Judy Magner Memorial Service Message

I thought I'd post this for those who were not able to attend the June 2 memorial service for Judy Magner. This is the text of the message I delivered at the service.

Judy Magner Memorial Message

Judy with daughter Debbie

About 17 years ago I got a call from someone who claimed to be a reporter for the Austin American-Statesman. She said she was doing an article on churches in shopping centers & wanted to interview me. PCC was renting space in Three Points Plaza at that time. I answered her questions & figured that would be the end of it. A few weeks later she called again & asked if a photographer could come take some pictures of the church on a Sunday morning. I said, “Sure, as long as he’s discreet about it & doesn’t disturb or distract during the service.” He came & took the pictures that Sunday & the reporter called me again a couple of days later. “I wanted to let you know the article will be in the paper tomorrow.”

The next morning I bought a newspaper; low & behold PCC was on the front page above the fold. There’s nothing like that kind of free, positive publicity, but I had no idea where that would lead. A few weeks later I got a call from someone I knew, but was not a member of PCC. He invited Sandy & me to meet him & his wife for dinner. At dinner they quizzed me about my commitment to PCC… was I in for long-term. I said, yes I was. They told me they’d seen the article in the paper & wanted to help the church buy property. I remember thinking, “That’s nice; it’s time we started a property/building fund. Maybe this will be a little jump-start.” They leaned in & said, “So we’re committing ½ million dollars over the next ten years to your property fund.”

My whole body went numb & for once in my life I was speechless. Before I could say anything they added, “And we want this to be anonymous.”

They were true to their word… and some. I don’t know what the final amount was, but the giving didn’t stop after ten years, and we were able to purchase this property on Pfenig Lane & build this church. That couple received no public recognition for their gift, no plaque on the building with their name, no special reserved seating, no banners with their pictures, no adulation, no applause, only the quiet whisper of God, “Well done good & faithful servants.”

 With his permission I can finally tell you that couple who rendered me speechless with their shocking generosity was Leon & Judy Magner. We are here in this place we’ve claimed as sacred space where God is honored, worshiped, & served because of God’s grace working in a mighty way through Judy & Leon Magner. And their grandchildren are as surprised at that shocking generosity as the rest of you.

That story reveals all you really need to know & remember about Judy Magner. Don’t for a moment think that Judy’s only way of expressing her faith was in financial support of this congregation. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, I’d guess it was way down the list in her mind, if there was such a list, of ways she served God. I sat with her family last Saturday night and listened as they described a woman who was a doer, a devoted, intentional, faithful, consistent, industrious, courageous, selfless, authentic Christian woman who lived what she believed. She married a military man. That meant frequent moves. At every military base they were stationed she volunteered at the hospital. She continued to volunteer at St David’s Hospital in Austin as long as she could.”

There’s a long string of cards at the Magner home from so many who were touched, encouraged, and loved by Judy. I guarantee you they all had received cards from her long ago. She lived to give & bless & serve & sing Happy Birthday to her grandchildren & send cards… things you actually touch, open, read, & save. For Judy every card sent was a material expression of her love. She took time to find just the right card for every occasion. Her granddaughter Tracey told me she received the same exact birthday card 3 years in row. It was the right card for her. After listening to her family I think the Lord gave me the right Scripture for Judy… one she lived. Think of this passage as card from God & Judy to you.

Philippians 2:1-11 (The Message)

“If you've gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care— then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don't push your way to the front; don't sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don't be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.”

“Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn't think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn't claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that: a crucifixion. Because of that obedience, God lifted him high and honored him far beyond anyone or anything, ever, so that all created beings in heaven and on earth—even those long ago dead and buried—will bow in worship before this Jesus Christ, and call out in praise that he is the Master of all, to the glorious honor of God the Father.”

Judy Magner, your wife, your mother, grandmother, our friend, was a one-of-a-kind masterpiece created by the Master Himself. This beautiful, unique individual will be missed. No one can take her place. There will be a gap in our lives, a hole in our hearts that cannot be filled by anyone else. It is right & appropriate to grieve the loss of one created in God's image. But Judy was more than that… she was redeemed by the blood of Jesus, a genuine baptized saved by grace through faith, follower of Christ, servant of the Almighty, daughter of the King of Kings. And oh how she served her Lord.

She did not live for herself, to advance herself, to grab the spotlight whenever possible. She lived the words of the apostle: “Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don't be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.” When I asked for one word that characterized Judy’s life, her grandson Andy was the first to speak up: “Devoted, what you do when no one is watching.”

Her daughter Dawnette added: “She was selfless & devoted w/out any need or desire for recognition. She was able to adapt to every situation… never complained about the pain she endured for the last 6 months of her life.”

