[Propertalk] Funeral homily

Sat May 21 02:09:26 EDT 2016

Loved it, Bob!

Hobbes replied, “Well, you still have afternoons and weekends.” Calvin rejoined, “That’s when I watch TV.” 3
If the deacon is not preaching Trinity Sunday, then one must be the curate! ;)
Our deacon is surely going to enjoy not preaching Sunday!
Peace and blessings,
Joe

-----Original Message-----
From: Robert P Morrison <robertpmorrison at charter.net>
To: 'propertalk at stsams.org' <propertalk at stsams.org>
Sent: Fri, May 20, 2016 6:44 pm
Subject: [Propertalk] Funeral homily

Inasmuch as it may interest you -

I don't preach this Sunday, our Deacon gets to play with the Trinity! I have the "second part" of the funeral homily tomorrow morning, however. The man who died - Paul - has a nephew who's a pastor in a community church in Washington State, so he's going take the first part of the homily to talk about Paul's life, and then I'll add this, based on the readings and the six years in which I knew Paul.

Happy weekend!

Bob

A MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR PAUL D MINSHALL
THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF ST. ALBAN, ALBANY                                                         21st MAY, 2016
ISAIAH 25:6-9                                                                                                                          PSALM 23
1 CORINTHIANS 15:20-26, 35-38, 42-44, 53-58
JOHN 6:37-40

