Memorial Service for Jean (November, 2014)

Message (Ecclesiastes 3:1-7)

We’ve just heard a beautiful passage from our scripture reading, about different, singular ‘times’. A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to pluck up what is planted; something called ‘deep time.’ Today’s reading gently encourages us to rely upon our inner, deep-time recognition, more than any clock or calendar. Our  inner sense, our faith tells us that a time of birth and a time of death are not opposites, set separately against each other, as if they are two different points in one’s life which cannot exist simultaneously. I feel a deep continuity between these two life events; words such as ‘return’ or ‘completion’ may be right to describe the two most basic phenomena of our lives. One event completes the other; having an ‘end’ gives us an understanding of the invaluable preciousness of this life, on this earth.

I once read a poem written by the English poet William Wordsworth, in which he said:

Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting:

The Soul that rises with us, our Life’s Star

Hath had elsewhere its setting,

and cometh from afar.

Not in entire forgetfulness.

And not in utter nakedness,

But trailing clouds of glory do we come

From God, who is our home.

Heaven lies about us in our infancy!

In our loss of Jean N, we acknowledge a light is missing, a star’s gleam gone astray, but it may be just that we can’t see her soul’s light in front of our eyes, without the bright and warm smile of Jean’s presence. A Heaven, a star’s light can’t really disappear, or be gone. It is just that we, within our limitations, can’t see the light as if it were a tangible object; we cannot perceive its wavelength. I believe that, however we perceive the light of a human soul, of the deepest, true self - a Heaven or a Star - , it is part of the immense and deep reality of the mystery of God’s love. Our Scripture states clearly that we are all born of Love. I feel a true continuity between  these two greatest of mysteries - life and death. In our lives, as we grow and mature, we are privileged to learn how to appreciate these two singular events and their meanings. In this way, Jean is teaching us that, every day, in every moment, we live in deep time, measured not by clocks but by the things that cause us to grow, work, question and love. Thank you, Jean.

When I met with Jean’s family, this week, I asked what they would most like to tell everyone about their mother Jean, they said, “Her positive spirit and acceptance, and her grace.” “We are still learning this from her.”

We are all still learning. In happiness, in sorrow, our life is really about learning, or, as Richard Rohr says,“practicing for heaven”. Dear Jean, may you rest in the deep happiness of dwelling in God’s presence, and become a star that lights the cosmos of our God, through the love of Christ, and with the breath of the Holy Spirit helping you on your way. Amen.