Gathered: The Funeral of Gerald "Gerry" Bosse

Gathered

The Funeral of Gerald “Gerry” Bosse – 9/21/2026

John 14:1-6

Rev. Dr. Christopher W. Brademeyer

                That portion of God’s holy Word for consideration this morning is our reading from the holy Gospel according to St. John in the fourteenth chapter with special emphasis on verses one through three which read as follows:

                [Jesus said,] “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”[1]

Thus far the Scriptures.

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

                Gerry knew something about gathering. I mean, the man bled hunting and fishing. He loved the pursuit and he loved getting the good shot, the good game, landing the big fish. And if you gave him half of an opening, you got an earful of the things that he hunted and the walleyes he caught on Kraft. He gathered a crop each fall, doing that work that characterized farming.

                So, it stands that Gerry knew something about gathering. But it wasn’t just hunting

and fishing, despite how much he talked about it. It was also all of you. Gerry is one of those guys that everyone knows. He gathered to himself a loving wife in Dee, two sons and their families, and numerous friends and family along the way. Gerry said more than once to me and to at least Matt that the only thing he regretted about having to die and leave us is leaving all of you behind.

                Gerry was good at gathering. And this should not surprise us. Gerry didn’t just live a life characterized by it, but his life was formed by it from the beginning. Gerry was born on August 24, 1949 and only a few short weeks later, he was gathered. He was not gathered by family who came to see the new baby. No, he was gathered into the Kingdom of God by the Good Shepherd who called Gerry to Himself in holy Baptism. Yes, Gerry was born again there by water and the Spirit, not because Gerry made a decision for Christ, but because God gave him new birth and faith in Christ.  And from this small act that seems so tiny and unimportant to so many, Gerry was gathered into the everlasting Kingdom of His Father. And this is where Christ held Him. You see, Baptism is no mere sprinkling of water on a child or adult; it is the giving of God’s good grace, earned for him and all people in the death of Christ the Savior, adopting him into the very household of God. It united Gerry to Christ’s death so that, on this day, where Gerry has finally met death, he too might have a resurrection of his body like Christ’s own, as St. Paul says in the first part of Romans chapter six.

                Christ does not forget His people. He never neglects His promises. He does not fail to deliver what He has said. And sure, Gerry may have spent a few years as many of us do paying less attention to our Lord and His Church than he ought to have during his younger days in the Army, but Dee made sure that got straightened out in short order.

                Here’s the things about funerals. We all need hope in difficult times like this. We all want the comfort of knowing where our loved ones are. We want the assurance that they are with Christ and rest in His heaven. And so we do something that nearly everyone does at times like this: we end up combing through a person’s life to prove that his faith was strong or deep or sufficient. But here’s the thing: you don’t have to. I don’t mean that Gerry’s faith in Christ was so amazing that it simply doesn’t need to be questioned, though he does have a strong faith in Christ. I mean that we do not find the right answer for these questions in us human beings. I know this sounds strange, but when we root around in a person’s life we will find much to celebrate and remember, but we will also find sin. And even a small sprinkling of sin is enough to cast the whole enterprise of proving a person is good enough for heaven into doubt.

                What I mean is counterintuitive, I suppose, but it is the basis of our hope at difficult times like these: Gerry’s hope, indeed all of our hope, rests not in ourselves, but in our Savior. It is Christ who redeemed Gerry, who baptized him into the saving death of the Lord, who sustained him with the Word of God and the Lord’s Supper. It is the Holy Spirit who worked the gift of faith in Gerry. And faith is not measured by how strong or sincere it might seem, faith is measured by who that faith is in. And Gerry’s faith is in Christ.

                This is all to say we need not despair concerning Gerry, wondering if Christ has kept his promise. He is with Christ in heaven awaiting the resurrection of his body at the return of our Lord. And I know this because God has a promise for Gerry and all of you, so unshakable, so certain, that it cannot disappoint; Christ died for Gerry and all sinners, Christ rose for Gerry and all sinners, Christ gives Himself through His Word and sacraments to Gerry and all sinners. And Christ promises that those He gathers to Himself in Baptism, who have faith worked in them by the Holy Spirit, who rest in His salvation rather than trying to earn it themselves, who are gathered into the sheepfold of the Good Shepherd who is the truth and the life, these will never die again.

                Being in Christ, they have forgiveness, life, and everlasting salvation, earned and ensured by Christ’s saving death. Therefore, do not let your hearts be troubled. The Lord has called Gerry to Himself. Jesus gathered him into the sheepfold, His Kingdom, the Church triumphant in paradise. And this did not happen when he breathed his last. No, that gathering was accomplished long ago, on September 12, 1949, where Gerry was baptized into Christ and gathered into the Kingdom of God.

                Gerry knows a lot about gathering. He lived it every day. But this should not surprise us, after all, Gerry was gathered into Christ. Indeed, all Christians are gathered into Christ by His grace. The work of our Lord, His death that earned for us forgiveness is final and finished. Death has no power over those who have been gathered into Christ by faith. It has no final power over Gerry because Christ has gathered him to Himself.

In the holy Name of + Jesus. Amen.

The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

[1] John 14:2-4 English Standard Version. All further quotations from the Holy Scriptures are from the ESV.