Not everyone wants to be in the story if she (or he) doesn’t have the starring role, but that wasn’t Judy. If Judy had been an actress she would have won the Oscar for Best Supporting Role. She made everyone around her feel like the star. There is nothing more Christ-like than living a humble simple life that puts the needs of others before our own needs. For Judy, it was always about others, never about her. So you will miss her! You will miss her calling on your birthday to sing to you, her laugh, her right on the mouth kisses, the way she made you feel comfortable… even if it meant not expressing her pain or discomfort, the way she listened… as though your life were the most important life in the world, her honesty that sometimes seemed a bit blunt when you had a full plate of desserts, her courageous sense of humor in face of impending death that enabled her to wake up each morning & announce, “I’m still here! I’m not dead yet!”

That courage & strength is her legacy to you. It’s not this building… it is you her children & grandchildren & friends. It is her courage & strength founded upon faith in Christ our Lord that will enable you to grieve with hope, and carry on with joy.

You know the promise of Christ our Lord… the promise of resurrection and the life everlasting. You know the Scriptures. Dwight Moody: “One day soon you will hear that I am dead. Do not believe it. I will then be alive as never before.”

Judy Magner died last Thursday night; and she is alive as never before. She is fully engaged, singing her heart out in praise before her Savior & King.

A huge part of Judy’s story was a story of true love. Her husband Leon referred to Judy as “the prettiest & most gracious of them all!”

To Leon, her husband, who was smitten the first time he saw Judy in her penny loafers & Pea-Coat, who held on to his true love & treasured every last moment with her, I give you the immortal words of Wesley, no not John Wesley, the hero of “The Princess Bride”: “Death cannot stop true love, it can only delay it for a while.”
Leon, may God give you the faith, courage & strength to endure the delay as you look forward to the glorious reunion.

C.S. Lewis lost his wife to cancer: “To say the patient is getting over it after an operation for appendicitis is one thing; after he’s had his leg amputated it is quite another. After that operation the continuous pain will stop. Presently he’ll get back his strength and be able to stump about on his wooden leg. He has ‘got over it.’ But he will probably have recurrent pains in the stump all his life, and perhaps pretty bad ones; and he will always be a one-legged man. There will be hardly any moment when he forgets it… At present I am learning to get about on crutches. Perhaps I shall presently be given a wooden leg.”

So perhaps the key to surviving grief is asking God, not for an answer to the why question, but for peace and strength to live with a wooden leg. Knowing Judy, I think she’d say, “Get on with your life with faith and hope… even if it’s with a limp.”

Her death was as inspiring as her life. Last Thursday evening her breathing was labored, but she was in no pain & in relative comfort in the hospital bed in her living room surrounded by her husband & her 2 daughters. Monty was on the way. She’d been alert & had waved good-bye to Mike & me when we had left earlier in the evening. A couple of hours later Debbie said she was going to the drug store to pick up a few things. Judy opened her eyes and said, “Card.”

Debbie said, “You want me to pick up a thank you card for you at the drug store.”
Judy shook her head no and said, “Card”.
Debbie understood, “You want me to get you a card right now, from the house?”
Her mom shook her head “yes”.
Debbie found a thank you card & handed to her mom. Judy pointed at the card… she always was a card-person… looked at the faces around her bed & made a sweeping gesture with her finger pointing at them all… her way of saying, “Thank you.” Then she removed the oxygen tube from her nose. Debbie & Dawnette said, “No mom, you have to leave this on.”
She shook her head firmly no. She insisted on removing it. A few minutes later she was gone.
I’m certain when she entered paradise into the presence of the Lord, Judy’s first words were the same as her last words with us, “Thank you!”

May God give us such courage & grace when we walk through that last valley of the shadow.

Baptizing Boston

I don’t know how many people I’ve baptized over the years. I haven’t kept count. But there are some that remain embedded in my memory. I remember the first person I baptized in the Christian Church in White City, Kansas as a student pastor. When the portly elderly lady stepped into the baptistery I was concerned about her age and determined to get her dunked and up out of the water again as quickly as possible. I dunked her so quickly that I failed to get her all the way under. The crown of her forehead remained dry. For a second I panicked. “Does that count?” I wondered. No one knew but me and God, so I decided that was good enough. No way I was going to dunk her again for good measure.

Baptizing teens at the HEB Foundation Camp in the Frio River was always an adventure. Once I slipped on the mossy stone-bottom and baptized myself just before baptizing a student. It was a challenge to find a convenient place in the river shallow enough to wade in from the bank, yet deep enough to immerse the baptismal candidate. One year I had a couple of high school boys paddle a young girl out to a shallow place in a canoe. Amanda had long wavy auburn hair and looked like Pocahontas riding in the canoe. Climbing out of a canoe in the middle of a river is tricky, but she made it, and I baptized her there in the Frio.

When my daughter called me to tell me that her son, my grandson, was going to be baptized that coming Sunday, Feb 2, I was determined to be there. My youth pastor agreed to preach for me and my wife I made plans for the week-end trip to Fort Worth. My mom accompanied us to see her great grandson’s baptism. The first thing my daughter said to me when we walked in the door of her home was, “Will you baptize Boston?”

“Well… I don’t know,” I replied, “I didn’t come prepared with the right clothes and… ABSOLUTELY I will baptize my grandson!”

