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Funeral Sermon by Abbie Donald Evans Date of Sermon: 16 April 1976 The Supreme HonorIf you can try to hear what I have to say, I think that I have something to say to you, especially the family members in this time of suffering and sorrow. First of all, I would like to say that I am deeply honored that Don [son of Albert McGlohon and Molly McCranie] and Jim, [Kimmons, son of J.F. Kimmons and Maggie M. McCranie] together had asked me to conduct this final rite, this sacred ceremony of a loved one. I am deeply honored by that. You could have found a better man. You could have found a better preacher. But, you couldn’t have found another man that loved you more than I do. This is a little bit difficult for me because this is my kin folk. I am pretty big on my kin folks and I have always been. The saying that "Blood is thicker than water" is an important thing to me. There is no way that I would NOT be here today once I was asked, because these are my kin folks and these are my people. So, the first thing of all that I have to say is thank you for all the confidence and the honor that you give to me by giving this part to me in this sad time. Introduction What I’ll do today is I have some opening remarks then I want to tell you my favorite Bible story and favorite scripture. Finally, I will finally make some remarks about my loved one and my friend, Albert McGlohon. I am also able to say to you what Ezekiel, the old prophet said long ago. He said to his people, “I sat where they sat.” It so happens that my own father died just a few years ago and I am the baby of the family so at that time I sat where you now sit. I know what you feel today. Indeed, I am an experienced man in being where you are today. I know what is in your heart and your soul and I know what is going on. Like Ezekiel, I have sat where you sit. I loved my Dad and he loved me. Oh, you may say that "Tomorrow will bring a thousand roses." What are the roses of yesterday? The bird of time has flown away and with our fathers, he has taken our loved ones I guess more than a thousand years ago some old Chinese said, “Curse not the darkness but rather light a candle.” But, there is not enough darkness in the entire world to extinguish the light of a single candle. In today’s chaotic world in which we live, in these modern times, I still believe and I still think that the only candle I know anything about is the One who said, “I am the light of the world and he who followeth after me shall have that light. He shall not perish.” They toll for Thee" I want to remind you that when a person dies, we all lose. Dodge County, Eastman, Georgia and in fact, really, the whole world will never be the same with the passing of this man. You see, we all need each other and we all are connected, whether we like it or not. We are human beings. We are brother/sister human beings. Many of us are brother/sister Christians. First of all, we are brothers and sisters as human beings. Thus, when one of us is lost, the community loses. There was a famous old preacher who lived long ago named John Donne. He said that perfectly. You listen to me now. He said, “No man is an island entire of itself. Every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. Every man’s death diminishes me, reduces me, for I am involved with mankind.” So, the whole world, especially Eastman, Georgia, Dodge County, has suffered a loss with the death and the passing of Albert McGlohon. Let me give you my favorite Bible scripture. I will explain it briefly and I will paraphrase it a little, put it into my own words. It won’t take too long. Coming from Chapter 11 in the book of St. John, I want you to listen to me, family and friends. This is my favorite. Lazarus is Dead Chapter 11, St. John: Jesus had a friend named Lazarus. The book says here that he was sick. Lazarus had two sisters, Mary and Martha. In verse 3, “Therefore his sisters sent word unto Jesus saying, ‘Lord, behold he whom thou lovest is sick. Lazarus is sick.’” When Jesus heard that He said, “This sickness is not unto death but for the glory of God that the Son of God might be glorified thereof.” Let me stop for a moment. Here is a case where a man is sick. Jesus said that his sickness is going to glorify God. Sometimes that is beyond our comprehension, such things! "Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus." He loved them. When he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed there two more days in the same place where he was. After that, he said to his disciples, “Let’s go up to Judea again.” His disciples said to him, “Master, the Jews, lately, have been trying to kill you. You going back there?” Jesus said, “Aren’t there twelve hours in the day? If any man walks in the day he won’t stumble because he sees the light of the world. If a man walks in the night, he stumbles because there is no light in him.” These things- [listen to the words]- These things he said to them and after that he said to them, “our friend Lazarus sleepeth.” We humans have a difficult time accepting that for death. God’s son said that Lazarus was sleeping. We have a hard time understanding that phrase. Jesus sa> Transfer interrupted!that I can wake him out of sleep.” Even his disciples, the guys that lived with him at that time, they didn’t understand either. They said, “well, Lord, if he is sleeping, he is okay and doing alright.” Jesus really spoke of his death. They thought he had spoken of taking rest in sleep. They didn’t even understand. Then Jesus just said to them plainly, “Lazarus is dead.” He preferred to say sleep but that was a little too much for the people so he had to change it and say plain as he did. Lazarus is Dead and I am Glad Would you believe the next verse? Listen to this. “Lazarus is dead and I am glad.” I often thought about scripture or sermon by that title, “Jesus said, ‘My friend is dead and I am glad.’” “Lazarus is dead and I am glad, for your sakes.” I am glad that I was not there to the intent that you can believe. Nevertheless, let’s go to him. Thomas said to him and the twelve disciples, “let’s just go with him. We can just die with him.” When Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had been laying in the ground for four days already. Verse 19, “many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary to comfort them concerning their brother,” as we have come today to comfort and stand with this family. We are all here because we love and care. That is even because He loves and cares. You’re not alone today. You don’t sail your ship alone today. Verse 20, “then Martha, as soon as she heard Jesus was coming, she went out and met him. Mary sat still in the house.” Then said Martha to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, our brother wouldn’t have died. Albert will Rise Again But I know that even now, whatever you ask of God, he will give it to you. Jesus said, “your brother will rise again.” Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection, at the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life and if he who believeth in me, even though he is dead yet shall he live. Whosoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” She said, “Yes, Lord, I believeth thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which have come unto the world.” When she said this, she went her way and she called Mary, the sister, saying, “hey, the Master has come and he calls for you.” As soon as she heard that, she rose quickly and came out to him. Jesus was not yet come to the town but was in that place where Martha had met him. Jesus Wept for Albert The Jews which were with her in the house and comforted her, they saw Mary and she was going out hastily, they followed her saying, “she is going out to meet him.” When Mary come to where Jesus was- -this was the other sister- -when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell down at his feet saying unto him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died.” Please listen to this. When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews also weeping, he groaned in the spirit and was troubled. And Jesus said, “Where have your laid him?” They said, “Lord, come and see.” The SHORTEST verse in the Bible is the next verse, two words, “Jesus wept.” I heard preachers tell people don’t’ cry at funerals that they should be happy they have gone to Heaven and so forth. I don’t really believe that way. I believe it is okay to cry. Here is Jesus crying about the death of his own friend. I believe death is an end. In fact, this book says that it is the last end that you got to get rid of. I want to make one point here. Jesus groaned in the spirit. If Jesus could emote way back then, He can feel sorrow and tears now with Albert. If He wept back then, he can weep now. He’d be more happy today than he was about the case of Lazarus? Not a bit more happy. I never could believe that. The Jews said, “Oh how he loved him - isn’t he great.” Just a little bit more. Then said some of the Jews, “Couldn’t this man who opened the eyes of the blind, couldn’t he have caused even this man- -couldn’t he cause him not to die.” Jesus, drowning in himself, came to the grave. There was a cave and a stone laid upon it. Jesus said, “take away that stone.” Martha, the sister of the brother that was dead said to him, “Lord, by this time he stinks. He has been dead four days.” Jesus said to her, “Didn’t I say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?” Over and over you have to keep faith. Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was laid. Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you heard me. I know that you hear me always but because of the people around me, that stand by, I said it that they may believe that you sent me.” When he had said that, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth.” Indeed Lazarus came forth, bound hand and foot with grave clothes and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus said, “Loose him and let him go.” That is my favorite story in the Bible. I just have a few remarks and please listen, if you can. I will tell you where I am in my own theology and my own religion. This is a personal thing. There are a lot of people running around arguing doctrine.
Me, personally, I don’t do that anymore. There is one thing and one thing only that means something to me that is important. Important to me, as a human being. As far as my human existence, there is one thing that matters. It is just what I read to you. When Jesus, himself, was killed and he died and was buried, He was then taken and resurrected. That is- -let me tell you, I want to put in one point for you, there is one thing that matters. I don’t care if Jonah swallowed the whale or if the whale swallowed Jonah. What I care about is this question: did Jesus Christ, Jehovah God’s Son, resurrect from the dead or are his bones over there in Jerusalem bleaching in the sun? If His bones are over there bleaching in the sun, we have no hope. That is exactly what Paul said. Now, faith is in vain and we have no hope if there was no resurrection. Now if Jesus raised Lazarus and if it is a true story, that is great. If Jesus died and was resurrected, we have hope and I boiled it down to that. I don’t argue with anybody. I am not going to argue about all those doctrines. It just matters to me if Jesus resurrected and if he did, I got hope of seeing my Dad again and a lot of other people like GrandPa Abbie and all his brothers and their children.. I have some hope if that is true. By the way, I believe it is true. 1 Corinthians15:13: Brother Paul says that if there be no resurrection of the dead then Christ is not risen. If Christ is not risen then our preaching is in vain and your faith also is in vain. Yes, and we are false witnesses of God because we have tested that of God that he raised up Christ, whom he may not have, if so be that the dead don’t rise. For if the dead rise not then Christ is not raised. If Christ is not raised, your faith is vain and isn’t worth a cent. You are lost in your sins. You are also falling in a sleeping Christ or perished if there is no resurrection. If this is the life- -if in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are, of all men, most miserable if he did not resurrect. Those are the conclusions of brother Paul. Eulogy for Albert I’d like to speak about my friend, my kinsman, and my loved one, Albert McGlohon. I have known this man all my life. When I was a little boy riding my bicycle from my mother’s house up to Albert and Molly's store, I spent a lot of hours at the store. I spent a lot of hours around Albert and Molly. Like I said, he is my kinsman. I grew up around him and knew him well. Number one, the first thing I can say is that he treated me always good. As a little boy, as a teenage boy and as a man, he treated me always good. My older brother said to me today, “I had never heard or know one bad thing about Albert McGlohon.” Someone else kin to me on the Evans side said, “He was really good to me. He was always good to me. He was a friend to me.” This was somebody who needed a friend. He was a good man. I am pretty sure and by the way, I am eulogizing him, but I won't make an angel of him because he was no more than I am, just a man. I haven’t met a man yet that had wings or feathers. Albert McGlohon was a good man.
