Esther Franklin Memorial Homily

“Esther Franklin: Steadfast and Immovable.”

1 Corinthians 15:51-58

⁵¹Listen, I will tell you a mystery! We will not all die, but we will all be changed, ⁵²in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. ⁵³For this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality. ⁵⁴When this perishable body puts on imperishability, and this mortal body puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled:
‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’
⁵⁵ ‘Where, O death, is your victory?
   Where, O death, is your sting?’
⁵⁶The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. ⁵⁷But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁵⁸ Therefore, my beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, because you know that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

The Apostle Paul believed that good theology leads to good behavior.  That’s why he spends so much time in First Corinthians writing about the mystery of the resurrection.  Paul wants his readers to get their theology right, so they will get their behavior right.  When the heavenly trumpet blows, announcing the return of Christ the King, we will all be changed.  In a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, these old bodies of sin and death will be no more.  If that was the end of the story, every funeral and memorial service would be nothing but bad news.  But of course, there is more to the story.

The Good News is that our bodies will be changed into something new.  What is perishable will become imperishable.  What is mortal will become immortal.  Our fragile bodies that are so vulnerable to disease, destruction and death, will no longer be at risk.  Believe in Jesus and death loses its victory.  God’s love will transform us into something we can scarcely comprehend: the resurrection and the life. 

          Esther Franklin got her theology right at First Covenant Church in Willmar.  Every Sunday there were two worship services, one in the morning and one in the evening.  The Andersons went to both.  Esther’s early social life revolved around church and family.  This childhood pattern shaped her life.  At First Covenant Church in Willmar Esther got a healthy dose of good theology, and she followed it up with a lifetime of good behavior.

          Esther lived for the church.  While studying at North Park College, Esther worked at Covenant Headquarters, assisting the directors of Sunday school and Youth Work.  Years later, after she married Robert Franklin and had moved back to Willmar; Esther was again an active member of First Covenant Church: teaching Sunday School, serving as Sunday School superintendent, directing the choir, and singing solos on the Covenant Hour.  When the Franklins returned to Minneapolis, Esther served for 24 years as the Executive Secretary for the Northwest Conference.  She also served Edina Covenant Church as Minister of Music.  At Bethlehem Covenant Church, Esther directed the junior choir and was an active member of the Ruth circle.  Just yesterday we celebrated our 51^st Lucia Festival which Esther began with Bernice Anderson.  The identity of this church has been permanently marked by the ministry of Esther Franklin. 

          Even in her final years Esther was more comfortable being the giver than the receiver.  She braided rugs.  She knit booties for her friends.  When we went to sing Christmas carols for Esther last year she was visibly uncomfortable that everyone was making such a fuss over her.  She preferred to sing for others.  Esther was sad that all her friends were dead and she had no one left to sing to.  During the final months of her life, Esther would frequently express the feeling that she had no more reason to live–-because, as she would say, her last opportunity to minister to read a psalm and sing in Swedish to her fellow residents was no longer possible.   She longed to serve, not to be served. 

The good theology Esther learned at First Covenant Church in Willmar shaped her identity.  Not that Esther thought she could earn her salvation by being good.  Not that Esther felt that she had any hope that she could turn her perishable and mortal body into something heavenly all on her own.  But in response to the grace of God, Esther was motivated to do something positive in the world, by serving her church; by serving the Northwest Conference; by serving the Covenant denomination.  Esther lived for church: not to impress anybody, but because that’s where she was free to do something good in the name of Jesus. 

Which brings us to the much neglected final line of First Corinthians chapter 15.  We get so impressed with Paul’s poetic turns of phrases like “twinkling of an eye” or “Where O death is your sting?” that we risk forgetting the commission Paul gives us at the conclusion of all that good theology.  “Therefore, my beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, because you know that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.”  This is how you behave once you learn all that good theology. 

Esther Franklin was steadfast.  Esther Franklin was immovable.  Esther Franklin was always excelling in the work of the Lord.  She knew that her labors for Jesus were not in vain.  In fact, the people of Bethlehem Covenant Church are still recovering from yesterday’s Lucia Festival!  Our celebration never would have started and it never could have lasted without Esther’s good work. 

Just looking at her frail, 97 year old body, you never would have guessed that Esther was such a spitfire.  And here’s where good theology helps us once again.  Because of the grace of God, we can say in faith that Esther’s fire has not been extinguished.  It lives on even now and will be re-ignited into full flame when the trumpet blows and the dead are raised.  Trust in Jesus Christ to be your victory over the grave and you too will experience the great mystery of the Resurrection and the Life.