Memorial Service – Mark Leon - May 10, 2008
Funerals are a time to celebrate the life of our loved ones. Mark Leon left a legacy that lives on in all of us. In the years ahead we will carry with us his words, his smile, his passion, his love.
Today we celebrate Mark’s life. And yet we need to realize there is a time to mourn. We experience grief following the loss of a loved one. It is normal and it is painful. Through grief you are able to express your feelings about your loss.
Today’s American society denies the need for grief and sadness and pain; we try to cover it up. But it is a normal and necessary process. The grief process eventually leads to acceptance, healing and growth, but it’s not easy and it’s not quick. Let us be committed to walk alongside Christine, David, Daniel and Diana and the rest of Mark’s family through this valley of life.
Funerals are for the living - a time to honor our loved one, but also a crossroads, a checkpoint; a time to look at our own hearts. Are you ready to meet your maker?
If you have not met Jesus and do not know him, than you are not ready. Jesus opens the way to the future; he is the Way. In the same passage that Larry Helscher read, Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” He said, “I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved.” (John 10:9)
Mark Leon believed in Jesus Christ, and so the way, the gate to eternal life; the way to his heavenly father’s house, the way to heaven was open to him. He is now enjoying the full presence and life and love of God. In the short time he was here on earth – only 48 years – Mark walked as Jesus walked.
Like his Lord Jesus, Mark Leon had a heart for the “little ones” in our world and a passion to give hope to the hopeless. Less than 3 weeks before he died, On April 14, Mark and Alice Bryant and I drove to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles to help with a church service given to 25 inmates, which completed our training to become certified as small group leaders for Prison Fellowship.
This was the last and latest outreach adventure for Mark Leon, who was always looking for ways to encourage those who needed hope, help and a fresh start. (present certificate to family).
Early in his ministry Jesus went into the synagogue in his home town of Nazareth and read this Scripture from the prophet Isaiah, and declared that he had come to fulfill this Scripture:
Isaiah 61:1 - The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, 2 …to comfort all who mourn, 3 …to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair…
4 They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations…
8 "For I, the LORD, love justice; I hate robbery and iniquity. In my faithfulness I will reward them and make an everlasting covenant with them. 9 Their descendants will be known among the nations and their offspring among the peoples. All who see them will acknowledge that they are a people the LORD has blessed."
10 I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness…
Mark was an encourager. Often we think of encouragement as giving comfort to others; and it is. But a fuller meaning is to give someone courage who doesn’t have it; who is fearful and hopeless. To give them courage that they matter and can achieve. To awaken dreams in a person.
Mark has done that in his family, in his church, in his community, in his world. His children are honors students.
Quotes about hope from Chaplain Andrew Lester: “When hopelessness overwhelms a person, something has happened to his future images.”
“Hopelessness views the future as closed and assumes change is impossible.”
“Hope dreams dreams! Hope is energized by belief in the possibility of getting somewhere, in the possibility of reaching goals.”
“Hope is essentially a shared experience with others. Community becomes the context in which we learn to hope, so Christian community at its best produces hope. We look for community in which to share hope and share visions of the future.”
Hope pushes us toward relationships because it is trusting of others and thrives on intimacy and mutual love…”
That’s why so many friends are here today. At some time in your life, Mark Leon encouraged you; he gave you some hope. And he did it in the name of his Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ.
Jesus said, John 5:24 - "I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.
Mark has now inherited eternal life. He lives forever in the fullness of God’s joy.
There is singing and worship in heaven 24/7 and dancing too. Mark is joining in. Psalm 16:11 - You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
Let me share with you some of Mark’s own words from the last six months. Mark often wrote me notes of encouragement. Here’s one from February 11. In our church we have had live Spanish translation of our worship service for 1 and ½ years and Mark was one of our translators. In February we decided we would begin Spanish speaking Bible Studies and Mark volunteered to be one of the teachers.
Greetings Dennis,
First, I think something is happening in our church....can't quite put my finger on it. But it has a dramatic sense. We have come a long way and God has put lots of pieces together.
