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.
No comments:
Post a Comment