The Funeral Sermon For Leona Kleaving Psalm 23
Series: Lutheran Funeral Sermons
June 12, 2025
Rev. Nathan J. Rusert
Leona Kleaving Obituary Leona Ruth Kleaving, 100, of Tell City passed away peacefully at the Heartford House, surrounded by her family, on Saturday, June 7, 2025. She was born February 25, 1925, in Spencer County, IN, daughter of the late Charles and Anna (Bauer) Huebschman. Leona graduated from Troy High School in 1943 and then spent the next 9 years working at General Electric as a solderer. She was united in marriage to Alva P. Kleaving on April 7, 1951, and they shared 56 years together before his passing in 2008. Leona lived the life of a farmer's wife for many years where she enjoyed gardening, taking care of her flowers, sewing, and canning. She liked to play euchre and was still playing until about a year ago. Leona was well known for baking pies and her delicious cinnamon rolls. She was a member of the Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Tell City. Leona is survived by her 3 children, Kathy (TO) O'Bryan of Owensboro, KY, Wayne (Donna) Kleaving, and Tina (Rob) Gladish, both of Tell City; six grandchildren, David Coakley of Owensboro, Kevin Coakley of Owensboro, Travis Kleaving of Tell City, Rachel (Chris) Roark of Tell City, Kari (Steven) Byers of Mariah Hill, Joseph Gladish of Tell City; 4 great-grandchildren, Shelby Coakley, Breckin and Brennon East, and Beck Byers; a sister, Marcella Slack, Ft. Worth, TX; as well as several nieces and nephews. In addition to her parents and husband, Leona was preceded in death by her sisters, Selma Lorenz, and Mildred Mulzer, and her brothers, Werner, Harry, Robert, and Clarence Huebschman. Funeral services will be Thursday at 10:00am June 12, 2025, at Emmanuel Lutheran Church, with burial to follow in Greenwood Cemetery. In lieu of flowers memorial contributions may be made to St. Jude Children's Hospital or Riley Children's Hospital. Condolences may be left at zoercher-gillickfuneralhome.com
Episode Notes
The Funeral Sermon For Leona Kleaving 12-June-2025 by Rev. Nathan J. Rusert
Sermon Text: Psalm 23:1-6 A Psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. (2) He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. (3) He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name's sake. (4) Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. (5) You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over. (6) Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the LORD Forever.
Sermon Theme: Safe In Our Savior’s Loving Arms!
I.N.R.I. Jos 23:14 "Behold, this day I am going the way of all the earth. And you know in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one thing has failed of all the good things which the LORD your God spoke concerning you. All have come to pass for you; not one word of them has failed.” 110 year old Joshua was on his death bed. Before he breathed his last he wanted his children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren to again hear God’s faithful promise in Christ Jesus.
A week ago on Monday many of you gathered around Leona’s hospital bed in Owensboro. She knew death was drawing near, but she rejoiced to see her family at her bedside. Like Joshua of old, she’d want you to hear God’s faithful promise in Christ Jesus. She’d want you to fix your eyes upon Him alone. As God the Holy Spirit teaches us of our life in Christ’s Church: Heb 12:1-2 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, (2) looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. This past week and a half as Leona’s body failed her, her Good Shepherd Jesus was with her always in His Word and Sacraments. Learn well, dear Christians, that whether we live or die we are: “Safe In Our Savior’s Loving Arms!”
Psa 23:1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. The aged King David reflected back upon his life. He had grown up shepherding his father’s herd. The Lord God had called him to shepherd His children as king. David now humbly confesses Jesus alone is the True Shepherd, the Author, Preserver, and Finisher of saving Faith.
Learn the Truth. Sheep don’t choose their shepherd, the shepherd chooses, buys, provides, and protects the sheep of his flock. Leona’s parents knew the truth of sin’s corruption of their newborn baby daughter. David’s confession was true of her, as all of us born of a human father and mother, Psa 51:5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me. The Spirit of Truth teaches the truth of humanity’s core problem through the pen of St. Paul, Rom 5:12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned—”
Leona’s parents knew that their precious newborn daughter could not find or decide to follow Jesus. So they brought her to Him within His Church in holy baptism at St. John’s Lutheran Church, Evanston. God the Father chose Leona from eternity in Christ Jesus to be His own reborn by the Holy Spirit through water and the Word. Jesus her Lord called her by name in baptism. Hear His promise to you, Joh 10:27-29 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. (28) And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. (29) My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand.”
