Transcription
You may be seated. Would you whisper a word of prayer with me just for a moment?
Spirit of the living God, fall fresh on us. God, we realize that no one can say the final words about Mamaloo because we will be talking about her for the rest of our lives. Word my mouth to now lift the spirits of this family. Lift the spirits of fellowship and lift the spirits of this nation who join in to celebrate a life that has been lived so remarkably well. Thank you for Mama Lou. And now may the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight. Oh Lord, our strength and our redeemer. In the name of the one who can still turn water into wine. In the name of Jesus we pray. Let everybody say amen. Amen.
Hadn't this just been an extravagant celebration? Come on, one more time. You don't have to stand up, but just thank God with me for Mama Ludela Evans Reed. We thank God for her to our officient who has led us with proficiency and such class and dignity. Help me celebrate my predecessor, our pastor Meredith. You can stand up for this. Come on, help me thank God for Pastor Charles Jenkins. We love you, man. Thank you so so much. Thank you for your wisdom, your guidance, your advice. You have been so so helpful to me and us during this time. To Bishop Horus Smith and to the Apostolic Faith Church. Again, thank you so much. I will never forget how kind you've been to this great cadgery of preachers and musicians and singers who've come from near and far. God bless you.
To Reverend Tanya, if you wanted to preach the eulogy, I think we close enough. You could have just told me that. I I could have just given words of comfort. Can we thank God for her daughter? Her sweet daughter. We love you. I love you with your anointed self. and to this Evans family, to Monica and Baby and Rajani, and to all of the grand great grandchildren, and to the only living sibling left, the children of Esther, Nali, and Henry Clay. Help me thank God for Auntie Mini Joe. Looking good, auntie. God bless you. You're looking good, lady. You're looking good. to my wife and Dr. Tara, to this incredible staff of fellowship, to the bereavement ministry still led by Miss Reena Bowman, to deacons and ministers, fellowship, wherever you are, just wave at me. Come on. If you've been a ship height at any time in your life, wave at us. God bless you. Reverend Jackson, we love you. Congressman, we love you.
This is a task that uh I wish I could wiggle out of, but indulge me as I send one of God's best on home. Revelation chapter 2 verse 17. Don't stand, just sit and listen. Revelation chapter 2. Thank you, brother Fred Nelson. Thank you, Pastor V. Revelation chapter 2 verse 17. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the spirit saith unto the churches, to him or her that overcomemeth, will I give to eat of the hidden manner, and will give him or her a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth, saving he that receiveth it.
I'll give you a new hidden mana and give you a white stone and in that stone a new name written which no one knows except the person that's getting the new name. I want to talk today briefly from this thought lessons from Mama Lou. Mama Lou was more than just a mother and she was a mother. She was more than just a grandmother and she did that exceptionally well. She was more than just a great grandmother. She was more than just a minister of music, a Sunday school teacher, one of the founding members of Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church. She was more than a gospel music icon. Mama Lou was an experience. You didn't just meet Mamaloo. You experienced Maloo. You You just didn't watch her direct. She in her essence, in her presence, she was an experience. Millennials and Gen Z and Gen A would say Mamaloo was a vibe. She She was an experience and she was always saying something at a time she wasn't supposed to be saying anything. She was known for these outbursts. She just whenever she felt that she wanted to say something, it was going to be said whether she had the microphone or not, she was always saying whatever she wanted to say whenever she wanted to say it. She was an experience. She was a vibe.
I remember when Reverend Clay Evans in December 2019 was lying in state in the sanctuary of Fellowship Chicago and we all were standing there regal and dignified and I mean ice cold silence was in the sanctuary. Reverend Reverend Charles Jenkins and Dr. Tara, myself and Lady Brie, we were standing there. We looked like we were at the White House or the US Capitol to receive the body of Reverend Evans to the sanctuary. Everybody was quiet until Mama Lou walked in. When she walked down the aisle headed to the casket, she hollered to the top of her lungs, "Here we are. We here rapping. Here we are." Whenever she felt it was time to say something, she was going to say whatever she wanted to say.
