For a Ninety-year-old Clergyman

This is a funeral sermon for a retired minister who lived in our neighborhood and continued to serve the Lord in a quiet, unobtrusive manner. He was a genuine saint of God - faithful, humble, talented, effective. When he died at the age of almost ninety, the entire community mourned. It is much more personal and individual than my typical funeral sermon. Such an occasion lends itself to this approach.

As we gather for this Memorial Service for Dr. _____________ we have no regret - except the sadness we experience because of the loss we have suffered. We shall greatly miss him. Our tears of grief are for ourselves, not him.

Let me encourage you to separate yourself, as far as is possible, from the present and look backward into the past, there recalling your per…