A Homily on the Occasion of a Service of Thanksgiving for Eternal Life of Andy Mohr
All Saints Episcopal Church, Southern Shores, NC
December 9, 2023 Thomas E Wilson, Friend
As I started to write this Homily about my friend Andy Mohr, who I met over 20 years ago, I looked at the reflections of others as they started their daily reflections. I visited Deacon Joanna Seibert's Daily Something, which she started with a reflection by the Bishop Steven Charleston and I found what I wanted to do. Charleston wrote:
I honor you. I honor you for who you are and for what you have done. You did not become the person you are without effort. You have weathered many storms and seen many changes. You have kept going when others might have given up. You have lived your life like an art, creating what you did not have, dreaming what you could not see. And in so doing, you have touched many other lives. You have brought your share of goodness into the world. You have helped more than one person when they needed you. I honor you for walking with integrity, for making hope real, for being who you have become, I honor you.”—Bishop Steven Charleston Daily Facebook Page.
I wanted to honor Andy.A brighter person would have sat down at this point, but as my wife used to tell me “Your not too bright but it is a good thing you are cute.” I want to thank Rev. Cindy and Paula for allowing me to be here to share with you about, and honor, my friend Andy. When I started working in the church business I made it a habit not to be friends with people who I might have to fire. It was a professional relationship, end of story. That worked for a number of years until I married Pat and she started working on me. When we came here and I met Andy, Pat fell in love with him first, because he was so wonderfully helpful to her, and she would not allow a negative statement about Andy to be made in her presence, even by me “Thank you very much!” Today we honor Andy.
Today we are in the season of Advent, the four Sundays before we are introduced to the birth of Jesus and the rebirth of Jesus in our hearts. Andy decided not to wait and he was early for rehearsal with the Angels. He got as far as the first Sunday of Advent where the theme of the week is “Hope”. Like he needed to reflect on Hope. This is a man who had a Heart Attack and had the Hope that he would recover for another decade plus. He had the Hope that his wife, children, grandchildren and Great Grandchildren would have learned enough from his life as to capture some of the hope he passed on to them and the church would continue teaching that the message of every church is that there is Redemption of all; of life and death.
The second Sunday of Advent is on the theme of Peace. Peace is not the easy absence of conflict but the meeting of challenges with affirming strength. For Andy, there was not a separate agenda of reprisal, only the return to a sense of stable order. That is why he really liked fixing things and returning them to working order. He believed that he could fix almost anything. Andy learned that the world was very complex and greater than his own ego and his message was that he had to keep on learning. He found peace when he could restore order in his life.
The third Sunday's theme is of Joy, and Andy's Joy was in that return to order. He enjoyed when people worked together, using their separate skills and each skill and person honored. He lived as if the church was greater than his own ego. His message to himself was that he had to keep learning. I will use the example of chairs. Every Church season, it was my bright idea to move the chairs around to meet the message of the season.
For instance, in a season where I wanted to say that Christ was living in the space between us, it would be my bright idea to move the Altar in to the center of the church with the chairs surrounding the Altar, all the chairs focused on the Altar. When the Season called for the need to people to be more aware of the need for unity in Church life, I would divide up the chairs so that no matter where you faced there would be another person who would be looking at you and you at them. If I thought that there needed to be a sense of greater learning and understanding I would set up the Altar like a classroom. When I thought that the people needed to be more in awe of the beauty of God's nature, I would set up the Altar facing the Windows looking out at the blossoming trees blooming and the birds flying joyfully from limb to limb, and at the end I would crumble up the leftover bread and step outside to feed the crumbs to our feathered friends to join in communion with us. If the season called for a long walk as a time for preparation, I would set up the Altar on the East end of the church with all people have to walk the long walk to enter and receive.
Did Andy like Moving chairs? NO. Actually the term most appropriate would be “Hell No!” Did he approve of all that extra effort? “NO!” He did it because he understood that his ministry in the church was greater than his own ego and he was here as a Servant of God and in that he found more joy when things came together.
The last Sunday of Advent is the theme of Love. Andy knew love. Above all. Paula loved him. He loved each of his children, grandchildren and Great grandchildren. He loved when things would come together. He loved being in the presence of others during the Coffee Hour after the services. That is why we are having a coffee hour after this service. I loved how he greeted my wife; for he loved my wife and I him. He loved living into the Practice of the Eternal and he knew when we die we continue an Eternal life.
Andy's Advent is over. “No more waiting!” I am reminded of that old Andre' Crouch song: Soon and very soon,
Soon and very soon,
We are going to see the King,
Soon and very soon,
We are going to see the King.
Soon and very soon,
We are going to see the King,
Hallelujah, hallelujah,
We are going to see the King.
Verse 2
No more crying there,
We are going to see the King,
No more crying there,
We are going to see the King.
No more crying there,
We are going to see the King,
Hallelujah, Hallelujah,
We are going to see the King.
Verse 3
No more dying there,
Andy's gone to see the King,
No more dying there,
Andy's gone to see the King.
No more dying there,
Andy's gone to see the King,
Hallelujah, Hallelujah,
We're all going to see the King.
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