CELEBRATING:
SERMONS
1 - Nov 2009
A sermon delivered by Rev. Gordon How
"Homeward Bound - The Mystery of Life Beyond Death"
Introduction It's 40 years since the first landing
on the moon: "one giant step" for humankind
and 40 years since that iconic pop event: Woodstock.
Where were you in 1969, if you were born by then? 40
years goes by so quickly. Indeed, when you come to think
of it, life goes by so quickly. The decades pass relentlessly.
So, how should we think about our own passing?
I know I am taking a risk this morning by stepping
out onto thin ice to think out-loud about death and
life beyond death. It is hardly a secure footing, dealing
with the unknown - about the end of life. But I know
it concerns each of us - perhaps a lot - or maybe it
is just beneath the surface - or maybe because we assume
we have decades yet to live, we can keep this subject
deep down, perhaps even in denial. What's my motivation?
It is to give this subject some metaphors which you
might find helpful.
As a minister, some people put this subject on the
table directly in front of me - and expect answers that
will help them escape their deepest concerns. Others
hint at the mysteries of death and of life beyond death
which are for them matters of concern but not to be
discussed openly; others beat around the bush perhaps
using humour to mask their discomfort. I hope that what
I say will be helpful and will be seen for what it is
intended - a pastoral meditation attempting not to giving
answers that are should satisfy everyone (as if that
were possible!) but rather to create a confidence in
faith about "going home" - using a few illustrations
to address the great mystery of the end of life. You
see, I believe it is a mystery and must remain so -
for it is not a matter about which we are to claim we
have the answers. Those answers belong to God alone.
I'm not sure that even what I offer this morning will
be of interst to you let alone of help to you. But I
am sure that we can get closer to this mystery using
metaphors rather than claiming to have hard and fast
answers.
Wilbert's Commendation I had a very dear friend die
five months ago. His ministry was international, but
he was for many years based in the Caribbean. An Irish
Methodist minister, who three years ago he went back
the the UK to live out his final years as a sufferer
of Parkinson's Disease. His name was Wilbert Forker
and I told the story here in 2008 about being with him
and his wife in The Bahammas when they hosted a casual
dinner in their home for me and their good friends,
Sir John and Lady Templeton.
Wilbert had a wonderful life and served the church
and the world in unique ways. He was the executive officer
of the Templeton Prize in Religion. But his life ended
on May 30 when he finally secumbed to PD. He was buried
in his home village in N.Ireland and soon after I receieved
from his wife a copy of the transcript of his funeral.
I want to read and talk about his Commendation - that
is the prayer to God at the close of a Memorial Service
or Funeral when the deceased is entrusted into God's
care for eternity.
My purpose in sharing this with you has little to do
with Wilbert Forker - but it is my way of getting us
into the subject of the end of life and life beyond
death - a matter which all of us have struggled with
because we have all lost loved ones. By talking about
this one person, I know I will trigger for each of you
the loss and departure - the death - of one or more
persons you deeply loved and now deeply grieve.
Personally, I am finding the loss of friends and loved
ones becoming more and more of an emotional challenge
as my list of departed family, dear friends and parishoners
grows. So I am naturally seeking more ways to understand
the mystery. Here is Wilbert's Commendation: "Receive,
Lord, in tranquility and peace the soul of Wilbert who
has departed this present life to be with you. We who
loved him commend him to you. Give him the life that
knows no age, the good things that do not pass away,
and accept him with unconditional love into your kingdom,
where light perpetual shines and where he may be at
peace. Go forth, O Christian soul, in the name of God
who knows you and with the blessing of those who love
you." What is being said here, that can help us
understand the end of life and life beyond death?
First: "Receive, Lord, in tranquility and peace
the soul of Wilbert who has departed this present life
to be with you. This is not so much a request to God,
but moreso a declaration that we expect God is taking
into God's everlasting care, the being, the very essence,
the soul of the person who has finished life in our
presence and now is in God's presence - which is, whatever
it may be, a place, a space, a mysterious "home"
of tranquility and peace. How re-assuring!
Second: "We who loved him commend him to you."
