,
for God has use for such faithfulness.

God took Abraham out of the tent
one clear desert night,
and said to him,
"Abraham, look up at the sky,
count the stars, if you can."

And God said, Your life will matter very much
both on earth and in Heaven,
for from you I shall build
a mighty people of faithfulness - as numerous as the stars in the sky.
and, Abraham and Sarah lived and died believing God.

The writer of Hebrews says
that Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Jacob
lived many decades
but died without having seen the outcome
of this promise.

But, from a distance,
they had seen, and had recognized heavenly things,
and knew God speaks the truth.

They lived as strangers and foreigners on this earth,
but they lived as seekers of a place of the spirit,
and God claimed them as his own
and so we read about them to this day.

Friends of God,
we live in a foreign land,
a world driven by unseen demons
of human failure,
we abide in a place temporarily in tents, as it were.

We are called by God to go out into the night
out of those tents
and look up at the stars,
and to live faithful to the vision
given us by our Lord Jesus.

It is the way and the hope
of true humanity and Godliness,
even in the midst of undeniable tragedy.

And we can live this dream
because through the faithful people around us
we can glimpse the realities of heaven,
and God's promise is sure.

To the world
it makes no sense,
but God weeps here with us in our pain
and makes promises that he will surely keep.

We pray God to receive Skip into his Kingdom.
To the world it makes no sense,
But God is here, and Skip is too.

We weep with Marianne and Christine, Joy and Skip's mom,
other family and close friends
and beg God to heal their pain.

Such makes no sense,
but God will bring a warmth and a sweetness to the tears
and provide a thousand evidences
of Skip's continuing power and life in God.

We live in a temporary world,
but are those who,
by the vision of God,
bring to it the songs of angels, and glimpses of heaven.

It makes no sense at all
and thank God for that,
for he has shown us a better way
in the life, death, and rising to new life
of his son, the Christ of God.

We are privileged to have known both Skip and Marianne.
They are following the way of Abraham and Sarah
in becoming lights to the world.
God has use of such faithfulness.

Somehow, by God's act,
through the pain of their much suffering
God's heaven shines
and makes us better people
the world, a more Godly world.

So, Marianne, Christine, family and friends,
Members of various communities
abiding in our tents,
Today we weep at our loss -
of a good man, fallen to soon.

But, we rejoice in God's Promise
of the life, the faithfullness,
the hope, the healing,
the joy,
and yes, the Peace of God
that to a troubled world
simply makes no sense.