I was trying to announce on the first Sunday of May that the doctors had diagnosed her with pancreatic cancer. It was spreading to her liver and her liver ducts. You don't know how nervous I was. Pastor Jenkins and I talked on the phone before that service. I had notes written down. I wanted to make sure I told the story correctly. I knew that the world was watching, news were listening, and the internet was going to take whatever I said at face value. I wanted to say it right, get it right. I'm trying to tell the church she has pancreatic cancer is spread into her liver and her liver ducks and doctors have given her days before I can finish explaining the diagnosis from the second row in a wheelchair. She hollered out, "That's all right." And the church almost went to the floor. She was always saying something she wasn't really supposed to say, but whenever she felt the need to say it, she was going to say what she needed to say.
On Easter Sunday, Mama Lou at 94 put on her joy t-shirt on Easter Sunday. Ain't that something? A non-agenarian could follow her 30some year old pastor and put on a t-shirt on Easter Sunday morning. And I thought it was phenomenal. I said, "Mama, I just want to acknowledge you. Thank look at you in your joy shirt on this Easter Sunday morning." and she jumped up in Mamaloo fashion and said, "Whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say." That was a week before she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. She must have felt something in the spirit. She jumped up, "Whatever my lot thou has taught me to say, it is well with my soul." I said, "Well, since you feeling that today, how about you direct it?" At the end of service, we close Easter Sunday morning with, "It is well." The last time, ironically, she directed it at fellowship. She was always saying something she really wasn't supposed to say when she really wasn't supposed to say it.
Went down at Morehouse College back in April and we unveiled the oil portrait of our founding pastor in the MLK Chapel at Morehouse College. We were robed again. It's a regal, dignified event. Everybody's standing there. They took the sheet off the portrait and we all clapped. The president of Moore House College is standing within centimeters of Mama Lou. And when Mama Lou saw her brother on that oil portrait, she hollered in the chapel at Moore House College. Hallelujah. I want to say, "Mama, it really wasn't that time right now." But whenever she felt the need to say whatever she wanted to say, she was going to say what she wanted to say.
Can't you imagine in your sanctified imagination when Mama Lou got to heaven when she stepped into the vest of view of eternity? Can't you hear her holler out and say, "Here we are." And somebody leaned up and said, "Now, Mama Lou, we glad to see you, but ain't you going to miss Aren't you going to miss Tony? Aren't you going to miss Tor? Aren't you going to miss your family? Aren't you going to miss fellowship? Aren't you going to miss the traditional choir and GMAC and Sunday school at First Church of Deliverance? Mama Lou said, "That's all right." Then somebody else asked her about her brief journey with cancer and not being able to make it to her birthday concert, dying ironically in between Independence Day and two days before her birthday. And Mama Loose said, "Whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say, it is well, it is well with my soul."