In other words, it is the family and friends - those
who loved and were loved by the one who has died - who
are declaring that they want him/her to be in God's
presence. This is a fundamental component of Chrisitan
community. That being in God's presence is what we experience
even beyond life. And as people of faith we desire this
for ourselves and our loved ones.
Third: Give him (her) the life that knows no age (i.e.
nothing transitory about being with God - it is never-ending
- eternal), the good things that do not pass away (i.e.
continuity for ever and ever and ever, good things,
not bad things, no evil, no pain ever, ever, ever to
be experienced), and accept him/her with unconditional
love into your kingdom, where light perpetual shines
and where he may be at peace. (Unconditional love, perpetual
light and peace. Sounds to me like a perfect place to
call "home")
And lastly: "Go forth, O Christian soul, in the
name of God who knows you and with the blessing of those
who love you." (i.e. more assurance declared that
God knows this person and that in this passing over
to God's eternal care, the person goes forward with
the blessing, the approval and the endorsement of those
who have loved him/her. Again, the final act we offer
the one we have lost, is the giving of our support.)
There is little we can do at the time of another's
death - but at least we can commend him/her to God and
we can do it trusting and believing that God will for
ever care for and love that one whom we cared for and
loved while we were alive together. In my pastoral ministry
here and elsewhere, I've been close to a number of people
who have known they were dying… and what to say
about this with them is never easy. Though, you know,
many are quite at peace, especially after the initial
shock and anger at their diagnosis.
Shatford's: Homeward Bound Many of life's corners, and
the hinges upon which life swings, relate to "home".
For example: leaving home; our first homesickness; returning
home; starting or moving into a new home; the dream
home; the last home. Homecoming; homeward bound …
and so on… In 1930, one Canon Allan P. Shatford,
left the church of St. James after a long and well-loved
ministry in Montreal. His final sermon before he returned
home-ward to Newfoundland, was his reflection on "home"
and while the language is of the 1930s, the thoughts,
he expresses are timeless:
"One of the sweetest joys of life is to turn the
face homeward. It may be a very simple fact like the
plowman who "homeward plods his weary way"
or it maybe a crucial decision like the prodigal son
who "comes to himself" and goes home to his
waiting parents. There are so many forms of being homeward
bound.
The man who leaves his tools at the bench and goes
home after the day's toil; the fisherman who comes in
from the sea "homeward bound"; the traveler
who has been away for years; the officer coming home
on furlough; the child returning home from school. What
a procession it makes, with all faces turned expectantly
towards home. Small wonder that poets and musicians
have filled the world with happy songs of homecoming."
There may also be several different homes that we live
in in a life time, perhaps dozens or maybe one tarries
in but 1, 2 or 3 dwellings in their lifetime. Which
home do you readily hunger for? As it is for many, is
it the home of your childhood? It matters nothing about
the size or wealth of the home. External conditions
are only a part of the structure and not the most important
part. It is the spirit within the home that is the abiding
soul of family life, and that, of course, can and often
does exist in the humblest home.
Have you ever been ill and away from home? There is
a homesickness which comes over the soul at such times.
That is the hour when the heart yearns for the familiar
windows and furnishings and sounds and smells of home.
Deep inside we feel that the old and well-known delights
of home will bring a peace of mind and heart and soul,
if not also a healing of the body. What is this strange
habit of the mind that turns back at the end of life
to its very beginning? Perhaps it is that as life completes
its circle, the soul is turning homeward? We came out
from God, and the soul turns back home - toward God
- with all its first memories fresh upon it.
Anyone who reads the Bible with the least care will
note that all the characters in it speak of this life
as pilgrimage; they are journeying homeward. Jesus,
the Master, had the fullest sense of this homewardness.
He always spoke of "going to his Father" or
returning home.
He had a wide sense of the Father's house. In it were
many mansions but his use of the word mansion is far
removed from ours. It literally means "an abiding
place," a home that is permanent. Here we are like
travelers in an inn or guests in an apartment, but there
we shall be "at home." Who will be troubled
by the dark tunnel when they know that at the other
end home is waiting to welcome them? Perhaps this is
why Jesus endured the cross so bravely, because he was
sure of home. "Father into thy hands I commend
my Spirit."
