Richard Scheumann
Born into this world –April 4, 1920
Baptized into Christ April 18, 1920
Confirmed in the faith -March 25, 1934
With Christ in Peace -April 11, 2018
Committal - April 21, 2018
The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who
call on him in truth. He fulfills the
desire of those who fear him; he also hears their cry and saves them. –Psalm 145:18-19
Jesus, lead Thou on
Till our rest is won
And although the way
be cheerless
We will follow calm
an fearless,
Guide us by Thy hand
To our fatherland
If the way be drear,
If the foe be near,
Let not faithless
fears o’er-take us,
Let not faith and
hope forsake us;
For through many a
woe
To our home we go.
Jesus, lead thou on
Till our rest is
won.
Heavenly Leader
still direct us,
Still support,
control, protect us,
Till we safely stand
In our fatherland. [1]
Death is
so limited…
It has not crippled love,
It has not shattered hope,
It has not corroded faith,
It has not eaten away peace
Nor destroyed
confidence.
It has not killed friendship,
It has not shut out memories,
It has not silenced courage,
It has not invaded the soul,
Nor reduced
eternal life.
It has not quenched the Spirit,
It cannot, has not,
Nor will not lessen the power of the
resurrection![2]
When you remember Richard Scheumann. Certain thoughts enter your mind. He was your
Dad. And your grandpa. He was your bus driver. – He drove you to school. And
safely back home. He had no formal education. Yet he remained a life learner. He
was a farmer. And with the Lord’s help – he fed the world.
Wise King
Solomon would remind us, “I know that
there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and to do good in one's
lifetime; moreover, that every man who eats and drinks sees good in all his labor--
it is the gift of God. I know that everything God does will remain forever;
there is nothing to add to it and there is nothing to take from it, for God has
so worked that men should fear Him.” - Ecclesiastes 3:12-14
Richard Scheumann was a good and faithful neighbor. He
was loyal. And humble. He faithfully; and I mean, faithfully, wore his Purdue
2001 Rose Bowl sweatshirt with pride.
He was faithful
in worship. He attended services every Sunday. And when he could no longer make
it to church he would tune in on the radio and listen to the live broadcast.
Finally, when he transitioned to the Village of Heritage – Thursday became His
second Sunday. “I go to church twice now.”
He would say. And when the trustees had to file our corporation papers with the
State every other year – Richard’s name was listed as the contact person. For
close to sixty years.
We gather here today not merely to honor his memory –
but to praise our God for the life he lived and the life He has in Christ. He
knew the Savior’s voice. Now, he sees His face. Rich’s life was rooted in the life, death and
resurrection of Jesus Christ –
On the day of his confirmation these words were spoken
over your dad, “The LORD is near to all
who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. He fulfills the desire of those who fear him;
he also hears their cry and saves them.
–Psalm 145:18-19
Psalm 145 is a psalm of David in celebration of all
that Christ has done for those who have gone through trials and testing. In
this Psalm, David commends and commits himself to the Lord’s goodness, His greatness,
and His grace.
When the world seems out of control and times get
rough, where can we find shelter, peace and refuge? “Times of Refreshing” are found in the presence of the Lord.
“The Lord is
near to them that call upon Him and to all who call upon Him in truth.”
The Lord has promised, He will hear your cry.
Christ hears your prayers. He knows your circumstances.
He knows your situation. He has a solution for whatever is going on in our
lives. The Lord is near those who “call
upon Him.” How often are we guilty of living our lives our way and
according to our own timetables and we taking no time to call upon the Lord? It
is one thing to call on the name of the Lord when we are in trouble, but it is
entirely another thing to call upon Him with each and every decision that we
make so that He can keep us out of trouble!
Look closely, “The Lord is near them that call on Him, to
all who call upon Him in truth.” We call upon Him according to His truth;
which, of course, is found in His Word. His presence is with us. And where His
presence is, there His power and His provisions will be found.
The Savior
is never too busy for you. That’s how close He is. That’s the kind of love He
has. “The Lord is near to all who call on
him.” Every time you call. Christ
is near. He thinks about you a lot more than you think about Him. He thought
about you before you were born. He thinks about you every moment of every day. In spite of the busyness of our lives - He
never gets too busy.
He will fulfill your desires.
Christ is sympathetic
to your hurts. “The Lord is close to the
brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” (Psalm 34:18). Christ
is close to you. He understands. “Near”
is a very relative term. His nearness to us is always close enough from His
perspective. He will never leave you nor forsake you.
He saves them.
Christ's love knows no boundaries. He loves you
constantly and completely. It is a love that can never be broken. His love is
boundless and eternal. Never forget - Jesus loves you! When others turn their
backs on you. When their love grows cold.
And empty. Jesus will still be there. To
love you. He will never stop or change in His love for you!
As sons of Adam,
and daughters of Eve, we know of sin’s sting and power. The sting and power of
sin is what has caused us to gather here today. For the wages of sin is death. Romans 6:23
Sin is the cause of man in his struggle to survive. Cursed is the ground because of you. In
toil, you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles
it shall grow for you. And you shall eat of the plants of the field. By the
sweat of your face, you shall eat bread, until you return to the ground.