Jesus is my Shepherd, I shall not want. Our God cares for our body and soul. He became our Brother by the power of the Holy Spirit through the womb of the Virgin Mary. He did it to redeem us. To lead us from Satan to God, from death to life, from condemnation to salvation, from hell to heaven. Look only to Him! Psa 23:2 He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters.
Our Good Shepherd continued to lead and feed His precious little lamb Leona. Her parents fed her Christ’s Word at home. They brought their children to church every Sunday to hear the voice of their Good Shepherd as He fed them by the Holy Spirit in His Word preached. She grew to know and follow her Shepherd at St. John’s school. As a young teenager she confessed the Faith given her and holy baptism and preserved through the green pastures of God’s living Word.
Even though the world was being torn apart by economic depression and the rising threat of another world war - Jesus gave them peace. The still waters of life sustaining forgiveness give us peace - even today in a world filled with the same uncertainties. Psa 23:3 He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name's sake.
Last Tuesday, Leona, confessed that she too was a poor miserable sinner, who deserved nothing but God’s temporal and eternal punishment. We rejoice at the gift of a loving mother, grandmother, great grandmother, aunt, and sister in Christ. Leona knew the truth - she was a great sinner. At her bedside she heard the voice of her Good Shepherd speaking victorious Easter words of absolution, ‘I forgive you all your sins!” Again the Holy Spirit restored her soul through our Crucified and Risen Shepherd.
The Lord leads us in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. From little we learn from our Good Shepherd to hear our Heavenly Father’s tender invitation to call upon Him in every need with boldness and confidence as dear children ask their dear father. The Lord answered her prayer for daily bread. He blessed her with a loving Christian husband, the blessing of three children, and the years to see her children’s children.
Our Good Shepherd isn’t a hireling. Jesus assures you, Joh 10:11-18 "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. (12) But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. (13) The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep. (14) I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. (15) As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. (16) And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd. (17) "Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. (18) No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father." We learn from David to sing this blessed reality, “Psa 23:4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
Is isn’t when we turn 80, 90, or above that we walk in the dark shadow land of death. Our sin, inherited from Adam, has turned our entire life from conception to natural death - into a journey through death. We don’t walk alone! Our God, our Lord, Jesus is Emmanuel - God with Us! He is our Brother - He walks with us the God/Man never to leave us or forsake us. When we feel alone - He is by our side to comfort us with His rod to defend us, and His staff to rescue us. When we stray - He again seeks us out calling us by name to come Home to His stronghold - His local Christian congregation!
Leona rejoiced to farm with her husband Alva by her side for 56 years. Our Good Shepherd, Jesus, strengthened her as his health failed and he breathed his last. He was with her as she mourned for the loss of her family. He consoled her through family illnesses. The same Jesus is walking with you through the valley of grief and sadness. He knows your tears. You can cry out to Him - He hears - He calls you to His side: Psa 23:5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over.
The mighty fortress of our God is present where two or three gather to hear Jesus’ Word and receive His cross won empty tomb certified gifts of forgiveness, life, and salvation. Last Tuesday afternoon, Leona heard the voice of our Good Shepherd, “Take eat, this is My Body, given for you! Take drink, this is My Blood, of the New Testament, shed for you - you are forgiven!” Receiving His living body and blood in bread and wine with the mouth of her body - Jesus assured her and us - He had redeemed her body and soul. His cup ran over with His eternal life - she received Him in a supernatural and unexplainable way as a pledge and assurance of the resurrection of her body from the dead.
As you grieve and miss Leona, come into the Good Shepherd’s fortress. Here at His table - He reunites you with angels, and archangels, and all the company of heaven - the Church on earth and the Church in heaven are reunited at His table.
Cling to our Good Shepherd. Psa 23:6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the LORD Forever.