What is a good man? There are lots of things that a good man is. Number one, what I would say about Albert is that he was a good man because he loved his family. I know he did that from my own personal observations and first hand knowledge of his family life. He loved his son. He loved his wife. Number two, he treated them right. Number three, he was a hard worker. As a young boy and young man, he toted slabs when times were very hard. He came from a poor family, just like my own father. My own father and his brothers cut whole fields of trees down with axes Albert McGlohon who carried slabs, was also a paper boy. Now I can relate to that lowly job because I too was a paper boy. Again, Albert came from a very poor background. I am here to say that he worked hard and economically he did all right. He did all right. He didn’t cheat, swindle, or bum his way. He worked his way. That is a major component in my definition of a good man. Another part of the definition of a good man, I suppose, would be having a right relationship with other human beings outside one's own immediate family.. The next thing we can say when we come to the Christian thing, to the God thing is that Albert had a right relationship with God. A little while ago I had the privilege and supreme opportunity to talk with Don, the son of Albert, about the last few moments of his Dad's life. A minister and Don went to the hospital where Albert was being treated. At the time Albert was still conscious. The doctor told Don how serious was the case for Albert and did not know if he was going to make it You don’t know the feeling that poured out of my heart when Don talked to me like this about his Dad because I used to know Don in another way. Like I said, Don and I had run the same track in days gone by. Don went to his dad and put his head down on the pillow and said, “Dad, I want me and my preacher to pray with you.” Albert shook his head to mean "okay." That preacher and that bewildered son put their heads, three heads on that pillow and Don made it plain to his dad: “The doctor has pretty serious news. Do you understand where you are?” Albert shook his head in the affirmative. Then Don said to his dad, “What we want to do is ask for forgiveness. Do you understand that?” Again Albert shook his head in the affirmative. So, they prayed. Don made sure that he asked him over and over if he understood. Each time Don's Dad shook his head to confirm that he understood what they were doing. Don didn’t say, “God, help him get well and just let him go back home.” He said, “We just want to ask and pray for forgiveness.” That is what they did. The three of them. Now, I have had several uncles and friends to die under alcohol and I have heard preachers say different things about that. I want to say this, I am compelled to say this: Number one, I went three years to seminary and I have been a preacher more than, let’s see, 15-18 years. I know this book pretty well but don’t know everything. I know it pretty well. I want you to know that number one, there ain’t no place in the Book that says you have to join a church to be saved. Now, I believe in the church and I believe going to church is a good thing. I think you get fellowship there. One more time, it never says that you have to go to church to be saved. I guess that the best illustration in the world is the thief on the cross, right beside Christ. In that society the Justice system had said that the man wasn’t fit to live so execute him. And they did. They hung him up on the cross near Christ. He wasn’t fit to live. He was scum. Scum of the earth. He was hanging right beside Christ. He looked over to Jesus. He didn’t say, “Lord, save me.” He didn’t say “Lord, forgive me.” He felt too bad. I guess his self-image was zero He just said, “Lord, remember me.” That was sufficient. He didn’t say save me or forgive me. He said, “Please remember me.” Jesus said to him, “Today, Thou shalt be with me in paradise.” The three heads on the pillow was enough. It was enough. It was enough.
Finally, I want to do this with one word. With one word I can characterize the man, Albert McGlohon. I always try to do this with people I know real well. I have just one word: "Gentle. Gentle. Quiet." I am here to say that if all men on the face of the earth were like this man it would be a much better world. Albert was a gentle man and we loved him and we lost him. Our hope is that on that glad day, when the trumpets shall sound, when the great God Almighty raises His people from the dead, I will be able to see Albert again, and Abb, Uncle Jim. Big Bill, Uncle Jack, and on and on. That is our hope. Don’t lose your hope. Don’t lose your hope. May we pray. You always listen to us, our Father. You promised to be with us in these times, good and bad times.
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Don
McGlohon's love for his dad