Then Mama Loose started looking around heaven and she saw gold streets and jasper walls and pearly gates and painless bodies and tearless eyes and no more sea. She saw that there was no night there. And the choir stands were full of angels singing resounding anthems of praise and thanksgiving. and she saw Miss Jenny, Lucille Conway Lman, Deacon Ernest Shaw, Miss Anne Shaw, Lahy Pikney, Deacon Joed Dixon, Julius Web, Deacon Leroy Reed, Deacon Frank and Lois McKe and Gertie Dyson and Edith Banks and Fanny Ham and Fanny Gar and Emma Daniels and Reverend Consuela York, Alice Hope Turner and Ununice Little and Mary Thornton and Juanita Davis and Maddie Codwell and Sammy Banks and Layman Kelly and Stonewall Yates and Charlie Foster and Lindsay Davis and Charlie Parker and Gwen White and James Balden and Bernice Reed and Willie May Smart and Dr. Carolyn Walker and Pearly May Daniels and Deacon Le James Moore and Deacon James Moore and Deacon Jimmy Coleman and Deacon Roosevelt Harvest and Deacon Ephraim Pew and Oziah Anderson and Alicia Carol Tanner and Felicia Tanner and Linda Shaw Pullium and Bessie Tinsley and Annie Benson and Father Hayes and Elder Lewis Body and the preacher Clarence Cves and Dr. Arthur Brazier and Leonard Maddox and Royal Mickey Warren and Luther May Evans and Estste and Bernardine Evers and Reverend Ferris Evans and Annell Evans and Reverend Joseph Evans and Margaret Anne Evans and Glattis and Walter Jones and John Delano Evans and Estonali Evans and Henry Clay Evans and Eldred Lewis Reed and there goes Rem Clay Evans. And then she looked over and saw Jesus and she shouted hallelujah. When she saw the fellowship aggregation in glory, she said hallelujah. And she leaned over to somebody and said, "Now tell me, when is the naming ceremony?" She said, "When is the naming ceremony?" I want to know when the naming ceremony is. They leaned up. When what? What naming ceremony you talking about? She said, "I've been singing for decades. Uh, there's a new name written in glory. It's mine." Oh. Oh, yes. says, "My I want to know when the naming ceremony is because in Revelation 2:17, Jesus gives a glimpse to the church of Pergamum that if you endure, if you stay faithful, if you don't give into the wickedness of this world, when you get to heaven, in spite of your existential problems, uh you going to have some esqueological promises. And one of the promises is there's going to be a name written on a white stone. And the only person that's going to know the name is the person that's getting the name. She said, "I want to know when the naming ceremony is."
This naming ceremony is intimate because only the people that get the name know the name. This naming ceremony is inspirational because it gives you something to look forward to. And it's inviting because it makes heaven worth going to. But oh, Mama Lou learned something that I learned in my study that it really is uncertain which name it is >> because down here most of us think is our new name. >> And some scholars agree it might be our new name. >> And I don't know what her new name could possibly be. Maybe her new name is healed. Maybe her new name is grateful. Maybe her new name, y'all ain't ready for this, is delivered. >> Or my favorite, maybe her new name is redeemed. I don't know >> what her new name might be, >> but there are just as many New Testament scholars who say it's not our new name that's going to be written on the white stone. It's going to be God's new name. Because whenever you walked around in that culture with the white stone and the name of the divine, you would have protection and access that others didn't have. And the names we already have of God are off the chain, ironically, in Jesus' name. But we going to have a new name for God. >> Jehovah Gyra was enough. >> That means he's my provider. I feel like preaching. Jehovah Nissi was good enough. That means he's my victory and my banner. Jehovah Shalom was enough. That means God is my peace. Jehovah ro e was enough. That means God sees me. Jehovah ro I is good enough. That means the Lord is my shepherd. But when we get to heaven, it's possible that we just won't get a new name. But we going to find out a new name of God we've never heard before. >> And we going to wear it on our lives. Is intimate, is inspirational, and is inviting. And as happy as I am for her, whether she gets the new name or whether she gets introduced to God's new name, >> I'm happy for her. >> But I still feel some kind of way. >> I feel some kind of way. And I've been feeling some kind of way since last Saturday, if I'm honest, because I just think it's slightly unfair >> that she didn't get to make it >> to her birthday. It just it just it just ain't settled with me yet.
