Star Bethlehem Church, Ansonia, CT - Deacon Lonnie Chambers page

Deacon Lonnie Chambers 1927-2006

photo of Deacon Chambers, relaxed and smiling

Friday, we celebrated the homegoing of a man of God - and we had church, y'all! Now, I don't mean to tell you that there was no sadness. There were tears running down Sister Effie's face. Her husband was being laid to rest. The man that she had lived with and loved with was gone. The man with whom she had fisted people, prayed with people, given rides to people - the man with whom she had shown God's love to people was gone. There was sadness among his family. They had gathered from the four corners of the Kingdom: brothers, sisters, a son and daughters, grandchildren, great grandchildren, a whole cloud of witnesses to mourn and mark the departure from this life of this man of God. Yes, there was sadness. Deacon Lonnie Chambers will be missed.

But the sadness was for our loss, not for the man who had left us. There was joy in the House for Deacon Lonnie Chambers. This quiet, soft-spoken missionary man had gone to be with Jesus. His labor was over, his sickness was healed. His witness was his life. Now the One he served has called him home. So, yes, there was also joy in the House. Seemed like his whole family was saved. You could hear in their words, you could feel it in their spirit. So we prayed and we sang and we thanked our God for the life of this man. The spirit of the LORD joined us there as we heard the testimony of the cloud of witnesses he left behind, witnesses whose lives he had touched. So we prayed and we sang and we celebrated the homegoing of this man of God.
We had church, y'all.

As I sit here thinking, my mind and my soul is filled with the words Minister Tasha sang during Praise Service tonight - don't ask me to explain, but it is in my spirit and it is all connected and at four o'clock in the morning I had to get up and record these words:

I am blessed.
I am blessed.
Every day of my living, I am blessed.
When I wake up in the morning, when I lay my head to rest.
I am blessed.
I am blessed.
I am blessed.

Back to 2006 Archive