FAITH!
Just recently, a doctor was giving my Uncle Arden a cognitive assessment, and asked him to name a word that started with "F."
The letter "F".
I hear my Aunt Karen was slightly nervous about what Arden might say (:
I confess I was a bit nervous too when I first heard this story. (:
But of course, in that test, my good and godly uncle's soul and heart were revealed to be totally in tact and gloriously in tune, even if there had been "cognitive decline"..
He immediately blurted out his only possible answer, likely with that characteristic grin that you all would recognize, and are missing today:
"Faith!"
On Monday morning, just before 9 am, 44 miles from here, at the Good Samaritan Society Hospice in Ottumwa, Iowa, my good and godly uncle passed into eternity, as Jesus asked him the all-important question: "What is the password?"
"Faith!" he immediately and intuitively exclaimed. "Faith in You. Lord Jesus."
"Enter into the joy prepared for you; Well-done, my good and faithful servant," I dare to believe Jesus said to my good and godly Uncle Arden Hughes,
Servant indeed. How he loved to serve:
In church.
His neighbors.
On mission trips to disaster zones, as you heard my cousin Scot recall..
Student athletes on his Indian Hills Community College bus
His family and friends.
You who are here.
Even me.
Even me when I didn't deserve it.
Among the stories that were told last night at our family dinner table was this one I myself told.
Even though it was told at The Fairfield Diner, it was like a family campfire as the memories and stories of Arden's long and loyal flowed.
Even the silence spoke well of him.
The story? I still have a cassette somewhere, that when I find it, I will cherish , and transfer to modern technology, as I think it may be the only recording I have of his voice.
It said, and I quote..
,,And in an appropriately authoritative voice
Circa 1970..
"Upstairs, now. All of you!"
What occasioned this reprimand from my good and godly uncle?
Arden's three young boys...plus my brother and me ..were
in our common grandparents' basement, and apparently there was a rowdy ruckus. We became too loud and the youngest of us (look at Todd) was crying for some reason.
With me being the oldest of us, and I confess, ringleader, instigator and author of much mischief in this cohort of five... along with my dear late cousin Mark, of course ..
I may or may not have raised up enough of a ruckus to make very young Todd cry for help..
.,,from the only one who could save him.
And that one; his dad, my uncle's , voice was captured forever, as for some reason, I had the foresight to record all this on a tape reorder for posterity as we all dutifully headed up the stairs.
What I remember is how diplomatic and gracious he was, was his command to us, as the "all of us" meant "Even you...especially you, David!" He treated me as one of his own. (:
On Monday morning March 3, 2026 , just before 9 am, 44 miles from here, at the Good Samaritan Society Hospice in Ottumwa, Iowa,=, my good and godly uncle passed into eternity, as Jesus spoke to him..in a voice not stern and reprimanding at all, but one as inviting, infused with grace and radical forgiveness...and more joy than you can you can imagine .. spoken to Arden ...and any other people of faith who transitioned into eternity at that time ..the all-important request:
"Upstairs!
Now.
All of you!..
And enter into the joy prepared for you; Well-done, my good and faithful servant," I dare to believe Jesus said something like that to my good and godly Uncle Arden Hughes Monday morning
But I did grow up and turn out alright. I even ..despite the odds, became a Christian and later , even a pastor.
And I am longer ornery...much.
Arden's mother Frances, as many of you know was a prayer warrior, and often sensed things from the Lord. She said he always knew that one of her five grandsons..,the same lively lot from the aforementioned basement would be called to ministry.
As you might guess , I was the long shot.
But as some of you might also know, she had heart problems ,and in the natural scheme of things, should have passed long before she did.
But she held on. Surely for many reasons. And many of those reasons are surely in the room.
But one reason was,...she knew .. And she knew I was the long shot
But the week she received news that I would starting seminary, and preparing for the ministry, she had the peace to let go and transition into the presence of Jesus.
And Arden and Karen continued to take up the torch and pray for me.
Lord knows I needed it.
And I stand here in this place today, with cold chills and warm peace as I remember as if it were yesterday what my good and godly Uncle Arden , the servant, said as his rascally nephew from California preached at his Iowa family's church, the Selma United Methodist Church not long after .'
