Donna Bowers

Funeral Service— November 16, 1989

Wollaston Church of the Nazarene

• Opening Sentences
• I Am the Resurrection and the Life ...
• Old Testament Lesson
• Psalm 71
• New Testament
• Revelation 21: 1 - 7
• Revelation 22: 1 - 7
• Sermon

1 John 3:2 Beloved, now are we children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we shall be. We know that, when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is.

We shall be like Him —

• God is SPIRIT (John 4) Deeper realities than we can know and understand. A birthing into LIFE.
• God is LIGHT (I John 1:5) Greater integrity than we have known.

  "In Him there is NO DARKNESS at all." Salvation is not 'measuring up.' It is trust and surrender and continual cleansing. But there are still questions and there is still suffering. We can trust God here and now, in the light and dark and in the semi-dark— and we know that when He shall appear we shall enter LIGHT in which there is NO darkness at all.

• God is LOVE (I John 4:16) Rightly, we claim to live in God, and to know His love here and now. But that love will be expressed in a purity and a confidence and in a goodness we can only dimly infer just now. By the Holy Spirit we KNOW this is true: but the text says "when we see Him we shall be like Him" and central to that truth is the fact that we shall experience the unhindered power of the LOVE THAT IS GOD.

In many practical ways Donna Bowers was a servant among us.

1. She served me food in the cafetria line 40+ years ago.
2. She served the missionary society.
3. She cooked meals for the needy for years.
4. She had a servant's heart.
5. She did not want to be served, but she accepted with grace that need.

She became a focal point of love that cut across age and rank and social barriers. We all have to die. Donna Bowers' death was an extension of service: showing a community a need.

Conclusion:

Practical: We need a facility where we can go when we are getting old where we can continue to be "family;" where we can "share the burden of our years together." Perhaps this can be a lasting message of Donna Bowers to our community.