I thank my God every
time I remember you, constantly praying with joy in every one of my prayers for
all of you, because of your sharing in the gospel from the first day until
now. I am confident of this, that the one
who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus
Christ. It is right for me to think this
way about all of you, because you hold me in your heart [the last phrase can also be translated: because I hold you in my heart]. Philippians 1:3-7a
In his
wonderful, lovely and delightful poem “The Lanyard” former U. S. poet laureate
Billy Collins writes of himself as a boy making a lanyard for his mother at
summer camp. He compares his gifts with
what his mother has given. Here is one
comparison from the poem.
Here is a breathing body and a beating
heart,
strong legs, bones and teeth,
and two clear eyes to read the
world, she whispered,
and here, I said, is the lanyard I
made at camp.
Then Collins ends the poem powerfully, speaking as his adult
self.
And here, I wish to say to her now,
is a smaller gift – not the archaic
truth
that you can never repay your
mother,
but the rueful admission that when
she took
the two-tone lanyard from my hands,
I was sure as a boy could be
that this useless, worthless thing I
wove
out of boredom would be enough to
make us even.
As I write
these words I realize how inadequate they are for all you have given me in our
eleven years together – your time, your attention, your energy, your prayers, your
gifts in service. You have given me your
children to hold and bless and baptize.
You have given me the lives of loved ones and offered me the last word
in gratitude to God for them. You have listened as I proclaimed and
puzzled. You have given me trust. You’ve surrounded me with a community of love
and forgiveness. You have been a gift of
God’s grace to me and I have grown tremendously from such gifts.
I hope I
have given you some things – new ways to think about faith in Jesus Christ and
some inspiration for living out that faith with joy and courage. I hope I have helped you think more
creatively, dream more imaginatively and daringly, pray more honestly and
deeply. I hope I have helped you
cultivate a Christian faith that is thoughtful, passionate and
compassionate. I hope I have painted a
compelling picture of a life of discipleship as a life of joy, genuineness,
gentleness, generosity and concern for justice.
I hope in some ways I have been a gift of God’s grace to you.
Yet as I
reflect this time is not simply about what you have given me, though it is
significant, or what I have given you, but about how God’s grace has been made
more evident and real in what we have done together. Together we have formed a community committed
to cultivating a thoughtful, passionate and compassionate faith in Jesus
Christ. Together we have sought to live
into joy, genuineness, gentleness, generosity and justice. Together as a community we have welcomed
babies, families in all configurations, people in all their blessed diversity,
and said good-bye to good and cherished friends. We have laughed together, sang together,
prayed together, wept together, and together we have sought to be a community
of love and forgiveness for each other and for the world.
So I will
continue to thank God every time I remember you, constantly praying with joy in
every one of my prayers for all of you, because of your sharing in the gospel
from the first day until now, and going forward. I am confident of this, that the one who began
a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus
Christ. It is right for me to think this
way about all of you, because I hold you in my heart and you hold me in your
heart.
In nearly
every funeral I conduct, I share these words from May Sarton, “the people we
love are built into us.” We don’t have
to wait for someone to die to remember that.
You are a part of my life and always will be. You are built into who I am. From the bottom of my heart and the depth of
my soul, thank you.
Grace and Peace,
David
This appeared in First Family, the newsletter of First United Methodist Church Duluth
