Mom McKnight funeral

Introduction

Mary Olive McKnight, better known to all of us as Mom, or Nana, was an amazing little woman. Never more than 5’ 2”, she actually got smaller as she got older. But she had arms that could reach around the world, and a heart that had room for hundreds of people.

We, her family and friends, have gathered here today from the far-flung corners of this continent, because she touched our lives. Others, in places like Switzerland and Australia, are joining us today in spirit. We want to say “Thank you, Mom. Thank you, Nana. Thank you, Mary for caring about us and loving us and being there for us. We have been touched and changed by your love, and we are better people because of you.”

And more than that, we want to worship God and thank Him for showing His faithfulness to us through this wonderful woman.

Let’s sing about God’s faithfulness as we turn to #

In the last few days as I have reflected on Mom’s life, I have been thinking about what an incredible impact she has had. She has touched lives, influenced generations, and literally changed the course of history. And she did it without being famous, without being rich, without having had very much education.

She never lived anywhere but here in Montreal. She never travelled the world. She was never an expert on politics and foreign affairs – although she did swear that whenever those Russians sent up another satellite, it messed up our weather. Mom never knew how to use a computer. The Internet was something she probably never even thought about.

When, as a little girl, her father died and Nana Anderson had to go to work to support the family, little Mary had to drop out of school in the third grade to take care of her younger siblings. As a mother, she came by her trade early.

For all those hardships growing up, Mary saw some golden years. One bright day in 1929, a dashing knight – actually a McKnight by the name of Tom – made Mary his bride. Together they raised a family. And they got better at it as they went along. Perhaps you have noticed that the quality of their offspring increased with each succeeding child.

But Tom and Mary brought us kids into a world fraught with uncertainty. The Great Depression, followed by the worst war the world had ever seen, followed by the tension and terror of the modern world. It wasn’t easy to bring up a family with humble resources in a world like that. But they provided a loving home that was always a shelter from the storms of life, never a storm-center itself. One of the great pillars of our lives as kids was the steadfast love that Mom and Dad had for each other, and the love they taught us to have for each other.

In the midst of those golden years of raising her family, little did Mom realize that she would end up being a widow longer than a wife. There was that harrowing winter day in January 1964 – which of us can ever forget it? It was the day when God called our Dad home suddenly. It happened in this very building. Although the shock of losing her beloved Tommy was great, Mom soldiered on bravely alone. She grieved, but she didn’t shut down, she didn’t become bitter or introverted. She carried her sadness with dignity and kept reaching out. She gamely carried on for 38 more years.

Those years were tinged with more sadness, with the passing of her beloved son Philip. They say that the death of an adult child is a crushing burden for any parent to bear. But Mom took that blow and still kept moving forward.

Her final challenge was with an enemy named Alzheimer. As that terrible invader crept into her life, she began to lose her personality, her memory, her ability to think clearly. After a lifetime of caring for others, she finally lost the ability to care for herself.

But there was one thing she didn’t lose – she didn’t lose the ablity to love and be loved. She could still hug, she could still kiss, and you could sense that when you embraced her, she was embracing you back. Some of her last words to Barbara were “You darling”.

How did Mary McKnight manage to make such a difference in this world? Well the answer is simple: She did it with love. The Bible says “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.”

Mom’s love was more than just the natural love that most mothers have for their family. It was a love that came from a deeper well than that. It was a love that sprang from God’s love for her.

Mom knew that God loved her. She trusted in that love. And she knew that God loved her husband and her children and her grandchildren – loved them more than she ever could. And that’s what gave her hope – hope that no matter what life dealt her – everything was going to turn out right in the end.

The passage from John 14 that David read earlier in the service is a passage of Scripture that I can remember learning from Mom and Dad when I was just a little boy – perhaps 5 years old. And it has stayed with me ever since.

