Lisa C. Pemberton 1964-2011
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| Lisa C. Pemberton |
Obituary
On Wednesday November 23rd,
2011 at 2:27 pm, at Brooklyn Hospital in Brooklyn, New York,
Lisa Christine Pemberton entered into the presence of the Lord.
Lisa joined the Kings County (Brooklyn) District Attorney’s
Office in 1986, rising to a supervisory paralegal position, and was employed
there until her passing.
Lisa loved to laugh and make jokes, and it was always a
joyous occasion when she was around. She was also a gifted singer with a
beautiful voice. She sang throughout her life, in various choirs and ensembles,
often as a soloist.
Lisa was born again and was baptized into the fellowship of
the Sixth Avenue Baptist Church in Brooklyn, NY, as a child. She remained a
member of that fellowship for decades, serving in many capacities including as
a Trustee, Sunday School teacher, Church Treasurer, and Worship Leader. In
later years, she worshiped at Calvary Baptist Church in Manhattan and The
Repairer's Fellowship.
She worked at Sunshine Acres Camp as a young adult, and
remained a strong supporter of that ministry for the rest of her life.
Throughout her life, Lisa had a great and ever growing faith
and love for God, which was clear to everyone who knew her.
Lisa leaves to cherish her loving memory her daughter
Nicole, her brothers, Reuben (Buddy), Patrick, and Paul, sisters in law
Christine and Mary, nephew PJ, aunts Constance and Madeline, uncle Cyril, first
cousins Sharon, Laura, Tod, Camille, Craig, best friends Maria, Elsie, and
Veronica (aka the Fresca Squad), her church family, wonderful and always
supportive DA’s Office Colleagues, loving relatives and a host of friends too
numerous to mention.
Smile, you know who you are…
Psalm 139 (HCSB)
LORD,
You have searched me and known me. You
know when I sit down and when I stand up; You understand my thoughts from far
away. You
observe my travels and my rest; You are aware of all my ways. Before
a word is on my tongue, You know all about it, LORD.
You
have encircled me; You have placed Your hand on me.
This extraordinary knowledge is beyond me. It is lofty; I am unable to reach
it. Where can I go to escape Your
Spirit? Where can I flee from Your presence? If I go up to heaven, You are
there; if I make my bed in Sheol, You are there. If I live at the eastern horizon
or settle at the western limits, even there Your hand will lead me; Your right
hand will hold on to me.
If
I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me, and the light around me will be night.”
Even
the darkness is not dark to You. The night shines like the day; darkness and
light are alike to You.
For it was You who created my inward
parts; You knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I will praise You because I have been remarkably and wonderfully made. Your
works are wonderful, and I know this very well. My bones were not hidden from You
when I was made in secret, when I was formed in the depths of the earth. Your
eyes saw me when I was formless; all my days were written in Your book and
planned before a single one of them began.
God,
how difficult Your thoughts are for me to comprehend; how vast their sum is!
If
I counted them, they would outnumber the grains of sand; when I wake up, I am
still with You.
Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my concerns. See if there is any offensive way in me; lead me
in the everlasting way.
The following is the text of the eulogy for my cousin Lisa as I had originally prepared to deliver it . At the service, it was about 90% verbatim from the following text:
Like many of you, I am standing here with a weight in my chest,
and a tear in my eye. Part of me really
did not want to do this, in fact when Buddy first asked me, I offered up an
excuse… But then Lisa made me an offer I couldn’t refuse, better yet, she gave
me instructions… and here I am.
Why do I say that? Well on Sunday October 30th, Lisa called
everyone together and announced that she was ready to go home.
She was not
afraid, nor was she ‘resigned’ to her fate,
She was at peace, quite clear about
it, and quite ready. She said to me, (in the midst of giving me her instructions)
‘I want to just close my eyes, and go to sleep, and wake up in the arms of
Jesus’.
Last Wednesday, she got her desire. Glory to God.
For those of us who are believers, we live at times like this in
the paradox of grief and joy. We have
Joy in the knowledge and assurance that we will see our loved one again and the
fact that they are with the Father is a comfort even amidst the pain of
immediate loss.
In this we see the truth of the word of God, in that we do not
grieve as them that have no hope for indeed because of Christ we will see our
loved ones who have died in Him again. The truth of Psalm 116:15 is my comfort today...Precious
in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.
However without Christ we will never see them again. Ever…
When it comes to death, there is no if, there is only when, and
there is never ‘too soon’. There is not a moment too soon. The Bible is clear
on that. As we just heard it read, and we read the words ourselves:
I will praise You because I have been
remarkably and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful, and I know this very
well. My bones were not hidden from You
when I was made in secret, when I was formed in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw me when I was formless; all my
days were written in Your book and planned before a single one of them began.
So,
the number is already written, The onus is then on us to
control what we can.
What can we control? The quality of our days, the way
that they are lived, what we do with our days, how our time is spent, and with
whom…
How we Live, How we Love, these are the
things that are within our control, and they are the true measure of who we are
as people.
