O come, let us adore him!
O come, let us adore him!
O come, let us adore him, Christ the Lord!

Early on Monday morning,
John heard the familiar words
we just heard in today’s gospel:
Come to me,
all you who labor and are burdened,
and I will give you rest.

And as we mourn his passing,
Jesus says the same thing to us:
Come to me…

O come, let us adore him!
O come, let us adore him!

This afternoon,
we come to the Lord,
as we bid a final farewell
to Fr. John Hoying.
We come to the Lord
who reminds us
that the souls of the just
are in the hands of God…
that their passing away was thought and affliction
and their going forth from us utter destruction.

We come to praise the Lord today
because we know that grace and mercy are with his holy ones
and God’s care is with those God has chosen.

O come, let us adore him!
O come, let us adore him!

We know that John had his struggles in this life,
but we also know that in the waters of baptism
and in the anointing with oil
John became one of God’s chosen ones,
one of those for whom Jesus gave his life
for our salvation.

And though John was not perfect,
nor are any of us gathered here,
we also know that none of our imperfections
can ever separate us from the love of Christ.

God was always for him,
and is always for us,
So, who can bring a charge against God’s chosen ones?
…What can separate us from the love of Christ?

Neither death nor life,
nothing is ever able to separate us
from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

O come, let us adore him!
O come, let us adore him!
O come, let us adore him, Christ the Lord!

A little over twenty-five years ago
a friend of mine suggested
that I might want to become a cruise chaplain.
So I called the only cruise chaplain I knew,
Fr. John Hoying,
and I asked him what it was like.
He was delighted to share his experiences,
and so, I followed in his footsteps
and set sail over twenty times
over the past twenty-five years.

He was right,
I was always blessed by the experience.

O come, let us adore him!
O come, let us adore him!

We’ve not come here to adore Fr. John.
We’ve come here to adore the One he adored
throughout his over sixty of priestly ministry.
He served the One we’ve come to adore today
in many places, with many people,
because throughout his life
he could say, with Jesus,
I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
for though you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned
you have revealed them to me.

And today, we give thanks to God
for all the blessing God bestowed on John in this life,
and even more for the blessings God bestows on John today.
Because today,
John is among those to whom the Son wishes to reveal the Father.

And as John stands before the throne of God,
we join with him as he sings out:

O come, let us adore him!
O come, let us adore him!
O come, let us adore him, Christ the Lord!