SermonStudio

____________ was a seamstress. Such talent was hers as a hobby. Such talent was hers in her labors beyond those of a homemaker. ____________ wasn't one for buying cloth, cutting out patterns, or creating clothing to wear. Instead, she was one who took clothing that was already sewn. Clothing that needed to be changed when the sizes and styles in people's lives changed. Simply put, ____________ altered fashions, which didn't fit. ____________ repaired articles and items that were torn and tattered, thus giving them new life.
Removing the stitching, she took clothing apart. Snipping and clipping its material, she reworked the garment. Then, with precision and patience; using skill and love, relying on needle, thimble and thread, ____________ rejoined and reunited the cloth fragments and pieces. Under her expert care the clothing became whole again; useful again. The garments she altered took on new and functional life once more. A good seamstress like ____________ can look at clothing and tell if quality is present. A good seamstress examining a garment knows if its seams are secure or if its patterns are in place.
This morning we gather to celebrate and to remember before God the life of ____________. We come with heavy hearts. We come having inward pain and displaying outward sorrow. Yet, we come knowing that the God of our faith, the God of comfort, support and healing love is present in the midst of death and is present in our midst this day. Like a

good seamstress, God knows that because of ____________ death the quality of your life has been diminished. God knows the seams which hold your emotions together are on this day less secure. God knows that the pattern of your days, once orderly, is now out of place.
____________ has died. Life has been changed. No matter how we view death, or how determined we are to accept her death, it just does not fit. Her death is so unexpected, so untimely. The garment of grief is not what God intends for us to wear. Yet it is a part of the wardrobe of life. It is what is worn by you this day. Grief is unfair, uncomfortable, unwanted. It leaves you hurting. You ask, what are you to do? How are you to handle this? You must look to your faith, for it is faith that tells us we are to turn to God. We are not people without hope. In God is where your hope is found and where your healing shall begin.
God is much like the seamstress. Just as persons turned to ____________ for alterations when clothing failed to fit, you need to turn to God now. God has the ability to make the kind of alternations your lives now need. God can do what is necessary for you to become renewed and functional in life again. God can take the torn pieces and fragmented fabric of your lives, and like a good seamstress, God can mend the fabric of your life. God, with expert care, can return security to your emotions, restore order to the pattern of your days, and renew quality to your life. With God, all things are possible.
Just as ____________, using needle, thimble and thread, altered clothing, so it could be reworked, made whole and became renewed again, God's message during this current Advent season offers you hope in your despair; peace to settle your unrest; love to overcome your angered confusion and joy to replace your inward pain and outward sorrow. God's Advent has the power to bring renewal and restoration to broken and fragmented lives. May you feel God's presence, experience God's closeness, sense God's peace and receive new life.