He greeted me at the door;
no, before I reached the door::
"I couldn't be prouder of you if you were my own so,"
And he smiled that characteristic smile that you would instantly recognize; the smile that brought you here today,
On Monday morning, just before 9 A.M, 44 miles from here, at the Good Samaritan Society Hospice in Ottumwa, Iowa, my good and godly uncle passed into eternity, as Jesus looked at him in love and said something like "I couldn't be prouder of you if you were my own son, ,In fact, you are my son. Enter into the joy prepared for you; Well-done, my good and faithful servant," I dare to believe Jesus said this to my good and godly Uncle Arden Hughes.
So these three quotes from my Uncle Arden--
- "Faith"
- "Upstairs , now all of you!:
- "I couldn't be prouder of you if you were my own son":
--are three random and simple. and simply profound reminders to remember and celebreate his servant heart and always timely words.
Maybe some of you know Arden lived to play "The Farming Game" on Christmas Day.
This is board game, created by a farmer, to simulate ..and I quote the creator "the challenges and difficulties inherent in running a farm."
As I said, he loved to play this on Christmas Day..
...until , as Todd recounted yesterday, "one year the tornadoes destroyed his apple orchard."
Arden had the gift of holy tenacity, ruthless persisiteverance , patience and grace...and that word again, FAITH.
He knew "the challenges and difficulties of running a farm.," And a family. And a life on this imperfect earth.
Some of you farmers have had tornadoes destroy your crops.
But as Arden would argue, that does not ruin your life..
Or your Christmas .
I hear echoes here of the encouraging words of St Paul, in Arden's favorite Book:
"Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this calling ,we do not lose heart.,,'
But we have this treasure in fragile jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. " (2 Corinthians 4)
This is the man we honor, who did that, and encourages us to do the same,
This is also the good and godly man and servant who once insisted on driving the family back through the fast food drive-through , as the cashier had undercharged him...
..wait for it..
..By ten cents!!
Upright, honest, good and godly servant..
He would encourage you to do and be the same.
Some of you do know, or won't be surprised to know, that Arden was of course one of the key people at The Selma Church who insisted that the $25,000 in cash found buried on church property be given away in mission and charity. That's another story for another day; but a story all of you who knew Arden can easily believe.
Ten cents or \twenty five thousand dollars...it all belongs to the Lord.
This is the good and godly man who also did the following, which you may not know,
In the 60s, Arden decided his family would adopt for a summer a young child in an exchange program from of all places.., a place very different from the one you see outside the window here... inner city Chicago.
Imagine a kid from inner city Chicago being immersed in rural southeastern Iowa in the 60s .. shepherded by a farmer who knew "the challenges and difficulties inherent in running a farm. A farmer named Arden Hughes .
And a kid named Mitchell who in a way fit right
in with the other five boys you have heard about.
He didn't usually get mistaken for Arden and Karen's natural son...he was a
bouncy
bouyant
beautiful
black kid.
But Arden and Karen of course took Mitchell in as one of their own,
Wherever Mitchell is to this day, I am guessing he remembers with a gleam in his eye my good and godly Uncle Arden Hughes.
FAITH.
That was one of the last words he said on earth, as you remember.
And it was likely the first word he said in heaven, as I suggested
And what I really and heartfully suggest at this moment, is that if you desire to honor my good and godly uncle l and his long and loyal legacy
I commend faith..
Faith in Jesus that leads to a life of service,'
Return that ten cents, or $25,000.
And remember to remember when we get to the graveside at Iowaville Cemetery, where many of my family have
headstones...as will many of you, by the way. .
Remember:
He is not really there.
Upstairs...all of you,
Those with faith in Jesus, those who have already heard the words that Arden heard on a Monday morning that began 44 miles from here, and ended in a place we can only imagine; words that we find spoken by Jesus in Matthew 25:23; words that I pray resonate and reverberate in your soul as they did so deeply in my good and godly uncle:
=
"Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy prepared....
The joy prepared..
. ...for you,"
