Needless to say, I am honored to be the
homilist today. Dan and Peyton, thank you for inviting me to do so, and thank
you, Father Duvall, for your graciousness in allowing me this pulpit.
For Christ Church to have this memorial
service here at St. Andrews, Mt. Pleasant is a special blessing for Dan, Alice,
and me. Four pews from the back on the Epistle
side is where my siblings and I got our start on our Christian pilgrimages. On Sundays we were sandwiched between our father
on our right and our mother towering over us on the left. What I remember most vividly about those
early years was how effectively any excessive squirming or inappropriate noise was dealt with by our mother, and this is when I first received some idea of what the "fear of
God" was all about.
I spent much of this past week with my
brother Dan and niece Peyton grieving, enjoying memories, sharing with friends
and family, and hashing over the realities of life that come to the front of
our thoughts at times like this.
Speaking of family, it is quite an
experience to see all my family all lined up, packed in, sitting still,
well-behaved… with little doors to keep them confined… A picture I’ll always remember. That is not how I am used to experiencing my
family.
To all of you here today, you honor Pat
with your presence, and you honor the family.
To Dan, Peyton, Carsten, Marylin, who feel Pat’s absence the most acutely,
our hearts continue to break along with yours.
We all know, however, that our sadness is mixed with celebration, because
we have much to celebrate:
·
We celebrate
Pat’s 77 years among us.
·
We celebrate God
who gave Pat to us for these 77 years.
·
And to celebrate the
rest of Pat’s story, which is her inheritance as a child of God of eternal life
with her Father in heaven.
To be in union with God forever is the
reason God created Pat in the first place. This is God’s desire for Pat before the
beginning of the ages. Pat was created out of love, to be the object of God’s
love, with the divine ability to Love God in return desire even before the ages.
But as the human race, our sin,
rebellion and neglect of God gets in the way of this love-relationship with our
heavenly Father. We are powerless to overcome our fallen human nature, but God
can do for us that we cannot do for ourselves. This is what Jesus the Messiah
is all about.
A few minutes ago in our processional anthem,
Father Ted recited part of Jesus’ conversation with Martha, the sister of Jesus’
friend Lazarus who had died, and Martha is in deep grief, and frankly,
puzzlement, about it all. This story is recoded
in the Gospel of John, chapter 11: Let me read it to you: “23 Jesus said to Martha, ‘Your brother will rise
again.’ 24 Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise
again in the resurrection on the last day.” 25
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection; I am life. Whoever believes in me,
though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes [that is, trust] in me shall never die. Jesus goes on to ask Martha a question, “Do
you believe this, Martha?” She answers, “Yes,
Lord, I believe.” This has been Pat’s answer also. I pray that this is the answer or will be the
answer for all of us here to today.
So,
here is a bedrock fact about our God: He did not create Pat to live 3 score and
10 years, as Psalm 90 puts it, and then simply return to the dust from which she
came, as Genesis 3 puts it. Pat answers Jesus’
question to Martha with a yes, and therefore the curse of Genesis 3 for Pat is
broken. The curse is death and eternal separation
from God, but for Pat, death no longer has the last word in her life, God does.
In the 52 years I have known Pat, ever
since Dan and Pat’s courtship and marriage those many years ago, she has
pursued this of salvific love-relationship with God, and moreover, God has pursued
her, forgiven her, redeemed her, and now, gathered her to himself. We heard a few minutes ago Caroline read from
1 Corinthians 15 these Words, “O death, where is your victory; O death, where
is your sting… thanks be to God who gives us victory through our Lord Jesus
Christ.”
Finally let me say, Pat’s relationship
with her Lord is reflected in her relationships with all of us. I have seen it in her kindness, generosity, servanthood,
hospitality, and sacrificial giving. We
have seen the light of Christ shining through her
So, we have much to celebrate today. Let’s pray: Almighty God, creator and sustainer of
us all, our hearts of full of thankfulness and joy for Pat but be close to us
as we deal with our separation from her, albeit for only for a little while. I pray this for us all, but in particular for
my brother Dan. Continue to cover Dan
and all the family with the richness of your grace bestowing upon all of us
your joy and peace. We pray this in the holy
name of our Lord and redeemer, Jesus Christ. Amen
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