And these words shared by Alton:   ;

“Melisse was so very open to the world.  She was open to new books, to new music, and new movies.  Almost every song I ever listened to the past few years was one she had recommended and sent me.  She had read more interesting books and watched more movies than anyone I knew.  And not all of these were good, in fact, some were just terrible, but at least she gave them a try.  She was open to new ideas and philosophies about the world, and thought deeply about everything.  And she was open to people.  The great diversity of the people who mourn her, from soccer teammates to USDA coworkers is a testament to Melisse's ability to find something beautiful and interesting in everyone she met, and honestly appreciate it.  And we loved her, too.”

Khim shared with me earlier about how she and Melisse shared a bed when they were very young.  They would almost draw a line down the middle of the bed and would push back and forth.  Khim being the eldest and the strongest could usually win for the moment, but then when she woke up in the morning she would find herself confined to just a small sliver of the bed.  Somehow during the night Melisse would find a way to get that extra bit of space.

     The family wanted it to be known that Melisse suffered greatly from Bipolar disorder.   To be bipolar is not a choice… it is about body chemistry… much like asthma, diabetes or arthritis.  It is a dangerous and difficult disorder that can, in most cases, be controlled by medications and treatment.   Many people live with and are able to manage it.  It’s also important for you to know that with bipolar disorder – depression can come on with little or no warning.  Family and co-workers really had no warning on Friday… it’s doubtful that there is anything that you could have said or done… it was the bipolar disorder … not Melisse.

    Some of you are Christians and so our bond to this family is through the Holy Spirit and through Christ himself.  You understand Paul’s words to the Roman Christians:  We have been buried therefore with him by baptism into death so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the father, we too might live a new life (Romans 6:4).   For others, you are bound to Melisse and to this family through your mutual affection or acquaintance. 

John Donne wrote:

“No man is an island.  entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were;  any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.”

     We can look at death only as a means of diminishing us in this world…but there is so much more.  Donne indicated as much earlier in his meditation:

“The church is catholic, universal, so are all her actions; all that she does, belongs to all.  When she baptizes a child, that action concerns me; for that child is thereby connected to that head which is my head too, and ingraffed into that body, whereof I am a member.  And when she buries a man, that action concerns me; all mankind is of one author, and is one volume; when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language; and every chapter must be so translated; God employs several translators; some pieces are translated by age, some by sickness, some by war, some by justice; but God's hand is in every translation, and his hand shall bind up all our scattered leaves again, for that library where every book shall lie open to one another….” (Meditation 17)

     Melisse was baptized and God made a promise to her… to never leave or forsake her…no matter where she might wander in this life.  Melisse’s father and mother saw that  she learned the scriptures as a child, sat at the feet of Christian teachers, worshiped together with others, was confirmed and encouraged in her faith.  She was ingraffed, as Donne wrote, into the body of Christ.

    In Jeremiah we hear a song or poem about the journey of faith:

“Blessed are those who trust in the Lord,

whose trust is the Lord.

They shall be like a tree planted by water,

sending out its roots by the stream.

It shall not fear when heat comes,

and its leaves shall stay green;

in the year of drought it is not anxious,

and it does not cease to bear fruit.”

Even in time of drought… the roots were there…

    Does that mean that she didn’t get upset with God?  I never got to hear any of the many arguments she had with God, but I’m certain, with Melisse, they were anything but boring.  She was a brilliant young woman and though her arguments and sometimes anger with God may have been compelling and powerful… God understood her… because he was the author of her life.  While she may have felt that she won some arguments, that didn’t cause God to love her any less.   And some of you may wonder whether she’d rejected God all together…well… as one person said so well… you don’t argue with someone you don’t know.

        In the Psalm 139 we hear the words of one person on a journey in life:

 “O LORD, you have searched me and you know me.  You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.  You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.  Before a word is on my tongue, you know it completely, O LORD.”

 For some of you those verses bring great comfort, but it can be a little maddening to have someone who knows you so well--- someone who knows what you’re going to say before you say it…  that’s how well God knew Melisse… for all her quick wit… for all her pranks… for all her disputations… God knew it all before she could do or say a thing.

       When we were gathered at the Buland’s home on Sunday afternoon I heard a beautiful and encouraging testimony of faith shared by one of Melisse’s co-workers.

     About two weeks ago, another co-worker greeted her in his usual fashion…”What’s the good word for today?”  Melisse lowered her head for a moment and then lifted her eyes to his and responded: “ He rose after three days.”

     That was the living water speaking… a sign that Melisse’s roots of faith sank deep down into the water of life. 

     It was two men or angels that spoke those words first:  In Luke chapter 24 the good doctor records the account of the women going to the tomb to formally care for the body of their dead friend, Jesus.  When they got there they found that the stone had been rolled away from the tomb.  They entered and didn’t find the body of Jesus.  Luke continues:

Luke 24:4 While (the women) were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. 5 In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead? 6 He is not here; he has risen!

    Today we don’t have to be here to simply weep over a dead friend.  We don’t have to dwell in the darkness of the tomb.  As one person of faith put it in a psalm:  “even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day for darkness is as light to you.”  

    Today we proclaim that though there may be darkness all around us… that though there were times of darkness in Melisse’s life… God has something to say… and He has the last word.  He has the last word about life and death.  “He is risen” are the most hopeful words the world has ever heard.  Those were the words on Melisse’s lips… words of praise and hope.  Death has lost… God has won - the victory over death… and his promise to Melisse and to us has been kept…a new day – a new dawn - is upon us…  

He is risen!

He is risen indeed, Alleluia!

This sermon was delivered in roughly this form at Grace Lutheran Church in Fort Worth 12/6/06 and Covenant Lutheran Church in Temple, TX 12/7/06