And now faith,
hope, and love abide, these three;
and the greatest of these is love.
—1 Corinthians 13.13
In a recent Korean drama – now on
Netflix --, Ye-jin is ready to start her paragliding on a very windy day. It’s
not a perfect day for flying, but she is persistent, and says to her friend:
“Do you know why the wind blows? It is to pass, not to remain. Because it
blows, I can fly too.” Koreans like to say, “Everything shall pass.” Struggles
and hard times shall pass. Even Covid, in the end, shall pass. Of course, it
will alter our lives to some degree. A gathering limited to just 50 family
members and friends to celebrate the life of a person so beloved is not the
perfect way to share this time of loss. It’s not what we expected; it’s not
what we wanted. We are very fortunate though, as we have Rachael with us, singing
these hymns of love on behalf of us all. And yet, even this time shall pass
too. Covid will pass. Our sorrow and grief are intense now, but our deep emotions
will eventually be embraced in love and cherished and shared. We will continue
to create and weave new stories of love as a family, even after this moment of
emptiness and loss. “Everything shall pass”. Every temporal thing will pass. But,
Love will not. Love will remain. Love will abide. As today’s reading tell us,
“Love never ends.” “The partial will come to an end” but the complete, the
whole of the love we’ve known through and with and from our loved ones,
especially Lois, will not end. It will not pass. It will be the strong and
beautiful root and foundation of our continued writing and singing of a new
song of faith, hope and love, as a family, as a community.
Today’s reading says, “And now faith,
hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.” Love is
constant, reluctant to change. Love is patient, reluctant to hurt. Love is
kind, reluctant to be envious, arrogant or rude. We hear that love bears all
things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. And yet, we
know. We have learned this. Love is not just soft. Loving is
risky and adventurous. Sometimes loving is hard and impossible. We cannot enter
into it without being changed. Altered. Transformed.
Loving is never just about
opening our hearts. It’s about being willing to have our hearts become larger
as we make room for new people and new stories and new experiences. Loving is
about being willing to let our hearts be broken and remade as we take in not
only the brokenness of the world but also the beauty of it, the astounding
wonder that will not allow us to remain the same.
Today, we celebrate one who had lots
of love and “loving” for the world, for those around her, families and friends,
community of faith and God. Lois had lots of love, loving, for
Glen, since they met at Winnipeg Roller Rink, for the next 60 years of their
lives together. Lois kept him in love and amazing care for his last 13 years.
Lois had lots of love for her three sons, Ron, Carl and Gerry, and their
spouses and children too. Lois was an amazing home-organizer through her
trademark efficiency and pragmatism, excellent problem-solving skills and calm
presence, and also through her non-judgmental, warm, peacemaking practices.
Lois was always ready to offer her presence and help to her family – dropping
off and picking up her beloved grandchildren and looking after them was her
great joy. She had lots of love for the world as well – Lois kept up with
newspaper subscriptions and read the papers avidly every day until she left her
beloved home where she had raised her family for the last 65 years. All these
numbers help to explain about what kind of life Lois lived: deeply rooted,
lovingly involved.
I knew Lois from church as her last
minister at Immanuel. Lois was an active member of our church since 1961. I
could sense her wide and deep love for the world and for our community whenever
I saw her at church. I had opportunities to talk with her after the service,
just before Lois was going to be picked up by her sons. Even before I found the
moment to make eye contact with her and smile, she would smile first, before
me, with her big eyes, and say a few words of encouragement and kindness. Lois
was very gentle. Very warm. She knew us - she loved us.
The present time is
like a very windy day for us. Will this wind push us back or carry us forward? The
pandemic hasn’t passed us yet. It is always difficult to say good-bye to our
loved ones. Loving is beautiful, stunning and hard. In the Korean drama I
mentioned earlier, Ye-jin says that the wind blows, only to pass; it does not
remain. These hard circumstances shall pass. We will eventually fly and reach
the destination we hope for. In the meantime, take courage to spread your wings
and love the sky. Imagine the aerial view you would see and enjoy from soaring
upwards. Above the clouds of grief, we will learn the beauty, the simplicity,
of loving each other despite challenges so that when our feet touch the ground
again, we remember not just what love is, but what love is supposed to be.
Love will not pass;
Love abides. Especially the love that is faithful, which Lois showed us all,
the love, and the loving, into which we cannot enter without being changed.
Altered. Transformed.
Here’s the blessing,
written by Jan Richardson. I hope this blessing shares with us the deep peace
of Christ and comfort from the love of God where Lois now rests in peace
forever.
Blessing That Meets
You in Love
It is true that
every blessing
begins
with love,
that whatever else
it might say,
love is always
precisely its
point.
But it should be
noted
that this blessing
has come today
especially to tell
you
it is crazy about
you.
That it has been
in love with you
forever.
That it has never
not wanted
to see your face,
to go through this
world
in your company.
This blessing
thought
it was high time
it told you so,
just to make sure
you know.
If it has been shy
in saying this,
it has not been
for any lack of
wanting to.
It’s just that
this blessing
knows the risk
of offering itself
in a way that
will so alter you—
not because it
thinks
you could stand
some improving,
but because this is
simply where
loving leads.
This blessing knows
how love undoes us,
unhinges us,
unhides us.
It knows
how loving
can sometimes feel
like dying.
But today
this blessing
has come to tell
you
the secret
that sends it
to your door:
that it gives
itself
only to those
willing to come alive;
that it vows itself
only to those
ready to be
born anew.
—Jan Richardson
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