On behalf of Barbara’s family and on behalf of all Adventers, I want to thank all of you for joining us this morning as we celebrate both Barbara’s life among us and her confidence in God’s redemptive work in her own life. I see a lot of unfamiliar faces, so I understand there will be some worry about this service. If you do not attend a liturgical church, have no fear, we will do our best to make sure you understand what is happening and on what page.
I was reminded last week of my first
conversation with Barbara some 9 ½ years ago by Carol Lynn McCarty, who was
then serving as the head of our Altar Guild at Church of the Advent. Barbara was over by the linen bowl, I think,
and gathering the dirty linens to take home and wash and iron. Of all the “behind the scenes” jobs in a church,
the care of the linens is only noticeable when it is not done well. When it is done well, most people do not even
consider the work involved. Thanks to
Barbara’s work in that, few of us really considered her work.
As I was heading to through the Sacristy
to the Vesting room to remove the chasuble and my robes, Barbara introduced
herself to me. This was during the first
couple weeks of my tenure. But Barbara
introduced herself, told me it was her job to wash, iron, and care for the linens. She went on to say that she did not know me. Barbara stated that it was her wish that the
priest who would bury her would know her.
She did not want a stranger talking and preaching about her and
ministering to her family. So she hoped
that we would get to know each other in the weeks and months ahead.
I, of course, told Barbara that I understood
what she was saying. I told her I did
not like officiating at funerals for people I did not know. I also told her that I hoped she would not
take my next statement the wrong way, but I fervently hoped that I would not be
the one who buried her. I loved being a
pastor, much of the time, but I hate burying people I know. She got what I meant and laughed, and we
spent a few Wednesdays over the next couple years talking about funerals and
care of the linens. She particularly
liked how my Altar Guild at a small church in Ohio had taught me not to be
messy, not to use the embroidery on the Purificator to wipe the wine off the
chalice, and to get out of their way when a priest needed a tongue lashing over
their sloppiness. As the one who had to
clean up after such things, she really appreciated their work with me. Better still from her perspective, when we
had a visiting priest spill the entire contents of the chalice, before it was
blessed mind you, all over the big altar covering, I was not about to get in
her way as she told him he needed to be more careful or he might end up
cleaning up his own messes.
Of course, we talked about things other
than church. Barbara shared her love of
painting, and really art in general. She
had a monthly meeting on Wednesdays with one group that caused her to miss our
midweek service. But she often showed us
what she had made. Many of us ooohed and
awed over the china she painted.
She liked looking at my stitching, and
shared some of her work.
And she loved gardening! I spent a couple years in college working for
a landscaper over the summer months, so I knew enough to be dangerous. But I also knew enough to avoid some real
dangers. Her favorite chuckle was when
people would express I must be putting holy water on the plans around the
church, and especially in Penelope’s Garden—named after her great granddaughter
who died during the pandemic. Barbara knew
my secret was bonemeal. I loved the
blooms around Advent, and I knew I could not over-fertilize or burn anything
out with bonemeal. So she would laugh
when Stuart or somebody would talking about the holy water because she knew
what was really happening, but especially because everyone around here loved
the results!
As you might imagine, there were a number
of other conversations that would not be appropriate to share during her
funeral, but those conversations also helped shape our readings and songs for
today. One of Barbara’s great
frustrations was when others just would not do what was right. Barbara was gifted with a great sense of
right and wrong and expected all of us to just do what was right. So now you know why the quote is at the
bottom of the front page, why something akin to it was in her obituary, and why
I will be focusing a bit on the Golden Rule today. Believe me, I was tempted to dive into First
Corinthians today, in honor of her love of gardening and of her friends who
garden and in honor of the fact that her perishable body has now been sown to give
birth to the splendor of her heavenly body, but that would have been a long
sermon. Though Barbara would have loved
a discussion about the passage, she also liked to be to the point! So, if you are of a mind, turn to the Gospel
reading.