Because from it you were taken. For you are dust and to dust you shall return.
- Geneses 3:17-19
Then the dust
will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave
it. – Ecclesiastes 12:7
The sting of
death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. -1 Corinthians 15:16-17
Yet, there is something more lasting, more powerful
and greater than your sin. It is the love and compassion Jesus has for us
sinners. While each of us were lost and steeped in sin, God our Father had a
plan. A plan; which was in place, way before the dawn of time.
At the right time, God our heavenly Father would send
His only Son. He would enter into our world. Breaking into time and space. He came
to be your substitute. He would live the perfect life for you. He would die the
death that you deserve. And there, at a cross, He would trade your sin, your
misery and your guilt for His perfection and work out what you and I could
never, ever do!
Yes, Jesus has done for you better than what you could
ever do for yourself. When settling the issue with sin, Jesus acts alone. He dealt
with the issue of your brokenness Himself. Period. With no help from anyone.
The Father sends His own Son to the cross. Jesus bore your sin. He carried it
alone – to the cross of Calvary. There He died for you.
There He wins salvation for the entire world. And on
the third day, He rose from the dead to prove to you that this freedom, this
forgiveness, this new life, has been credited to you.
God is completely responsible for your salvation. From
front to back! You don’t one-day wake up and decide to follow Jesus – He plants
the seed of faith in your heart.
He then nourishes that faith by giving you His eternal
Word, which is able to make you wise unto salvation. This is what St. Paul
reminds us when he tells us in Ephesians 2:8-9 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not
from yourselves, it is the gift of God- not by works, so that no one can boast.”
Jesus did what you could never do. He lived a perfect
life. And this perfection is handed over to you. It is now your own. The Father
looks at you- as-if-you-had-never sinned. You are flawless. Because, and only
because, you are in Christ. Cling to Jesus and His promises. He makes you a new
person. You are His. He will not leave you. He loves you more than you will
ever know. And in Him, your sin is no more. There is not more guilt. All that
is left is His redeeming love.
This is your story! This is Richard Scheumann’s
legacy. Experiencing that great exchange
– God‘s mercy and forgiveness purchased at the cost of His own Son. “God so loved the world that He gave His only
begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have
everlasting life.” – John 3:16
The
Scriptures remind us, Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown
of life. –Revelation 2:10 Being
faithful doesn’t mean living a perfect life. Being faithful does not mean
always doing your best. We can’t. We’re fallen creatures. Poor, miserable
sinners. We find ourselves living outside of Eden.
Being faithful is simply trusting, believing, and
clinging to all of the Father’s promises. This Richard did. He placed his
confidence in the very promises that pointed to his Savior. For this reason,
and only this reason, we can say that Richard Scheumann is alive. He is well.
He is at peace. He is whole. He is in the very presence of Jesus. And in the
words of the spiritual, “Soon and very
soon we shall see the King.” Yes, we shall see him again. Never to be
separated by time, distance or space.
Comfort yourselves in the reality. We are Easter
people. Jesus lives. Because He lives, we shall live also!
Rich knew of this reality - that when
God pardons. He does not say He understands your weakness. Or, make allowances
for your errors. Rather, He disposes of. Finishes with. The whole of your dead
life. And raises you up with a new one. He does not so much deal with your
failures as does He drop them down the black hole of Jesus' death. He forgets
your sins in the darkness of the tomb.
He remembers your iniquities, no
more, in the forgetfulness of Jesus' death. He finds you in the desert of
death, not in the garden of improvement. And in the power of Jesus'
resurrection, He puts you on His shoulders, rejoicing, and brings you home![3]
In the gospel of John,
Jesus came to visit a grieving family. He came to greet two sisters, Mary and
Martha who were grieving the loss of their brother Lazarus.
We could change the
names easily to say, He came to visit a family; three daughters, and a son, who
were grieving over the loss of their father and grandpa.
In His conversation
with them Jesus said, “I am the
resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he
dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.” Then He asks, “Do you believe this?” John 11:25-26
We each
must ponder this question…
Ø Is Jesus the resurrection and the life? The testimony
of Scripture is undeniable! – The early disciples would simply say, “We are witnesses of these things!”(-
Acts 5:32; 10:39)
Ø Do you believe – that whoever believes in Jesus, even
though they die will live and not die?
Rich believed this! –
He knew that he was a sinner. But he also knew that Christ is compassionate who
has promised to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness –
This service is for
the living. Richard Scheumann was given
the opportunity to live his life -98 years.
We continue on. Life will be different. There shall be a different sense
of “normal” in your routines.
But we are and always will be Easter people! We walk by faith. Until that day comes in your own life. When
Jesus will call you. - From this world. To a world that has no end. From an earthly kingdom. To a heavenly
kingdom. From a place which is limited.
To a place that is beyond time and space. May the Savior so walk with you until
we are re-united with those who have gone before us.
______________
Words –2,305
Passive Sentences –3%
Readability –86.6%
Reading Level- 3.4
[1] Jesus
Lead Thou On, The Lutheran Hymnal © 1943 Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis
[2]
Unknown source, © Common Domain
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