There is deep confidence, a most telling declaration
of faith, when we speak of "going home" -
knowing that God will be there to receive us, and love
us.
Pauline's Departure Lounge I want to end now with reading
for you two pages at the end of a book - the book is
titled: World Wide Webb. It is the autobiography of
Dr. Pauline Webb, my good, Methodist, Lay-Preacher friend.
At the outset, please note that the founder of Methodism
(in the 1700s), John Wesley, is one who was very important
in inspiring Pauline Webb.
She was asked to write her life story because it is
so interesting. As a Religious Broadcaster, her career
included travels world-wide on behalf of both the BBC
and the WCC… and at 80 she told her lifestory in
12 delightful chapters… Then she wrote this Epilogue…titled:
"In The Departure Lounge".
"As I enter upon my 80th year, a slightly older
friend sent me one of those would-be amusing cards saying,
"Happy 80th! Welcome to the Departure Lounge!"
I thought it was not a bad metaphor as a description
of old age. I am very familiar with departure lounges
where I have waited many hours returning from long journeys.
I find that a departure lounge is usually an enjoyable
place to be. It is entertaining to watch the comings
and goings, though I confess that now there sometimes
seems to be too many "goings" for my liking.
Friends you have been with for along time go off at
their appointed moment, never to return. Meanwhile you
have plenty of time and opportunity with other companions
around you and to share moments of past journeys and
adventures.
"Usually there are ways of contacting people
by phone if you need to, and often a television set
by which you can be informed or entertained. You can
even have spells of uninterupted reading. Just occassionally
there is a nagging anxiety about when you will be actually
called to depart, but most of the time waiting can be
in itself a good experience. You have laid down your
major responsibilities, you have made no more deadlines
to worry about and you trust the Lord to keep you in
perfect peace, as you learn perhaps for the first time,
the art of patience. Not knowing what lies ahead, you
can savour each present moment for its own worth.
"I share a birthday with John Wesley, June 28th.
This has given me the habit of looking up the birthday
entries in his journal as he himself entered upon old
age. John Wesley made a practice each year on doing
a personal check on his state of health, both mentally
and physically. In his precise, simple use of words
he describes so effectively how old age creeps up upon
us. I quoted his last journal entries in the final broadcast
I did for the BBC before totally retiring. It was appropriately
in a morning service broadcast from Wesley's Chapel
on 29 May, 2005. On his birthday, June 28, in 1788 Wesley
wrote:
"I this day enter my 85th year. And what cause
I have to praise God, as for a thousand spiritual blessings,
so for bodily blessings, also! It is true that I am
not as agile as I was in times past, I do not walk as
fast as I did; my sight is a little decayed; my left
eye is grown dim and hardly serves me to read. I find
likewise some decay in my memory in regard to names
and things lately passed, but not at all with regard
with what I have read or heard twenty, forty or sixty
years ago; neither do I find any decay in my hearing,
smell, taste or appetite (though I want but a third
of the food I did once); and I am not conscious of any
decay in writing sermons, which I do as readily and
I believe as correctly as ever."
Two years later, Wesley writes: "For above 86
years, I have found none of the infirmities of old age.
But last August I found almost a sudden change. My eyes
were so dim that glasses would not help me. My strength
likewise now quite probably will not return in this
world."
(Pauline concludes:) So in the end, old age came suddenly
to John Wesley as it seems to do to those of us who
have been fortunate enough to enjoy good health throughout
most of our lives. We know we must eventually lay down
many of our former tasks and wait patiently until the
departure time arrives. I am confident that when that
time does come, I who have journeyed all over the world,
will feel as I did at the end of every long journey,
"How good it is to be going home!"
Amen!
Sermon Resources: Psalm 133: 1-3; Genesis 28: 10-17;
Luke 24:36-52 ; I Cor. 9: 24-25; Funeral Service for
Rev. Dr. Wilbert Forker, June 10, 2009, St.Vindic, Tynan,
Ireland; R.A.Wallace, "Going Home" God at
the Corners, 1996; P.Webb, "The Departure Lounge",
World Wide Webb, 2006. Six Marks of a Christian, Allan
P. Shatford, Wilson & Co., 1939.
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