Reflection on the life and death of Jane Harvey

 

Homily for the Celebration of the Life and death of Jane Harvey December 15, 2012 All Saints Church Southern Shores, NC Thomas Wilson

Psalm 23, John 14:1-6

We come together to give thanks for the life and death of Jane Harvey. Jane is at rest in the arms of her Lord who loves her and she is fortunate. Today we also are the fortunate ones who can proudly say we know Jane Harvey in this life. I do not use the past tense, for knowing Jane makes a difference today not just yesterday.
In the lesson from the Gospel of John Jesus is speaking to his disciples as they gather together before he is to enter into a series of events that will lead to his arrest, trial crucifixion and resurrection. He is telling them, and us, that he is going, and in that going he is preparing for a place for them that where he goes the disciples will also go.
I know that many of you are thinking that he is talking about about setting up for us mansions above the sky floating on clouds, but I don't think that Jesus is talking about geography. We tend to think of heaven as a place, but the understanding Jesus had was that heaven is the presence of God. I think Jesus is saying that he is going into the very heart of God, and where that heart of God meets the brokenness and suffering of the world. That existential moment when the heart of God shines light and love and confronts the injustice, the apathy of corruption, the abuse of the poor, the selfishness of greedy hearts, the fear, the loneliness is what Jesus is entering into. This is the place he prepares us for, this is dwelling place, the mansions, that Jesus is preparing for us, this is where the Kingdom of the Heavens come into conflict with our puny little kingdoms of our own making.
The weapons that are used by the Kingdom of the Heavens in this conflict are not the weapons of choice for the puny kingdoms. These weapons that Jesus uses are hope, forgiveness, mercy and love. The Kingdom of the Heavens begins, not after we shuffle off this mortal coil, but in this life, right here and right now, when we choose to dwell in the overflowing heart of God in daily life using the weapons of hope, forgiveness, love and mercy. Jesus calls himself and his actions the “Way” into the Kingdom of the Heavens.
Once we live in these dwelling places, death itself, the destruction of our bodies, cannot stop our permanent dwelling in the overflowing heart of God. Heaven, in this world and the next, is the loving presence of God, as Jesus reminds us, “wherever two or three are gather together in my name, I will be in the the midst of them.” Heaven is the sacred space between us whether our earthly bodies are breathing or not; for love never dies and cannot be confined in such a fragile container as our bodies.
Jane lives in God's presence, I do not use the past or future tense, but the everlasting present. Jane is a conduit of love which she shares with her family of origin, her husband, her children, her grandchildren, her extended family, her students, her friends, her church, her medical practitioners and with whomever she came into contact. We do not have her earthly body with us here in this room. We do not have that gentle smile of grace she gave. We do not have the sound of the words she would say to so many of us as we would leave her physical presence; “I love you.”  
Ten hours before her death I remember her saying that, “I love you”, to me and it put me in mind of all the hundreds of times, be it in restaurants, hospital rooms, churches, on the beach, the grocery store, over phones; whenever I would leave her she would tell me, “I love you”, because in this broken world over which we have little control, you never know when, or if, we might encounter each other again. I have only known her for nine and a half years, one of you, Susan, has known her all of her breathing life and for nine months before, Bob for more than half a century, and the rest of us somewhat less than that but we have all heard that phrase “I love you” from her lips, thousands, hundreds, scores of times and she means it every time.
Jane is an equally opportunity lover, I do not use the past tense for love does not die. She does not consider if the loved person deserves that love or not. Love is a gift from the heart dwelling in God and it is not rationed based on approval. Jane lives in the sacred space between us who know her. She lives in the sacred space in God's heart which is, was, and will be, her dwelling place.

Today we will take her ashes and leave them in the waves rolling on the beach she so treasured, but she will not leave us. She is here when we say “I love you” with each other. She is here when we take the so limited time to spend with people who want to learn, as she lovingly does with her students, either in school or in life, for we are all her students in love. She is here when, not if, we need to forgive each other. She is here when we hope, when the odds are stacked against us and we ask for strength from a power greater than ourselves to get through it, one day at a time.
Jesus said, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way to the place where I am going." Jane knows the Way, the Truth and the Life and she lives it with her love from her dwelling place in the heart of God.
Today there will not be a reception after we leave the beach. Jane reminds us that there is limited time; so we ask all of us to tell the people who love Jane that her love exists in you. Then leave and before the sun sets this evening look for a person with whom you are estranged and forgive them- not as they deserve but as they are loved in the overflowing heart of God. Today, stand up for someone who is a victim of injustice as a sign of the love in which Jane's participates. Today, be with someone who needs mercy going through a rough time and go out of your way to help someone as a sign of the love in which Jane participates. Today, say to someone, and mean it, Jane's words, “I love you” for she is alive with you when you love.