            What does it mean to be alive? Pastor Rob gave us a pretty good picture of what life was about for Paul.
            A poet wrote,
                        You start dying slowly
                        if you do not travel,
                        if you do not read,
                        if you do not listen to the sounds of life,
                        if you do not appreciate yourself. 1
            This sounds as if it could have been written for or about Paul. He really enjoyed travelling, whether literally, or figuratively, in his mind, taking in thoughts about different locations from the comfort of an arm chair. And if there’s one thing he missed out on doing, it would have been another visit to Alaska to visit great grandchildren. But then, Paul knew that there were some things that one never gets around to doing. That’s what the prophet Isaiah tried to get across to his listeners. That’s what lay behind Paul’s comments to the early Christians in Corinth. Life isn’t necessarily fair. In fact, it’s filled with difficulty; it’s filled with disappointments; it’s filled with things which frustrate us and make us angry. Neither the prophet nor the apostle want us to think otherwise. They know that tears, that cries of pain and irritation, that anger will all be a part of our lives. If this were not so, then the prophet would have no need to say that “God will wipe away the tears from every face,”
            We know that Paul – Paul Minshall, not Paul the apostle – was very frustrated by the fact that nothing more could be done for his deteriorating eyesight. We know that he was frustrated by the fact that he was moving a bit slower. Yet, while Paul didn’t appreciate what was going on in this part of his physical life, we know from his attendance faithfully at Church, from his participation in the life of the congregation, that, somehow, Paul was able to reconcile himself to this part of aging. Just like the rest of us, he was aware that change was part of life, especially in the life of a follower of Jesus. We’re all asked to deal with this as a part of our daily routines. Yes, Paul believed that he was accompanied by God in whatever he was doing. He expressed this both verbally and in writing. But while he accepted this in faith, he knew that that didn’t mean there would be no questions, that he wouldn’t have to wrestle with problems. Indeed, if there WEREN’T questions, if there WEREN’T doubts, then faith wouldn’t be necessary.
            So Isaiah and Paul, poetically, talked about faith, talked about the hope that we have from God that, no matter how much we cry and sigh now, there WILL be an end to everything that dispirits us, and that after waiting with confidence and working through the problems of this life we WILL be wrapped up in the joy and exuberance of God.
            Many people talk of life as a voyage on the ocean, and Paul was no exception. In fact, the simile of being in a boat, of leaving one shore and not being able to see the other one, yet trusting that it was there and the people would arrive there safely; this simile was on his mind a lot. He talked about this. He wrote about this. He wrote both to and about his brother, Rich, after he died. He talked about Rich being with Jesus, and he talked about his own journey, not yet that far out on the ocean, although he knew that he’d complete the journey and be reunited with Rich and his sister, June, at some point.
            Just as Isaiah described, Paul looked forward to the banquet which awaits all of us. He didn’t bother to think about or plan the menu. The good thing about Paul’s faith was that he knew that whatever was there would be so enjoyable that it would be worth the wait, worth even the diminished abilities of his physical body. Nor did Paul spend a lot of time worrying as, apparently, the Christians in Corinth did, about how we’d be in God’s bearer Presence. Spending time trying to determine our height, our weight, or any other characteristic, as the apostle pointed out, was simply a waste of time. Again, just as in the menu at God’s banquet, so trying to second guess God about the appointments of how God’s reign would be celebrated would simply be a waste of time.
            Paul understood this. He didn’t get himself tied up in knots about the details of what was going to happen. He accepted Jesus’ words at their face value – that he and all of us, friends of Jesus, would never be forgotten but would be drawn together in Jesus’ company.
            By accepting this, and by living this out in his life, Paul gave an example to me and to everyone else he met, whether here among the congregation, or wherever else he was. Other people were so important to him. He didn’t simply NEED company, he thrived in it. He sought it out at every opportunity he could take, so that he could share his experiences. He had travelled. He had read. He had listened to an incredible richness in the sounds of life. And he appreciated himself. So he was able to share. As that poet suggested, by doing this, which included talking about his faith, and trying to make sense of what he read in the Bible and what he discussed with others; by doing this, Paul LIVED. He didn’t simply exist; he LIVED so that others’ lives would be touched, and enriched, and made a bit easier.
            Alan shared that over the last months and weeks, Paul had read and marked both passages in the letters to the Corinthian Christmas and also some of the Psalms. These, and the act of reading them and mulling them over, were THAT important to Paul. He was thinking ahead, not just for himself, but for us also.
            One of the brothers who lives in community in the Society of St. John the Evangelist, in Cambridge,
Massachusetts, wrote the other day, “What we are to become — and that is already envisioned in the heart of God — and what we are becoming through the ‘daily visitation’ of the Holy Spirit, animates us, transforms us even now.” 2
            In other words, what God has in mind for us, what God wishes for each of us, gives us the courage to face up to whatever struggles, whatever sadness and grief, whatever tears, whatever angers, we may have right now. But, as we celebrated at Pentecost a couple of Sundays ago, each and every day God’s Spirit visits us to renew us and to guide us so that we can take whatever steps may be necessary so that we can enjoy each day.
            Yesterday, in the cartoon panel, “Calvin and Hobbes”, the young boy Calvin said, “Here I am, waiting for the bus. Eleven more years of school to go. Then college, then maybe graduate school, and then I work until I die. What kind of a world is this?! You only get five years to be a kind?? What about exploring and discovering and playing? Those things are important to!” To which Hobbes replied, “Well, you still have afternoons and weekends.” Calvin rejoined, “That’s when I watch TV.” 3
            Isaiah, Paul, Jesus – none of them said that we should expect life to be a picnic, or that it would be all TV watching or even running through the fields and lying on the grass, resting on a tree. Nor did Paul look for that. He knew that life was work. But he knew also, that life with and in Christ brought and would continue to bring joy and fulfilment, until the ages of ages.
            So in that faith – Paul’s as well as the faith to which we’re each called – in that faith, we will learn to deal with the sadness of partings as we entrust Paul into God’s care.
            Thanks be to God for Paul’s faith and service!

NOTES:

[1]           Attributed to Pablo Neruda. See https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=9&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwj7stvplenMAhUS52MKHYa2DhsQFgg7MAg&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.middlewaysociety.org%2Fpoetry-108-you-start-dying-slowly-by-pablo-neruda%2F&usg=AFQjCNFQSIk5Z64tEbgNHYOGtQ5XZeeKuA

2           Br. Mark Brown  Society of Saint John the Evangelist http://ssje.us4.list manage.com/track/click?u=344ed142b391b2b520df4080c&id=e4f7ae1426&e=d3bff814a3

3           “Calvin and Hobbes” by Bill Watterson, April 18, 1988 http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1988/04/18?utm_source=ch-fb&utm_medium=socialmarketing&utm_content=quotes&utm_campaign=social

_______________________________________________
Propertalk mailing list
Propertalk at stsams.org
http://mail.stsams.org/mailman/listinfo/propertalk_stsams.org

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://stsams.org/pipermail/propertalk_stsams.org/attachments/20160521/9d5bb369/attachment-0001.htm>