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Fredrickson: "We Shouldn't Be Here Today"
LOS ANGELES, CA (November 24, 2003) - Editor's note: These remarks were
given by Covenant minister Kurt Fredrickson, former pastor of Simi
Valley Covenant Church, at the November 21 memorial service for Officer
Matthew Michael Pavelka, who died November 15 while on duty as a
Burbank, California, police officer. Officer Pavelka attended Simi
Valley Covenant while Fredrickson was pastor there. Fredrickson is now
director of the doctor of ministry program at Fuller Theological
Seminary.
Matthew Michael Pavelka
September 1 1977-November 15, 2003
We gather here to say goodbye and we wish we didn't have to be here. We
shouldn't be here today. Parents are not supposed to bury their son.
Police officers are not supposed to die protecting and serving.
Criminals are not supposed to win a round.
But we gather here, we must gather here confronted by the fragileness of
our lives. We are filled with sadness and grief, and we are filled with
anger and resolve.
I met Matt when he was just a boy. He and his family were part of Simi
Covenant Church in Simi Valley where I was the pastor. Matt was a great
kid growing up. Smart, a thinker. Respectful. Quiet, not flashy. Always
ready to step in and help. A great athlete. Determined. Motivated. Kind.
What I remember most about Matt was his gentle strength. I watched Matt
grow up, through junior high and high school, into the Air Force and
then into the Burbank Police Department. Our paths crossed less
frequently the older he got. But one thing remained whenever I saw him
or heard about him--gentle strength.
Matt simply was a good person. And we gather here, saying good-bye, and
we are full of questions. Deep, pondering questions. Where is God in
this tragedy? What is God up to? Why did this happen?
In Psalm 13, King David cried out his questions: "How long, O Lord? Will
you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?"
We too cry out. God where are you? Have you forgotten me? How could this
happen? On days like this we stare into the face of evil--the storm
cloud churns in our lives. Evil is given a face and a name. We are
enraged and sad and we wonder . . . .
We gather here - in sadness and in turmoil - but also in hope. Matt had
a faith in God expressed through Jesus Christ and that gave Matt's life
a perspective broader than the routines of life, stronger than the bumps
of life, and victorious even in the darkest of storms of life -for this
is a hope that extends beyond the grave.
Matt clung to and lived out this faith. A faith that says death does not
have the last word and evil does not win. A faith that says God has the
ultimate victory. That God is the one who creates a new future, a new
bright day where there is no death, or sorrow, or crying or pain - for
the old world and its evils are gone forever.
God makes all things new. And Matt - our strong, gentle son, colleague,
brother and friend - would want us this day to cling to that same faith.
A faith that offers, anticipates that bright day of hope. That glad day
- even beyond this life - is our certain hope for Matt. And that glad
day is what we cling to for comfort in our loss.
That same confidence, that hopefulness, allowed the psalmist David - who
cried out "How Long?" in Psalm 13 to say in Psalm 23:
"The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down
in green pastures. He leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
"Even if 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.
You prepare a table before me, in the presence of my enemies. You anoint
my head with oil, my cup overflows. Surely goodness and love will follow
me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
forever."
This was Matt's hope.
This is the hope to which we must cling.
Copyright © 2008 The Evangelical Covenant Church. |
