The Service in PDF format is at: Art Labahn service
Video of service is at: Facebook Video
Arthur John Labahn Jr.
April 14, 1943 – April 21, 2021
AS WE GATHER: Today we gather in the name of the Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, to remember the life of Art and to proclaim the victory of Jesus Christ who has been raised from the dead. Both the Old and the New Testaments of the Holy Bible speak powerfully of the resurrection of the dead. Isaiah, Hosea, and Paul all remind us, “’Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting?’ 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.”
Such is the wonder of the Christian faith. When a Christian loved one is taken from us in death, we have the assurance that he has won the victory! Our struggle with sin and death, pain and sorrow continues, but his victory is complete! Our sense of loss can be overwhelming, but his victory is won!
Text: John Newton, 1725-1807, Tune: W. Walker, Southern Harmony, 1835 Music & Words: Public Domain
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found;
Was blind, but now I see.
,
‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears relieved;
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed!
.
Through many dangers, toils, and snares
I have already come;
‘Tis grace has brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.
.
The Lord has promised good to me;
His Word my hope secures;
He will my shield and portion be
As long as life endures.
CALLING ON GOD PSALM 23
Pastor: In the name of the Father, the † Son, and the Holy Spirit.
People: Amen.
Pastor: The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
People: He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.
Pastor: He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
People: Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
Pastor: You prepare a tale before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
People: Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Amen.
OPENING PRAYER
Pastor: Let us pray. O God of grace and mercy, we give thanks for Your loving-kindness shown to Art and to all Your servants who, having finished their course in faith, now rest from their labors. Grant that we also may be faithful unto death and receive the crown of eternal life; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
People: Amen.
ART’S LIFE IN PICTURES (Music)
SCRIPTURE READING: ROMANS 8:31-39
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be[a] against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written,
“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13 He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.
SONG OF COMFORT: “The Old Rugged Cross”
By: George Bennard © Words: Public Domain ; Music: Public Domain
On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross,
The emblem of suff’ring and shame;
And I love that old cross where the dearest and best
For a world of lost sinners was slain.
CHORUS:
So I’ll cherish the old rugged cross,
Till my trophies at last I lay down;
I Will cling to the old rugged cross,
And exchange it some day for a crown.
O that old rugged cross, so despised by the world,
Has a wondrous attraction for me;
For the dear Lamb of God left His glory above
To bear it to dark Calvary.
CHORUS
In the old rugged cross, stained with blood so divine,
A wondrous beauty I see;
For ‘twas on that old cross Jesus suffered and died
To pardon and sanctify me.
CHORUS
To the old rugged cross, I will ever be true,
Its shame and reproach gladly bear;
Then He’ll call me some day to my home far away,
Where His glory forever I’ll share.
CHORUS
WORDS OF COMFORT Pastor Lucke
Pastor: Heavenly Father, give to the family of Art and to all who mourn comfort in their grief and a sure confidence in Your loving care that, casting all their sorrow on You, they may know the consolation of Your love. Lord, in your mercy,
People: hear our prayer.
Pastor: Give courage and faith to the bereaved, that they may have strength to meet the days ahead in the assurance of a holy and certain hope and in the joyful expectation of eternal life with those they love who have departed in the faith. Lord, in Your mercy,
People: hear our prayer.
Pastor: Receive our thanks for and for all the blessings You bestowed on them in this earthly life. Bring us at last to our heavenly home that with him we may see You face to face in the joys of paradise. Lord, in Your mercy,
People: hear our prayer.
Pastor: O God of all grace, You sent Your Son, our Savior Jesus Christ, to bring life and immortality to life. We give You thanks that by His death He destroyed the power of death and by His resurrection He opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers. Strengthen us in the confidence that because He lives we shall live also, and that neither death nor life nor things present nor things to come will be able to separate us from Your love, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
People: Amen.
THE LORD’S PRAYER
Our Father, who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name,
Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those
who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
forever and ever. Amen
By: Charles Austin Miles © Words: Public Domain ; Music: Public Domain
I come to the garden alone
While the dew is still on the roses;
And the voice I hear falling on my ear
The Son of God discloses.
CHORUS
And He walks with me and He talks to me,
And He tells me I am His own.
And the joy we share as we tarry there,
None other has ever known.
He speaks, and the sound of His voice
Is so sweet the birds hush their singing;
And the melody that He gave to me
Within my heart is ringing.
CHORUS
I’d stay in the garden with Him
Though the night around me be falling;
But He bids me go thru the voice of woe,
His voice to me is calling.
And He walks with me and He talks to me,
And He tells me I am His own.
And the joy we share as we tarry there,
None other has ever known.
CHORUS