It is Jesus, our Good Shepherd who continues to chase us with His goodness and mercy. We fall. We sin. He finds us in our lostness. Washes us forgiven in His blood. Renews us by the Holy Spirit in His Word preach, read, and studies. Pray. He continues to chase you with His goodness and mercy. Leona daily was chased by Jesus as she read her daily devotions and prayed. Every Sunday she laid out her hymnal and the bulletin to follow Emmanuel’s webcast of the Divine Service.
He chased her with His goodness and mercy, even in hospice care - speaking His Word and calling her Home to His side. Saturday morning, Our Good Shepherd said to her, “Leona, you’re tired, My Home is close - come Home with me!” Breathing her last the Lord’s Holy angels brought her home to await the grand family reunion of all Christians on the Last Day.
A good farmer knows that the seed you plant looks nothing like the new life that springs from the earth. The Spirit of Life teaches, 1Co 15:42-49 So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. (43) It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. (44) It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. (45) And so it is written, "THE FIRST MAN ADAM BECAME A LIVING BEING." The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. (46) However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual. (47) The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven. (48) As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly. (49) And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man.” Today we say, “Good night, Leona!” Then we will take her body to plant in God’s garden - awaiting the eternal harvest day! For we shall dwell in the House of the Lord forever! Amen.
Sermon Text: Psalm 23:1-6 A Psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. (2) He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. (3) He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name's sake. (4) Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. (5) You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over. (6) Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the LORD Forever.
Sermon Theme: Safe In Our Savior’s Loving Arms!
I.N.R.I. Jos 23:14 "Behold, this day I am going the way of all the earth. And you know in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one thing has failed of all the good things which the LORD your God spoke concerning you. All have come to pass for you; not one word of them has failed.” 110 year old Joshua was on his death bed. Before he breathed his last he wanted his children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren to again hear God’s faithful promise in Christ Jesus.
A week ago on Monday many of you gathered around Leona’s hospital bed in Owensboro. She knew death was drawing near, but she rejoiced to see her family at her bedside. Like Joshua of old, she’d want you to hear God’s faithful promise in Christ Jesus. She’d want you to fix your eyes upon Him alone. As God the Holy Spirit teaches us of our life in Christ’s Church: Heb 12:1-2 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, (2) looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. This past week and a half as Leona’s body failed her, her Good Shepherd Jesus was with her always in His Word and Sacraments. Learn well, dear Christians, that whether we live or die we are: “Safe In Our Savior’s Loving Arms!”
Psa 23:1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. The aged King David reflected back upon his life. He had grown up shepherding his father’s herd. The Lord God had called him to shepherd His children as king. David now humbly confesses Jesus alone is the True Shepherd, the Author, Preserver, and Finisher of saving Faith.
Learn the Truth. Sheep don’t choose their shepherd, the shepherd chooses, buys, provides, and protects the sheep of his flock. Leona’s parents knew the truth of sin’s corruption of their newborn baby daughter. David’s confession was true of her, as all of us born of a human father and mother, Psa 51:5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me. The Spirit of Truth teaches the truth of humanity’s core problem through the pen of St. Paul, Rom 5:12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned—”
Leona’s parents knew that their precious newborn daughter could not find or decide to follow Jesus. So they brought her to Him within His Church in holy baptism at St. John’s Lutheran Church, Evanston. God the Father chose Leona from eternity in Christ Jesus to be His own reborn by the Holy Spirit through water and the Word. Jesus her Lord called her by name in baptism. Hear His promise to you, Joh 10:27-29 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. (28) And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. (29) My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand.”
Jesus is my Shepherd, I shall not want. Our God cares for our body and soul. He became our Brother by the power of the Holy Spirit through the womb of the Virgin Mary. He did it to redeem us. To lead us from Satan to God, from death to life, from condemnation to salvation, from hell to heaven. Look only to Him! Psa 23:2 He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters.
Our Good Shepherd continued to lead and feed His precious little lamb Leona. Her parents fed her Christ’s Word at home. They brought their children to church every Sunday to hear the voice of their Good Shepherd as He fed them by the Holy Spirit in His Word preached. She grew to know and follow her Shepherd at St. John’s school. As a young teenager she confessed the Faith given her and holy baptism and preserved through the green pastures of God’s living Word.
Even though the world was being torn apart by economic depression and the rising threat of another world war - Jesus gave them peace. The still waters of life sustaining forgiveness give us peace - even today in a world filled with the same uncertainties. Psa 23:3 He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name's sake.
