‘Sadness overcome by joy’
Excerpted from a mission report of David Marube, minister in Kisii, Kenya
April 20, 2005
My wife and I left our home at 9:30 in the morning yesterday on Friday March 25 to attend a funeral service of Queen’s daughter, Janet, at Kamagambo.
Queen is a widow, and a member at our Nyamue congregation. Her daughter, the late Janet, was also an active Christian — a youth whose service will be highly missed!
The entire Nyamue congregation also attended. Bassy and I decided to go ahead of others so we could be there in time to help with some funeral preparations, arriving there some few minutes to 11! That’s how far the Queens trek every Lord’s day to attend services at Nyamue.
I preached at the funeral. I opened my sermon with these words:
“Most funerals are sad occasions, but this one is really not. Of course, all of us are sad that we will not see Janet for the time being, but this sadness is overcome by our joy that she has gone home to rest from her frail body, and it has been released to join the lord, whom she loved and served.”
In giving comfort to the survivors, I used, among other scriptures:
Psalms 116:15 – Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.
Rev 14:13 – Then I heard a voice from heaven say, “Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.”
I also called upon everyone present to review his/her own readiness for such an event. I challenged all to think of their own spiritual state.
Close to 300 attended the funeral service. “Pastor (as most people call preachers here), that was a great sermon.” More than five people who were present at the funeral service told me that. Then I knew the word that I sowed had fallen on some fertile soil!
Queen is now left with two sweet little daughters — Mary and Risper. Mary, age 8, is in class 2 and Risper, 12, is in class 4 at Kamagambo Primary School.
The Queen family needs much material assistance. They live in an old house; they own no bed and sleep on the floor; they don’t have enough to eat. Mary and Risper need school uniforms, school textbooks, etc. We have been trying to help some but there are several such needs in our community that we are trying to attend to.
“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world” – James 1:27 (NIV)
If touched enough that you would wish to extend some help to the Queens — a one time or monthly commitment — please do not hesitate to do so. Fifty dollars is not “too little.” It can buy the family a bed, mattress and blanket, so they can also get to sleep a little more comfortably. One thousand dollars is not “too much.” It can build them a tin-roofed-mud-walled house … a better and BIGGER house, of course.
Make check payable to (and mail it to):
‘LINDEN CHURCH OF CHRIST – KENYA MISSIONS’ and mail it to:
Doyle Martin, 201 W. Frazior Street, Linden, TX 75563.
Phone: (903)-756-5080. E-mail [email protected].
Be sure to earmark your check: “For the Queens through Marube.” A separate note to me via e-mail notifying me of your contribution and how you would wish it to be applied will be of great help. [email protected].
Thank you for being partners in this worthy work. God bless you.
In Christ,
David Marube.
Queen is a widow, and a member at our Nyamue congregation. Her daughter, the late Janet, was also an active Christian — a youth whose service will be highly missed!
The entire Nyamue congregation also attended. Bassy and I decided to go ahead of others so we could be there in time to help with some funeral preparations, arriving there some few minutes to 11! That’s how far the Queens trek every Lord’s day to attend services at Nyamue.
I preached at the funeral. I opened my sermon with these words:
“Most funerals are sad occasions, but this one is really not. Of course, all of us are sad that we will not see Janet for the time being, but this sadness is overcome by our joy that she has gone home to rest from her frail body, and it has been released to join the lord, whom she loved and served.”
In giving comfort to the survivors, I used, among other scriptures:
Psalms 116:15 – Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.
Rev 14:13 – Then I heard a voice from heaven say, “Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.”
I also called upon everyone present to review his/her own readiness for such an event. I challenged all to think of their own spiritual state.
Close to 300 attended the funeral service. “Pastor (as most people call preachers here), that was a great sermon.” More than five people who were present at the funeral service told me that. Then I knew the word that I sowed had fallen on some fertile soil!
Queen is now left with two sweet little daughters — Mary and Risper. Mary, age 8, is in class 2 and Risper, 12, is in class 4 at Kamagambo Primary School.
The Queen family needs much material assistance. They live in an old house; they own no bed and sleep on the floor; they don’t have enough to eat. Mary and Risper need school uniforms, school textbooks, etc. We have been trying to help some but there are several such needs in our community that we are trying to attend to.
“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world” – James 1:27 (NIV)
If touched enough that you would wish to extend some help to the Queens — a one time or monthly commitment — please do not hesitate to do so. Fifty dollars is not “too little.” It can buy the family a bed, mattress and blanket, so they can also get to sleep a little more comfortably. One thousand dollars is not “too much.” It can build them a tin-roofed-mud-walled house … a better and BIGGER house, of course.
Make check payable to (and mail it to):
‘LINDEN CHURCH OF CHRIST – KENYA MISSIONS’ and mail it to:
Doyle Martin, 201 W. Frazior Street, Linden, TX 75563.
Phone: (903)-756-5080. E-mail [email protected].
Be sure to earmark your check: “For the Queens through Marube.” A separate note to me via e-mail notifying me of your contribution and how you would wish it to be applied will be of great help. [email protected].
Thank you for being partners in this worthy work. God bless you.
In Christ,
David Marube.
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