What would Jeff have said?

I was asked to prepare some scripture readings for Jeff Moore's funeral last Saturday, verses from Jeff's perspective of what he'd want people to know and a few things he might have wanted to share. Here's what I came up with...

Moses to Israel

Deuteronomy 6:1-2 This is the commandment, the rules and regulations, that GOD, your God, commanded me to teach you to live out in the land you're about to cross into to possess. This is so that you'll live in deep reverence before GOD lifelong, observing all his rules and regulations that I'm commanding you, you and your children and your grandchildren, living good long lives. 3 Listen obediently, Israel. Do what you're told so that you'll have a good life, a life of abundance and bounty, just as GOD promised, in a land abounding in milk and honey. 4 Attention, Israel! GOD, our God! GOD the one and only! 5 Love GOD, your God, with your whole heart: love him with all that's in you, love him with all you've got! (from "The Message" paraphrase)

Jesus with the religious leaders

Matthew 22:34Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" 37Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' 40All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

The night before Jesus died

John 13:33"My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come. 34"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

John15:9"As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. 11I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. … 17This is my command: Love each other.

John 17:20"…I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: 23I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

Many years later by John, one of Jesus' disciples

1 John 4:7Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

Love God. Love others. It’s real living, full of joy.

Yes it costs, but everything requires some kind of sacrifice – it’s just a question of what you give up in order to get what you want. When you look back on your life, will it be worth it? Love God. Love others.

Or in the immortal words of Bill and Ted: “Be excellent to each other…and party on, dudes!” (This was really in my notes, but there were so many old people there who wouldn't get it I decided to skip it).

We’re here for God and for each other, and for just a short time. Let’s learn to love.

Probably the first of several

You Moved On

You were my fullback, I was your keeper
just a few shots, each game was a sleeper
left `em weeping, waltzing away with the win

Power forwards, rebounding, blocking
on the floorboards, shooting and rocking
to the rhythm of high school hoops with my friend

and on the diamonds all across town
racking runs up and gunning `em down
it was a good year I never wanted to end

you built me up
you cheered me up
then you moved on ahead of me...

a few years later we were at it again
making movies, mixing songs with my friend
so much to learn, so much you already knew

you were patient, willing to teach
never cutting or trying to preach
you were a hero though I wasn't aware of the truth

you built me up
you cheered me up
then you moved on ahead of me...

decades passed...
children grew...
then your dad moved on ahead of you...

then you came back larger than life
same old humor - sharp as a knife -
a deeper faith, anchored in something secure

oh, how you helped out - late in the night
pushing, prodding, getting it right
trying to fashion something that just might endure

you built me up
you cheered me up
then you moved on ahead of me...

this time you can't return
but there's one thing I've learned
you moved on to lead the way for me.

c. 11/18/2009 by Bob Young

Jeff Moore, 1960-2009

He introduced me to Steve Martin's comedy on the soccer field when I was 16. He told me what Mensa was (and he was a member). He showed me how to listen to a song one instrument at a time so I could learn to then hear the whole mix. He had an uncanny ear to point out the slightest buzz, pop, blip, or other artifact. He had the most amazing stories (most of them probably true) about meeting Rev. Al Green, Marc Cohn, and about his dear friend Darrell becoming friends with Jerry Reed. His smarts and speed (in spite of his size) enabled our soccer team to only use two fullbacks, and teams could go an entire half getting maybe one shot on goal. He had the ability to size people up and keep them honest with humorous little zingers that never became malicious. I don't think I ever saw him angry. He had an amazing singing voice, but was far more comfortable behind a mixing console. He taught me how to use head voice instead of falsetto. He was a very good record producer, patiently pointing out what could be better, and always keeping in mind the goals of the band, the capabilities of the musician, and the possibilities of the song. He helped produce my first recording, the one that got my dad to lay down $5000 on a home studio to get me started. He could be trusted with the most embarrassing details. I'll ignore the video production company we started - not every venture pans out. I'd only once gotten so drunk that I couldn't remember what I did or said (just before I met my future wife after a high school basketball game); it was on the way to his house for a party, and he was kind enough to remember what I said and did and recall it for me over the years. My buddy Tom and I visited him in the hospital a few weeks back when he first got sick. I called, emailed, and texted him a few times since. I heard he got out of the hospital and had to go back in because the breathing was just too difficult. I didn't sleep well tonight, and got up at 3am only to find out from a friend that he had gone to meet his father and his Heavenly Father. He was gentle and strong, care-free and careful, fun and funny. He was my friend and I'll miss him very much.