Last Tuesday, Leona, confessed that she too was a poor miserable sinner, who deserved nothing but God’s temporal and eternal punishment. We rejoice at the gift of a loving mother, grandmother, great grandmother, aunt, and sister in Christ. Leona knew the truth - she was a great sinner. At her bedside she heard the voice of her Good Shepherd speaking victorious Easter words of absolution, ‘I forgive you all your sins!” Again the Holy Spirit restored her soul through our Crucified and Risen Shepherd.
The Lord leads us in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. From little we learn from our Good Shepherd to hear our Heavenly Father’s tender invitation to call upon Him in every need with boldness and confidence as dear children ask their dear father. The Lord answered her prayer for daily bread. He blessed her with a loving Christian husband, the blessing of three children, and the years to see her children’s children.
Our Good Shepherd isn’t a hireling. Jesus assures you, Joh 10:11-18 "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. (12) But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. (13) The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep. (14) I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. (15) As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. (16) And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd. (17) "Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. (18) No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father." We learn from David to sing this blessed reality, “Psa 23:4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
Is isn’t when we turn 80, 90, or above that we walk in the dark shadow land of death. Our sin, inherited from Adam, has turned our entire life from conception to natural death - into a journey through death. We don’t walk alone! Our God, our Lord, Jesus is Emmanuel - God with Us! He is our Brother - He walks with us the God/Man never to leave us or forsake us. When we feel alone - He is by our side to comfort us with His rod to defend us, and His staff to rescue us. When we stray - He again seeks us out calling us by name to come Home to His stronghold - His local Christian congregation!
Leona rejoiced to farm with her husband Alva by her side for 56 years. Our Good Shepherd, Jesus, strengthened her as his health failed and he breathed his last. He was with her as she mourned for the loss of her family. He consoled her through family illnesses. The same Jesus is walking with you through the valley of grief and sadness. He knows your tears. You can cry out to Him - He hears - He calls you to His side: Psa 23:5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over.
The mighty fortress of our God is present where two or three gather to hear Jesus’ Word and receive His cross won empty tomb certified gifts of forgiveness, life, and salvation. Last Tuesday afternoon, Leona heard the voice of our Good Shepherd, “Take eat, this is My Body, given for you! Take drink, this is My Blood, of the New Testament, shed for you - you are forgiven!” Receiving His living body and blood in bread and wine with the mouth of her body - Jesus assured her and us - He had redeemed her body and soul. His cup ran over with His eternal life - she received Him in a supernatural and unexplainable way as a pledge and assurance of the resurrection of her body from the dead.
As you grieve and miss Leona, come into the Good Shepherd’s fortress. Here at His table - He reunites you with angels, and archangels, and all the company of heaven - the Church on earth and the Church in heaven are reunited at His table.
Cling to our Good Shepherd. Psa 23:6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the LORD Forever.
It is Jesus, our Good Shepherd who continues to chase us with His goodness and mercy. We fall. We sin. He finds us in our lostness. Washes us forgiven in His blood. Renews us by the Holy Spirit in His Word preach, read, and studies. Pray. He continues to chase you with His goodness and mercy. Leona daily was chased by Jesus as she read her daily devotions and prayed. Every Sunday she laid out her hymnal and the bulletin to follow Emmanuel’s webcast of the Divine Service.
He chased her with His goodness and mercy, even in hospice care - speaking His Word and calling her Home to His side. Saturday morning, Our Good Shepherd said to her, “Leona, you’re tired, My Home is close - come Home with me!” Breathing her last the Lord’s Holy angels brought her home to await the grand family reunion of all Christians on the Last Day.
A good farmer knows that the seed you plant looks nothing like the new life that springs from the earth. The Spirit of Life teaches, 1Co 15:42-49 So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. (43) It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. (44) It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. (45) And so it is written, "THE FIRST MAN ADAM BECAME A LIVING BEING." The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. (46) However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual. (47) The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven. (48) As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly. (49) And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man.” Today we say, “Good night, Leona!” Then we will take her body to plant in God’s garden - awaiting the eternal harvest day! For we shall dwell in the House of the Lord forever! Amen.
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