We enjoyed a relaxing Saturday evening and got up early Sunday to go to church. Boston will be 13 in May. No one pushed him or even urged him to be baptized. He had thought through this all on his own and was eager to make his stand for Christ. Deacons met us at the church and ushered the entire family up the back steps to the dressing rooms adjacent to the baptistery. Boston and I went into the dressing room to change while the family waited. The church had a pair of loaner shorts and a t-shirt for me. I prayed with Boston and we talked about the meaning of baptism. He was focused and serious. A couple of Boston’s best friends had arrived outside the dressing room and his dad’s side of the family. We took a lot of pictures. Then it was time.

The baptistery at their church is elevated 20 feet or more above the sanctuary pulpit. There was a standing room area behind the baptistery for the family. Boston and I stepped into the warm water and made our way to the center of the baptistery and looked out over a large congregation staring up at us. I introduced Boston and myself and choked on the words, “This is my first grandchild to baptize.” I asked Boston the question: “Do you believe with all your heart that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, and do you receive him as your Savior, the forgiver of your sins, and your Lord, the Leader of your life?” Boston answered, “Yes.”

“Boston Cade McIntire, because of your confession of faith in Jesus Christ, I now baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit.”

Then I dunked him all the way under, even the crown of his forehead got wet. In one motion I brought him up out of the water and wrapped my arms around him in a hug. I felt a deep sense of joy in that moment. Baptism is Boston’s promise to follow Christ, to live a life worthy of the gospel. Baptism is God’s promise to always forgive, always be with him, always love him. Boston, like the rest of us, will struggle at times to live up to his promise. God will keep his part of the covenant perfectly and forever. Boston will probably wrestle with doubts at various times in his faith walk. God will never doubt Boston’s salvation, his place in the Kingdom.

Baptizing Boston was one of the most moving moments of my life. It was an answer to a daily prayer that Psalm 102:28 would become a reality for me and my family. The psalmist writes, “The children of your servants will live in your presence; their descendants will be established before you.” Psalm 102:28 (NIV)
At 57 years old I’m thinking more and more about what I will leave behind when I leave this world. When my children & grandchildren lay me in the grave I pray they will do so with faith, hope, and love in Christ. I pray my faith will live on in them. I pray they will walk before the Lord with integrity and that the generations to follow will do the same. Boston’s baptism is confirmation that God hears my prayer. Every baptism is confirmation that God hears our prayers… the prayers that count the most.

Morning Prayer

Years ago I memorized a short prayer from the Book of Common Prayer to say daily. It goes like this:
“Lord God Almighty, and Everlasting Father, you have brought us in safety to this new day: Preserve us by your mighty power, that we may not fall into sin, or be overcome by adversity; and in all we do, direct us to the fulfilling of your purpose; through Jesus Christ our Lord amen.”

I recite it every day when I get in the car to leave the house. I’ll admit I’m usually thinking of me and sometimes my family when I recite the prayer, but that’s going to change. I want it to be a prayer I recite for us… PCC. After all, it is written in the first person plural… it’s not “me”, it’s “we”. The prayer fits well what I think we want to be together & what we want to ask God to do for us, in us, & through us. Let’s break it down into the parts.

“Lord God Almighty, and Everlasting Father…”

We’re all created in the image of God, & through Christ we all call on the Almighty as “Everlasting Father”. That, of course, makes us brothers and sisters, family.

“…you have brought us in safety to this new day…”

When all is well with us, we know who to thank. When one brother or sister rejoices in some unexpected blessing or some long anticipated blessing, we all rejoice. We are a people filled with gratitude for our God. We come every Sunday to praise him and give thanks to the Lord together.

“Preserve us by your mighty power that we may not fall into sin, or be overcome by adversity…”

Together we face two adversaries in this life. The first is sin. We gather to confess our sin and receive forgiveness. We also respond to the gospel by turning away from sin to walk together righteously before God. We share a desire NOT to sin anymore. We’re not obsessed with the sins of non-believers. Rather, we are committed to walking faithfully before God ourselves… together.

The other adversary is adversity. The world is destined to be renewed. All wrongs will be made right. Every tear dried, & death will be no more. But not yet. Till Christ returns we endure adversity of all kinds. The prayer is not some fantasy that we’d never experience any trouble or hardship or suffering of any kind, but that we will not be overcome by adversity. So we stand together and share in one another’s sufferings and adversity, praying for those in chemo and rehab and looking for a job and trying to keep their family together. By the almighty power of God we will not be overcome! Faith, hope, and love will endure forever in us.

“…and in all we do, direct us to the fulfilling of your purpose; through Jesus Christ our Lord amen.”

We’re doing more here than merely surviving, trying to avoid sin & enduring adversity. We have a God-given, God-ordained mission. We are sent to…
·        Proclaim the Gospel
·        Produce disciples
·        Praise God together

So we pray for God’s direction in fulfilling his purpose in us and through us.

That’s what we’re about here at Pflugerville Community Church. We share a communal faith that fills us with gratitude, and ministers to one another as we face temptation, seek forgiveness, endure adversity, & do the work of God’s mission… proclaiming Christ, producing disciples, and praising God together.