And grace upon grace....

The Funeral of Molly Carvosso

All Hallows’ Blackwood, 31^st December 2010

1Peter 1:3-6; John 6:35-40

A lot of careless words are spoken at funerals

Often, and almost always, this is done with the best of intentions

We could be pardoned for thinking

that our beloved Molly

will soon rival Mary MacKillop as Australia’s chief saint!

I certainly have something in me that thinks of Molly like this today!

I suspect she would be the first to think this was hilarious

There is a serious side to this

It is not authentically Christian

to try and whitewash a person

at their funeral

so that we can believe

with confidence

that they are going to be with Jesus

in heaven

We must resist at all costs

the temptation to paint Molly in such a light

that God should consider himself lucky

that such a high quality candidate

is deigning to enter heaven.

Yet we often talk like this.

Molly, as I say, would find this hilarious!

With her wry smile and impish look

she would say to me when I would be pulling her leg

“Ahh go on with you, don’t be so silly”

Molly knew, as we should be glad to know.

If we have to be perfect to get into heaven

then none of us ever gets there.

We hear Peter tell us today that it’s not what we have done, but what we believe

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead

It is as the hungry we come to Christ,

and find that he feeds us with the bread of life.

That as we believe in him

so we may have eternal life.

Earlier in John’s Gospel

(which we recall at this Christmas time)

We hear God saves us not because we deserve it

but because God wants it

not because we are so good that we earn merit

but by God’s grace.

Grace is the word of Christmas

it means FREE GIFT

all these gifts that we get at Christmas

are not because it is jesus’s birthday

but to celebrate that our God is the god who gives.

And John says it’s not just “grace”

It’s “grace upon grace”

Today, Molly would laugh

at being good enough to get into heaven.

But she also knew

that God loves her

because God wants to love her.

She wants each one of us to know that today.

God wants to love you.

It’s grace…and not just grace…but grace upon grace upon grace.

Not just Molly, but each one of us. Today is a good day to turn and receive that free gift