All week long I wrestle with the fact she missed her 95th birthday. I just she she wanted that gospel concert. That was hard for us to cancel it. I went to see her in the hospital. She wasn't talking that day. Deacon Linda Reed was in the room and and when she saw me, she said, "Pastor, I said, "Hey, Mama Lou, you in here resting? I'm resting up for Sunday." Everybody in that hospital knew Mama Lou had a concert that Sunday. I said, "Mama, well, you know, we praying about it. One thing that I have desired of the Lord is that you would not cancel the concert on Sunday." I said, "Oh, Lord, she got biblical on me. She wanted Sunday and I know she wanted Monday." And I wrestled all week, but around about Thursday, I I I couldn't sleep very well. Re Elder Apostle Tanya, I couldn't sleep very well. And I woke up and the Lord whispered something to me. He said, "How you gonna act funny that she didn't make it to her birthday? Do you remember what you did four years ago?" I said, "What did I do? You told Fellowship that you would not celebrate any more birthdays in Chicago because your birthday is in February and it's too cold and it's not conducive for a good celebration. You told your church you would not celebrate any more birthdays in Chicago >> because you wanted to go to a another city [Applause] that was conducive for celebration. If you wanted another city for your birthday, >> don't you think Mama Lou deserved a new city to celebrate her birthday. One that is conducive for the kind of celebration she should have.
I'm so glad she made it to a city. It's a city where no immigrants have to worry about being deported. She made it to a city. It's a city where no lawmakers can sign off on a big, beautiful bill. It's a city where the budget doesn't have to be approved by the mayor and the Ottomans. It's a city where floods and natural disasters can't harm its citizens. It's a city that the late Reverend Charles Gilchrest Adams said where there are no police because there is no crime. Where there are no hospitals because there is no sickness. Where there are no oncologists because there is no cancer. It's a city where you don't have to worry about the housing market crashing because Jesus said in my father's house are many mansions. And if it were not so, I would have told you it's a city where you don't have to worry about losing health care, Medicaid, or Medicare because no illnesses are going to penetrate paradise. Go and hop five somebody and say we're headed to a city where there are no wars because there are no egosh. It's a city where the wicked will cease from troubling and the weary will be at rest and all the saints of the ages uh can sit at his feet and be blessed. It's a city where the day never dies and the flower never fades uh and the sun never sets. Uh it's a city where we can sing the wondrous love of Jesus. Sing his mercy and his grace in that mansion bright and blessed. Uh he'll prepare for us a placeh. It's a city where when we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that'll be. When we all oh see Jesus, we're going to sing and shout the victory. It's a city where I shall wear a crown. I shall wear a crown. When it's all over, I'm going to put on my robe and tell the story how I made it over. Don't you want to go to that city? If you want to go, reach over and shake a neighbor's hand. Go on and wake up that sleeping neighbor and shake that neighbor by the hand and hold it like you got the Holy Ghost. Stop being bougie and mama lose service. Shake that neighbor's hand and say, "Neighbor, one of these old mornings, I will fly away to a home on God's celestial shore. I will fly away and we'll go sweeping through the city where my captain has gone on before when we all sit down by the banks of the river. And I won't be back. [Music] Somebody tell them, "We're on our way to the city." On our way. On our way. On our way to the city. On our way. Come on and help me praise God. Like you know, we're on our way to a better city, on our way to a better country. [Music] When I see Jesus. [Music] Amen. [Music] When I see Jesus, y'all don't leave me out here by myself. Yes. Amen. [Music] All my struggles, all my pain, they will they will they will be over. All the all the when I see Jesus. Hey [Music] Amen.
Lord, we love you. We honor you. [Music] And we join in with the rhetoric of Mamaloo. To you be all the glory for the great things that you have done. One day, God, if we live right and put Jesus at the center of our lives, we're going to make it on over, too. And when we make it, we going to holler. Here we are. Thank you for Mama Lou. Thank you that her legacy is bigger than her life. And we don't have to mourn as those who have no hope because her spirit, her sweet memory will live on in our hearts forever. Cover now this family. Cover now her daughter, her grandchildren, and her great grands. Fill their lives with peace. Peace. cover fellowship. Cover the city of Chicago. Cover every member of every choir she ever directed. Cover us, Lord, and let us feel your sufficient grace in the days ahead. We leave out in hope, we leave out in joy, we leave out in spiritual assurance that all really is well in the name of her Jesus. And in the name of your son, our savior, let the whole church say, "Amen." Amen. And amen. Clap your hands like you got victory. Clap your hands like you're glad. She made it to the city.