Jesus’ teaching on the Golden Rule comes
from Luke, so we know that Luke has heard the Apostles and disciples talking
about Jesus’ teachings and actions rather than watching them and hearing them
for himself. The Church tradition is
that Luke spent years interviewing those who knew Jesus best, including Mary
His mother, before he wrote the Gospel that bears his name. Jesus begins His discussion of doing what is
right by pointing out good behavior is not to be limited to our family and
friends. We live in a world that is just
divided as the world in which Jesus was incarnated. Pharisees fought with Sadducees and
Herodians; Jews and Samaritans were not known for their ability to get along;
and nobody was thrilled with the presence of Rome in ancient Judea! Think Democrats vs. Republicans in much of
our political discourse, the efforts to do away with federal authority in some
states, or, since most of us cannot help but pay attention to SEC football, GA
vs. FL or TN vs. AL.
Jesus’ first instruction to those who
claim Him as Lord is about the Golden Rule is that it must be applied to one’s
enemies, those who mistreat us, and those from whom we cannot expect
reciprocation. Our calling, we would
say, is to mirror the life of Jesus and to incarnate with a little “i” the
heart of God. God’s work throughout the
Scriptures is to woo the world, to draw the world into His saving embrace. Jesus’ Life, Death, Resurrection, and
Ascension are the ultimate expression of God’s desire to draw all to Him. All of us like working among family and
friends and those who can repay us, right?
In that, we are no different than sinners and enemies. But Jesus calls us to a different
perspective, a different way of living.
We called to live as if we are joyful recipients of God’s grace. And because we are His adopted sons and
daughters, He commands us to live our lives reflective of the grace He has
shown each one of us!
Jesus, of course, dives deeply into the
heart of God, even if we skip it in a first glance. But it was an understanding I heard Barbara
teach again and again. We are called by
Jesus to place the person over possessions.
Look again at verses 29-32. Jesus
tells us not to fight back, not to cling to our possessions, and to give those
things we have to those who ask. Part of
our calling, as I have had to instruct Adventers for some five or six years
now, is that we serve the Creator of all that is, seen and unseen. So often, we, like the world around us, gets
caught up in attitudes of scarcity.
There’s not enough money; there’s not enough space; there’s not enough
time. Adventers have learned a valuable
lesson in our work to feed the food insecure in our midst here in Middle
Tennessee. God provides way more than we
can ask or imagine. It makes sense,
right. If He created everything out of
nothing, what can He not do? Nothing. Better still, if He wants Himself glorified
and His sons and daughters glorified because of His redemptive work, what
better way than providing what is needed?
If you asked Barbara during the growth of that work, she would laugh
aloud not just at the quantity of what God was giving us, but at the sheer
absurdity of some of those gifts.
Barbara knew and loved all Adventers and how many work hard to be
obedient to the call of Christ in their lives, but she got tickled when God
gave us cows or lobsters or fresh produce or crazy amounts of ice cream. God has used us to do amazing work in His Name,
and no Adventer thinks it is our own planning, our own giving, or even
something of which we remotely considered giving away. Yet God has been faithful to that work and
used it to reach those whom we serve.
Sadly, the Golden Rule is so ignored in the modern western Church, those
whom we serve are surprised or shocked when we simply give them a choice, never
mind when we give them a choice among steak cuts or seafood or flavors of ice
cream. Too often have we heard “If other
Christians were like y’all, I could see myself worshipping your God.”
Placing people above possessions is so important
to Jesus, that He promises His disciples and us in verse 35 that those of us
who live like this that our reward will be great, because we are kind to the
ungrateful and the wicked. Like our Father
in heaven, we are called to show forth compassion in our lives. We are reminded, by our engagement with
others, that everyone has a story, an experience, that has led them to where
they are in life. Sometimes it has been
bad choices in their lives; sometimes it has been bad instruction, or trauma,
or circumstances. Because we do not
know, but we serve the One who does, we mirror the compassion He showed each
one of us hopeful that they will see Him in us!
Jesus continues in His teaching with the really
hard part for many modern Christians, right?
