Sunday, July 23, 2017

Reflection and Poem in Celebration of Mary Denaro's Life


A Reflection on the Occasion of a Service To Celebrate Mary Denaro's Life July 24, 2017
All Saints, Southern Shores, NC Thomas E Wilson, Preacher
Psalm 23 John 14:1-6

In My Father's House There Are Many Dwelling Places

We recited the 23rd Psalm today from the King James Version of the Bible because that was the version that many of us memorized when we were in Sunday school and it stayed in our memory - except sometime as we get older, there are memory lacunae, gaps, holes that open up. I had one last week when Stephen, our Seminary Intern, and I were at Mary's bedside and I entered the Psalm with confidence until, three lines in - my mind went blank and I picked it up a couple lines later. I was humbled because in my arrogance I wanted to portray myself to the Seminarian as a professional on top of my game. I have said that Psalm, that version, thousands of times, but suddenly it was like walking across a floor made out of Swiss cheese. Indeed I am an old man who cannot make it all by myself and need the help of a Shepherd, and the LORD is there to supply that need on a daily basis. The King James Version gives me that assurance for we know that the Psalm is a beautiful poem full of majestic language that uses the metaphor of Shepherd and sheep as a way to describe a daily relationship with God. We know that the metaphor is not to be taken literally but as poetic truth. As we were there with Mary, trying to be a comforting presence for her, I was faced with the deeper truth behind the poetry - that all of us in that room need a table being set for us in the presence of our enemies and a power greater than ourselves to make it through the day. And so it is for all of us in this room.

The King James Version of the Bible came about because there were splits in the Church of England over which version of the Bible was to be used for public worship. The Official Version was the Bishop's Bible which used much of the translation by William Tyndale. However many of the Puritans preferred to use the Geneva Bible which was a translation using the Calvinist tendency, especially in the margin notes. This was the Bible used by King James when he went to church when he was King James VI of Scotland. That particular translation did not look kindly on Kings, and Kings of Scotland were seen as very junior partners in the ruling of the country by the Presbyterian clergy establishment They kept James under a short leash. When Queen Elizabeth died, James VI of Scotland was offered the English throne as James I of England. James took the job because it paid a lot more and he, like Elizabeth, would be freer from clerical oversight and control.

One of the first thing he did was to call for a new version of the Bible which would be helpful for him. The committees he chose were packed more with poets than theologians. James wanted a book that used majestic language which would be helpful for him to reflect the King's majesty. James' view, a view unpopular in Presbyterian Scotland, was of a “Divine Right of Kings” who were God's representatives on Earth. The English translators, knowing which side their bread was buttered on, made choices that would be most pleasing for James. For instance, the word from John's Gospel used for “dwelling places” in the Greek means a place where someone abides, which could mean a house or even a tent. It was translated as “Mansions”. It is a majestic word for a majestic building. Since James saw himself as God's representative on earth, he hoped when the people would look at any of his castles they would know that he and God were close. He hoped his subjects would venerate him as King and accept their station of life, and after death, there would be a chance for an upgrade reward if you were good in this life. The version we used today, the New Revised Standard Version, returns to the more faithful translation.

I don't think that Jesus meant to separate God's dwelling places from this life to the next, but was saying that wherever we are, there also is God. On the occasion of this saying of Jesus, he is asked by his disciples where he is going. He reminds them that his whole life work was to help us remember that God's house is everywhere. Wherever two or three are gathered together, God is in the midst of us. Jesus life, death, and ministry is to prepare a place for us so that will know that God is not somewhere up there above the clouds but here, “on earth as it is in heaven”. There is no God-forsaken place in all of God's creation, even on the cross. The cross is a place where Jesus shows us that we may feel so alone that you cry out, “My God, my God why have you forsaken me?” The resurrection says that being forsaken is a feeling, not a fact.

Mary knew that God was with her. God was there in the space between them whenever Frank and she loved each other. God was there when she grew up with her parents she loved. God was there when she cared for her children and grandchildren. God was there when she went to work or came home. God was there in church and even in the middle of a bridge game. God was there in the middle of the losses of her life as she went through all the valleys of the shadow of death she passed through with friends and family. There were, of course, times she shared when she had a hard time feeling that presence; feelings come and go, but the presence of God is always there. God's presence is in this life and in the next or, as the Psalmist puts it “surely goodness and mercy shall follow her all the days of her life: and she will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever”.

We are to live this life abundantly with the presence of God in every part of our lives and to follow our Lord Jesus through the gate of death where life changes and continues in a whole new dimension of life fully in God's presence.

The obituary suggests different ways to remember Mary, but I ask you to remember Mary by telling stories about her and how she touched you with her life. Share how God was with you both in the space between you as you laughed or cried within the context of love. The presence of God is not a reward given for good behavior but it is a fact of the depth of our very existence.



In My Father's House There Are Many Dwelling Places

The Preacher rotes and drones the familiar words
without the fabled mansions as King James rests
one more time before beginning the prayer requests,
one last time Mary's name enters in parish records.
God's dwelling places were in every moment's sigh
when mourning her beloved husband and parents
or laughing at their joy of finally paying the rents
knowing that all could be gone in blink of an eye.
Mary knew that nothing lasts forever, except love,
for love keeps the name alive to tell again the story
when she has already gone, moving to new territory
where our puny imagination casts away its glove
on that day when our eyes can see that always
God is dwelling in space between us in all ways.

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