A Reflection on the Occasion of a Memorial Service for Robert W. Betz Jr All Saints Church July 26, 2014 Thomas Wilson
You are the light of the world. A
city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under
the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the
house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may
see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.” (Matthew
“5:14-16)
On the front of the bulletin there are the verses that BJ wanted used in the
service. They are from Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. The editor of the Gospel
Book named Matthew wanted to crystallize the teachings of Jesus. The editor is
working 40 years after Jesus' death and there are so many things that Jesus
said and so many things that people remembered Jesus saying and things that he
had done. There was a mountain of memories and as the last living witnesses to
those events started to die out, the community in which the editor of Mathew
belonged, as did the editors for the communities of Mark, Luke and John, felt
they needed to pick and choose from all the stuff on what was really important
to pass on to future generation. Matthew does not remember any sayings about
church structure, or rules, or attendance, or architecture, or vestments, or
hymns, or which translations to use, or points of theology, or questions of the
interface between religion and science, or homosexuality or all the things that
churches like to fight about. Matthew's editor writes down the things that are
important; which is how we live our lives.These things are the core of Jesus ministry: (1) we live in a very broken world which we cannot control but don't be afraid for love is what makes living worthwhile and, (2) life on this earth is so short and our kindness and forgiveness needs to be shared before we run out of time, (3) God has a greater imagination than we do and we are called to enter into that imagination where time and space are given different dimensions in how we are connected to each other..
Most of you know that we are not here to give Bob a Sunday school perfect attendance medal. He did not carry his faith on his sleeve but in his heart. He attended church regularly growing up and in his life with BJ but when he moved to the Outer Banks and Sundays were filled with Tennis lessons; he came to the idea that people were more important than theology. He still had an awe and reverence for God but he was more of, to use the idea put forward by Karl Rahner, a theologian of Vatican II, an “anonymous Christian”, the kind that, to use Steven Clinton's interpretation, "existentially is committed to those values which for the Christian are concretized in God."
When I heard of Bob's emergency visit by ambulance and later transfer to the Norfolk Hospital I was ticked off with God. My first thought was that just was not fair; Bob is too good a person to have his body let him down like that, and his body had no business letting him down since he was in such good shape- which is based on the misconceptions that life is a contract in which we get what we deserve in this life, the “you do good and life is good to you”. It didn't help when I visited him in the hospital and the Doctors could do nothing. I moved from being ticked with God and Bob's body and transferred it to the medical profession and thought, “How could we spend so much money and trust in the medical profession if they cannot deliver on keeping us safe from death?” I did not like the undergirding of the first of the core of Jesus' teaching: “we live in a very broken world which we cannot control.”
Jesus came to show us God's love, but he specifically did not control that bad things happen to good people. In this world, as part of the human condition into which we are thrown, we have limited power to keep all bad things from happening; we are all vulnerable. Being vulnerable means that we can be afraid of earthly death but that is part of being human; death is part of being human, but fear does not need to be. The phrase most used throughout scripture is “Don't be afraid”; from the announcement of Jesus' birth to the resurrection, the angel message is “Don't be afraid.”
In the Gospel lesson the disciples face the thought of Jesus impending death with fear and Jesus says: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me” The Greek word for “believe” is “pisteuo” which is not a passive intellectual belief in a fact such as “Reykjavík is the capital of Iceland”, which is a nice thing to know if you are on Jeopardy, but what does it have to do with our daily life on these Outer Banks. “Pisteuo” would be better translated as an active living verb of “I put my trust in, I hold on to” where it does make a difference. As the Psalms for today, the 23rd and the 121st, remind us; we are all walking through the shadow, but God is with us to give us strength. All we can do is use the love which God makes available to us to redeem the bad things that do happen. At the end of our lives it will not be the stuff we think is important, don’t misunderstand me they are, but the money we made, the jobs we had, the awards we received and the games of tennis we won that define our lives are less important than the love that we give and the love that we receive that qualifies as a life worth living and by that definition Bob's life was abundant in his love and being loved.
The second core of Jesus' teaching, “life on this earth is so short and our kindness and forgiveness needs to be shared before we run out of time” was about how we treat others. Matthew crams all of Jesus’ ministry into a three year cycle so that we might be reminded that life was indeed short to do what is important in life. Bob is younger than I am and had less time on this earth, but from the stories that I have heard in the community and even in my own household as Pat related repeated kindnesses given by Bob. I remember how I used to keep inviting BJ to stay longer for the coffee hour and she would say; “I need to get home to Bob.” It was not a sign of compulsion on her part for she did not “need to” but she wanted to because she knew at the core of her being that life is too short and he was the kind of person with whom she wanted to spend her time. Bob also did not waste his time for he was promiscuous in forgiving, generous in kindness and faithful in loving; we just wish that we could have received more kindness and forgiveness. We need all the lights of the world, like Bob was.
Our third core is about joining into God’s imagination about how connected we are which is about living into a soul filled life, where the soul, the depth of our being, the connection with that which is greater than ourselves. Thomas A. Moore in his book, Care of the Soul, writes:
The intellectual attempt to live into a “known”
world deprives ordinary life of its unconscious elements, those things we
encounter every day, but know so little about. (Carl) Jung equates the
unconscious with the soul, and so when we try to live fully consciously in an
intellectually predictable world, protected from all mysteries and comfortable
with conformity, we lose our everyday opportunities for the soulful life. The
intellect wants to know, the soul likes to be surprised. Intellect looking
outward, wants enlightenment and the pleasure of a burning enthusiasm. The soul
always drawn inward, seeks contemplation the more shadowy, mysterious experience…”
Today we remember the light that Bob was and celebrate the light he shone in our lives and in the world and that still shines through him on the other shore of our hearts. The family would like you to come to the house and join them to tell stories about the light you saw and still see in your memory and in your soul.
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