We used to sing a song as kids, ‘We are one
in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord’ Remember that? It is a song taken from
Jesus’ statement to his disciples, as recorded in the gospel of John. He said
to them
“I give you a new command: Love one
another. Just as I have loved you, you must also love one another. By this all
people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
This is the mark, this is what identifies us as Christ’s
disciples.
Our ability to LOVE one another.
In an age and culture that seeks to define Christians and
Christianity by a vast number of criteria: from doctrine to denomination, to
dogma: From practices and public pronouncements, even to political
affiliation, we need to see how Jesus
defines us. Simply, Our ability to
LOVE one another.
But this is a two way enterprise. One of the things that we do
not seem to realize beloved, is that the ability to RECEIVE LOVE is as
important as the ability to GIVE love. You
cannot LOVE on your own terms. You cannot set the parameters and
acceptability of Love.
You cannot love only when and whom you find it advantageous
to…
That said, You cannot truly love others until you Love yourself,
and you cannot love yourself, until you Love God, and you cannot Love God until
you are born again, and He places that ability and desire within you, by
replacing your heart of stone with a heart of flesh…
You cannot be born again until you understand the cross, and..
You never really
understand the cross until the truth of it takes your breath away and it
becomes the most important thing in your life,
and even then, you’re at a loss…
Your sin, for His Mercy …
Your depravity and wickedness, for His Love and forgiveness…
Your brokenness, and pain for His Peace and reconciliation…
Such an uneven exchange…
It is
only when you come to understand this, that His Grace truly becomes ‘Amazing’
There are those of you in this room tonight, who believe and announce that you are Christians, but
when it comes to your relationship with the Lord, you do not participate fully,
as though your life in Christ is a coat, a garment to be shed when the weather
changes, and not the core of your very existence. It is that same shallow
self-serving religion that I knew so well… That I practiced so well…
But God is not a convenience; your brothers and sisters are not
a convenience.
God is all, and your brethren are
priority. When asked quite directly what
was the greatest commandment, Jesus was succinct. He said that it is that we
should Love The Lord Our God with ALL Heart, Soul, mind, and strength
That is an all encompassing Love. Physical, Emotional and
Spiritual.
It is complete.
You can't love partially. It is not Love. If your words and your actions don't match, if your actions are loving, but your heart isn't in it, If your words are loving, but your actions aren't... It's incomplete. It's not Love...
But that was not all, He commanded that we
love our neighbor as ourselves…
Yes, Sometimes it is
messy, and sometimes it hurts (like right now). Sometimes it is scary, it is
rarely easy, and sometimes, (like right now) it is not fun at all…
But it is not a suggestion, it is a command, that you should
love the Lord your God with All your heart, Your mind, your soul and strength,
and Love your neighbor as yourself…
This is how we must live. This is what we must understand.
This is what we MUST do.
When we live this way, when
we LOVE this way, there are no
regrets, no ‘what if’s’, no ‘shoulda-woulda-couldas’, no ‘if onlys’ , because you do all you
can, and then you DO ALL YOU CAN.
You do all you can, and then you DO ALL YOU
CAN.
To the family, MY family. I offer only this: REACH
OUT, and HOLD ON
In this room right now are sources of support and comfort for
you, as you navigate the coming days... As we continue adjusting to the
realities of life without Lisa...
There are some of you here who are able to remember such a time.
I cannot, for as long as I can remember, I’ve had my cousin Lisa. But I take
comfort tonight, even in the midst of the tears that because of Jesus Christ,
our time of separation will be relatively short, when measured against the fact
that we will be together in Glory for the rest of God’s Life...
We will be together in Glory for the rest of God’s Life...
Glory to His
name!
So I say to you first, REACH OUT, do
not be embarrassed. Do not be ashamed. Do not think that you have to ‘Be
strong’, or ‘Handle it’, or worst of all, ‘suffer in silence’.
This is a stupid, unrealistic, destructive, unbiblical and
unwise mindset to have.
We
are social beings, created in the image of a social being. It
is by design that we reach out to one another. Indeed we must in order to
survive.
So make use of those whom you can trust, be vulnerable with,
share your heart.
If there is no one, perhaps it is time for a change in the way
that you are thinking, and in the way that you are living...
Scripture says that you have an enemy who goes about like a roaring
lion seeking whom he may devour, but as everyone knows, hunters seek out those
that have become separated from the herd. They are the easiest prey... So stay
close, because there are those of us who can and will be strong for you when
you are weak. So REACH OUT!
Second, and finally, I say HOLD
ON
Hold On to the rich collection of memories and experiences, Hold
on to Lisa’s smile, her laugh, her wit, her strength, her courage, her LOVE.
The time for regret is past, what’s done is done, and cannot be
undone. The time for reconciliation and healing is now... Let us use our
energies not to dwell on the past, but to apply to making right now all that it
can be.
Family, HOLD ON to one another.
I say
this especially to the Pemberton men...
You three who I love and admire so much, for the wonderful
things that I see in you, and the rich contributions that each of you have made
in my life...
Hold
on to
the good memories, let go of the bad ones, Hold
on to one another, and HOLD ON
to the LORD. You will be better for it,
and so will your wives and your children.
…and the peace of God which passes all understanding, will guard
your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Amen...
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