As for the Spanish Bible Studies - wow! Your approach looks sound. Not sure if we are ready, but God tends to stretch us even if we are a little short.
Best, Mark
One month earlier, January 9, 2008, I had e-mailed Mark and our other teen leaders an article about the Generation Gap. Mark often took the time to write a thoughtful and always eloquent response:
Dennis,
Very good reading. From early childhood I've tried to let the kids know that, "Dad is not perfect, and will make mistakes."
However; if they are looking for perfection, look to God. Yet I'm responsible to allow them to be innovative and creative. They have the right to call me on a perceived (or real) imperfection I may not see. I have been surprised by their innovation and love of learning. Stepping out and taking risks has also let them know I am still willing to try new things.
These are good points, and it's amazing how our youth can thrive if we don't suppress their willingness to grow and temper it with what our experience has taught us. I've learned so much from them as well.
Best, Mark
Last December 23, 2007, Mark gave a sermon in our church - For Unto Us a Child is Born. Here is an excerpt:
“My liver was failing and I was on a waitlist for a liver transplant. In a very dramatic way, someone had to die in order for me to live. After about a three-month wait this happened.
“I received the call to report to UCLA in order to have a compatible liver transplanted. Like Christ who gave his very life for all of us, someone died and donated their liver that I might live. Seven hours of surgery later and I found myself recovering in an intensive care unit.
“When a child was born in the City of David a donation was being made on yours and my behalf for life eternal. We have reason to celebrate.
“Celebrate that life has come to us. Not that Rudolf’s light shown bright or Santa came with gifts, BUT BECAUSE LIFE HAS COME AND WE HAVE IT FOR ETERNITY!
“So now what is left as we joyfully walk with Jesus is the hope of the time we will see Him in fullness – hallelujah!”
“Even now as family and friends we know are dying and died within this past week we find reassurance in the hand of God. Let’s not lose sight of what this season is all about – the greatest gift, God through a child born about two thousand years ago, brought – eternal life.”
Our church is multicultural and we celebrate that and try hard to maintain it. We set aside every February as a month of reconciliation, when we preach and pray about reconciliation – in families, churches, between races and genders. Last February 3, 2008, Mark gave a sermon titled, Reconciliation – A Family Affair
(As a Latino, Mark spoke on the perspective of being Latino in America and how important reconciliation is between the children of God – racially, and ultimately within a family.) Here are some of his words:
“We are a family that has grown from the confines of immediate brother and sister. And through the ages, we’ve grown apart when God has always asked that we bind ourselves one to another. This is what he does with us. Through Christ he reconciles us to Him. Apart from him we are children lost without our heavenly Father. Wandering like sheep, unaware that death stalks us and is ready to separate us from Him…”
“So this is the distance we put between each other racially. In similar ways we set our own family members apart and find difficulty reconciling. Recently at two funeral gatherings I observed how the painful loss of a loved one created the opportunity for family members to reconcile. Often tragedy will do this. Funerals give us fertile ground.
But don’t wait. Remember a brother or sister walks wounded and you may be given the power of healing from God. All of us know that we are guilty of missing opportunities.
A tragedy or celebration may bring us to common ground and we can find time to mend wounds. These are opportunities to clear up a misunderstanding, to embrace and thaw out a frozen relationship, to forgive one another… To live for eternity is to love for eternity.”
Mark learned from personal experience that God is life and love and he taught it to others though his words and his life. Some live their lives as if there is no tomorrow. Mark lived his life, knowing there is a tomorrow, and that it is full and rich and forever. Well done, Mark, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your Lord.
INTERMENT
Wise king Solomon said this about human beings: (Ecclesiastes 3:20) - all come from dust, and to dust all return.
The apostle Peter quoted Isaiah: "People are like grass that dies away;
their beauty fades as quickly as the beauty of wildflowers. The grass withers,
and the flowers fall away. But the word of the Lord will last forever."
Paul wrote: Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.
Paul, when he was an old man, gave these words of encouragement to the young man, Timothy – “Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.”
Dear friend, Mark. You have fought the good fight of faith. Through Jesus, you now have the victory over death. You have inherited the eternal life to which you were called. Let us all do the same.
