10AM "Celebrating The Life of Ms Anita Carmella Baker" Friday, September 20, 2024

29:47 and if you feel safe, I invite you to even hold the neighbor's hand beside you or put your hand on their shoulder. We just sometimes need to fill each other. God, we thank you for this day and we thank you that even as we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, you've promised to be with us. we lift this family to you and ask that you would comfort them we lift these friends to you and ask that you would comfort them we lift our broken city to you and ask that you would comfort all of us lord this is a unnecessary tragedy none of us should be here today but since we are here we will lift up our eyes knowing that our help still comes from you help us process this death help us to not waste our lives because we don't know when you're gonna allow us to be called home so even in this moment lord to the neighbor whom i'm touching my brother my sister give them peace give them strength for the days ahead in the name of jesus we pray let everybody say amen amen now this is what i want you to do can we turn up and thank god for a real one come on let's thank god for a needer come on need me i'm this mother this sister this friend i think we can do better than that i think we can do better than that come on what a princess What a queen.

31:36 The epitome of black girl magic. Thank you. You may be seated. I'm talking about good looking. Face beat. Eyebrows on fleek. Edges laid. And although she was beautiful on the outside, the truth is we all know she was even more beautiful on the inside. And that's why this church is full on a Friday. I want to thank Pastor Pope for officiating. I want to thank our deacons and our ministers and our bereavement team led by Ms. Rena Bowman. Help me thank God for fellowship being present today. Thank you, fellowship. Thank you. Thank you, Pastor Vassar, who led us. Help me thank God for his ministry of music and our band today. Thank you for blessing us and our media team and all of you. I want you to pause for a moment and just lend me your attention for just a few minutes.

32:35 And I promise you, I'm not that preacher who's going to tell you I'm just going to be a few minutes and I'm going to be up here 30 minutes. I really will be just a few minutes. I want to talk today about the Anita analysis. The Anita analysis. Say that with me. The Anita analysis. You know, death is a professor. And if you are willing to listen, death is always teaching something. And when I look at this young lady who has prematurely and unnecessarily lost her life, I still see some lessons in her death. and if we would just pause to look at her life and even sit with the pain that we feel in how she's passed we can all lean into what i want to call today the anita analysis we we we need to analyze some things about her life we need to analyze some things even about her passing and the first thing that ought to happen in this anita analysis is number one we all need to respond let the church say respond saint augustine says that hope has two beautiful daughters that's anger and courage when a person is filled with hope hope has two beautiful daughters anger and courage you ought to be angry about some things in this world you ought to be angry today about how she passed it ought to make you angry that black lives don't matter to all black people it ought to make you angry that we're here burying now a 35 year old prematurely snatched away from her family it ought to make you angry but that's just one of the daughters of hope there's another daughter called courage you ought to be angry at the way things are but we ought to all have the courage and develop the courage to change things so they won't continue to be the way they are we ought to respond

34:44 to this brothers and sisters we've got to find a better way to deal with our anger we have to respond to this brothers and sisters we got to find a better way than than reaching for a gun every time we have a disagreement and it's quiet for a reason i'm not going to get too many amens right through here but the truth is a lot of us we are our own worst enemies what happens when your enemy is your inner me we ought to respond to this death in a way where we say enough is enough as it was read in the resolution we ought to respond to this death in a way where we cherish each other better than this where we cover each other better than this where we realize that we should not be sitting here today burying another young person unnecessarily and my question to you is how will you respond to this what will you do in your own life when you see drama and mess and foolishness will you be able to have a peaceful response are you a peacemaker what is your response when two people are at odds what is your response are you the one that comes in the middle and says y'all let's work this thing out in a peaceful way let's not continue uh to have a disagreement and whatever the drama is god could literally use you to bring peace and calm and ease to your family and your community what will be our response to this but in this anita analysis you ought not just respond but you ought to reflect because ben franklin says this some people die at 25 and they're not buried until 75 did you hear what i just said some people stop living way before they stop living and you don't have to live a long life to live a good life what anita has taught us today with her spirit and her swag and her sacrificial beauty of giving and generous heart. She taught us you don't have to live a long life to live a strong life.

36:54 I wish I had two witnesses. It is not about the quantity of your days. It is about the quality of your days because there are a lot of old fools too. And you can be young and wise, young and focused, young and live a meaningful life. I'm so glad that you don't have to live long to live well. It is about the quality of your days and not the quantity. Thank you, Anita, for showing us that you can really make an impact even at 35 years old. It's proof all over history because Martin Luther King Jr. was only 39 and Malcolm X was only 39. Rich Homie Kwan was only 34. Tupac was only 25. Biggie was only 25. Alexander the Great was only 33. Jesus Christ was only 33 I'm only 33 years old as the pastor You don't have to live a long life To make a difference in this world I wish I could talk to some young people Who know I'm great right now In my 20s I'm great As a teenager I'm great I don't have to wait to get old to be great I'm great right now And you ought to live so well That you say like Kendrick Lamar They not like us Oh yeah we focus now We're making our money now.

38:17 And listen, and we can make money in a way where we don't have to look over our shoulders and wonder, is somebody coming to get us? You know what I'm talking about because some of us get in things that we have no business being in. And when somebody asks you, what do you do? You say, I'm in pharmaceutical sales. Well, there are other professions other than pharmaceutical sales where you can have a value and feel worthy and make your money in a just way. preach sharp. I'm doing the best I can. I know you might have an OnlyFans page, but it's okay to be only a follower of Christ too.

38:56 There's other ways to do this where you can keep your dignity and your pride. And in this Anita analysis, we got to respond to this somehow. We ought to reflect on our own lives. But then lastly and finally, there's some reassurance. Somebody say there's some reassurance. Sharp, you mean to tell me there's some reassurance let me tell you this lean up lean up it's just between me and you y'all didn't lean up lean up let me tell you something when you got jesus you don't go from life to death you go from life to life because when you accept jesus christ as the head of your life you get new life abundant life and one day you get eternal life because john 3 16 put it like this for god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. I'm so glad Anita, because she knew Jesus.

39:58 I'm so glad that about 250 of us in this room can thank God right now that whatever happens, however I leave, I got something else on the other side of this. I got a crown on the other side, a mansion on the other side, rest on the other side. Does anybody want to help me thank God that it don't end in Chicago? It ends on some golden streets when we all get to heaven. And so the very name Anita is a derivative of the name Anna. And that name Anna means grace. Anita's name means grace. And may her life, her grace. and may God's grace hold you until we all meet on the other shore. Let's turn up for our sister Aniba.