In it, Jesus talks to us about three things that are absolutely fundamental to us as human beings… our hearts - our homes - our hopes

What’s going on in your heart this morning? Sadness, certainly. But trouble? Jesus said “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.”

There are many people who wake up each day with a troubled heart. In spite of the fact that we live in a country with one of the highest standards of living in the world, more and more people are struggling with feelings of loneliness, despair, and meaninglessness. A recent survey in the U.S. found that 51% of the respondents had no philosophy of life they could express. They could not explain why they’re here, what life is all about, or where they’re going when they die.

Jesus said “You don’t have to live like that. You don’t have to have a troubled heart. Trust in God; trust also in me.” The remedy for trouble is trust. Trust in God and trust in Jesus.

When God tells us something is true, we can trust him. When Jesus gives us a promise, we can count on it. That’s what Mom was doing, and that’s why her outlook was so positive in spite of the many challenges she faced in her 92 years. She had an untroubled heart because she was trusting God and trusting Jesus.

Jesus said “In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”

He’s talking about preparing a home in heaven for us. The picture he is drawing is of a middle Eastern “family compound” – a big extended household where all the married children live alongside the parents. And that’s what heaven is like – we will live there in a wonderfully prepared place along with our heavenly father. That’s going to be our eternal home.

Sometimes we live and think and act as though this world is our permanent home; our final dwelling place. And we get all wrapped up in “feathering our nest” – trying to make ourselves comfortable and secure down here. And we lose sight of the fact that God has a far better home prepared for us in heaven. We forget to look forward to that.

That’s where Mom is today. She’s home. I always remember driving Mom back from her visits with us on Long Island. And we’d get to her little apartment in Lasalle, and it would always be as neat as a pin and clean as a whistle. And the first thing Mom would do when she got in the door would be to make a cup of tea for us. And she’d say “You know, it’s lovely to visit, but it’s so good to be home.”

Mom is now finding out just how true that is! She is now home forever. She has been freed from the prison of her diseased and aged body. Freed from the sorrows and sadness of life here on earth. She is reunited with Dad and Phil and Nana Anderson and all the others who have gone before us. She is rejoicing and singing along with the choirs of heaven. She is more awake and alive than she ever was here on earth.

And we need to think about that, and start anticipating that for ourselves. We need to be getting ready to go home.

Last Monday, when he came home from school, our son Michael learned the news of Nana’s death. As her youngest grandchild, he has a special place in his heart for Nana. And he shed some tears. But through his tears, he said “I want to go to heaven. Heaven’s going to be a good place, because Nana’s up there making shortbread.”

Well, I don’t know about the shortbread, but heaven’s going to be a great place – a home that Jesus has prepared for us – and we need to be looking forward to it. They say that you can be so heavenly minded that you’re no earthly good. I think that the opposite is true: unless we are heavenly minded, we can be of no earthly good.

Thomas said to Jesus: “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” Thomas was confused. The flame of hope was flickering because he didn’t know how to get to heaven.

Last night Jay and Lindsay drove in from Toronto and stayed with us at Don and Joan’s place. Now they had never driven to Don’s place before, so a few days ago, I drew them a map. I gave them directions on how to get there. And that’s what Jesus is doing here in John 14 – he’s giving us directions on how to get to our heavenly home.

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Notice that Jesus didn’t give us a set of rules, or a recipe, he gave us a relationship – a relationship with himself. He said “If you want to get to heaven; if you want to get home – you have to come through me. Because I’m the way, I’m the truth, I’m the life.” It’s not a project, it’s personal.

Mom understood that. She trusted Jesus when he said that – took him at his word and placed her life in his hands. And because she did, now she’s home.

I trust that you will take this to heart. If Mary McKnight’s life has made any impact on yours, let it be this: that you will follow her lead and build your life on the only sure foundation for living and dying – Jesus Christ our Lord.

He’s the only way to have a heart untroubled, a home prepared, and a hope undimmed. Let’s sing about it as we close our service.

Because He Lives.