He instructs us, He uses imperative language to use the language of linguists
among us, to be merciful, just as our Father is merciful. Such a command is hard, right? If I don’t fight back, if I don’t cling to my
possessions, if I don’t get even with those mock me or stab me in the back, I
will always be taken advantage of, I will always be humiliated, right? But that is the command of Jesus. If we model His life and His heart, we will
be forgiven. If we condemn, if we try to
get even, we will receive likewise when we stand before Him. The good news, of course, is that Jesus
modeled this behavior even during His Passion and death on the Cross, so He
knows what He commands of us. He did not
strike back against those who mocked Him.
He did not call down the angels to defend Him or His honor. Even as He took His last breaths while the
crowd mocked Him If He is the Messiah, let Him come down; He saved others,
but He cannot save Himself; and Father, forgive them, they do not know
what they are doing. Jesus trusted
in the Father’s power and will to redeem His suffering, even at the end of His life
on earth. But for His faithfulness even
to death on that Cross, He was raised from the dead, reminding us of God’s
power and will to redeem all our sufferings.
And for that we acknowledge Him as Lord and Savior and should endeavor,
with God’s help, to model His compassion, His forgiveness, and His mercy in our
lives and in our words.
Lastly, Jesus reminds us as He finishes His
teaching on the Golden Rule that we are not the judges. Just as nobody else but God can see into our
hearts, know everything that led us to where we found ourselves while an enmity
with God, we do not know what will happen to the one whom we serve in His Name. We might only be the seed planter in their life,
the waterer, the pruner, the tiller of soil or some other role, but we know
that God loved them so much that had they been the only one in need of His forgiveness
and grace, He would have willed Himself to hang and die there, to suffer all
that humiliation, just for them! His
purpose in coming the first time was not to condemn, but to save! And only He knows what is going on in the
hearts of others; only He has earned the right to judge.
It’s tough. I get it.
There is suffering aplenty in most of our lives. And we like to compare our own responses, or
how we think we might respond, to similar suffering. If I was hungry, I would not be
choosy. If I had suffered that trauma, I
would plow on through. I would NEVER fall
in love with an abuser or a cheater. I
would never allow myself to be poor. Right? The truth, of course, is that none of know
how we would react until we were to find ourselves in that particular
circumstance, and this is where the Golden Rule should become so important to
those who claim Jesus as Lord. All of Jesus’
teaching on the Golden Rule is the reminder that we, His brothers and sisters,
are called to be blessings to others in the world. In many ways, the Golden Rule reminds us of
God’s purposes way back in Genesis 12, when He chose Abram and sent him out
from Chaldea. God told Abram that His
seed would be a blessing to the world, a nation of priests. Jesus, of course, is the ultimate promise of
that blessing that God swore with Abraham.
Better still, Jesus is the means by which we are all drawn into the
loving embrace of our Father in Heaven.
And because He was a blessing to us, we know we are called to be a
blessing to others, not just to certain others, but to all. Such was the call on Abram; such is the same
call on each one of us!
Such also was the life lived by
Barbara. Oh, I know, she sinned. She had harsh words for some; she lacked
necessary patience at times; I am sure she let doctors know they were not the
sharpest tool in the shed while she was a nurse; I am certain she made mistakes
as a mother, a wife, a grandmother, and even a great grandmother. But she trusted in Jesus’ instructions. Only illness or art could keep her away from worshipping
God in this space while I was here. She
always asked God to forgive her sins and to empower her to glorify Him in her
life. At some point in that walk with
God, long before that new priest met her in the sacristy, she had adopted that
motto, “Do the right thing” as the Barbara version of the Gospel. Your attendance here this morning is
testimony to the power of the Gospel in her life.
I will leave it to all of you, who knew
her as a family member, a friend, a colleague, or as an Adventer to decide
whether her priest knew her well enough to use her life as an example of God’s
redeeming presence in the world and especially in her own life at her funeral. But as for me, I hope and pray that when you
read about the Golden Rule or hear the words “Do the right thing” you will be
reminded of the life of Barbara, that you will remember her voice and see her
face, but even more importantly, give thanks to God for yet another redeemed saint
in your own life, and strive, with His help, to be one in the lives of others
in your own life.
In His
Promise,
Brian†
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