Poem/Reflection on the Occasion of a Service for Patricia Basinger Fearing December 5, 2019 St. Andrew’s Church, Nags Head, N.C. Thomas E Wilson, Supply Clergy
Play Continues After
Curtains Fall
There is a play, that some of you might have heard of, The Lost Colony by Paul Green. The final scene is a metaphor for each of our lives. The colonists end their time on Roanoke Island and go into the unknown. Every year when I would see it, I was interested in how different actors reacted to that situation. Some were just going through the motions; the identities of the characters had been left behind and I could see that they were looking forward to the party after they got out of their costumes. Some of the choir members you could see holding their heads high to sing, but others were nervously looking down at the uneven ground so they would not trip. Some were still in their character roles with a mixture of expressions of steadfast movement, tinged with a touch of fear still lingering. It is a metaphor for the different ways we all leave the stage.
Pat Fearing has walked across this stage for the last time, the curtain has come down and, as the saying goes, “she has left the theatre.” Those of us who were witnesses to her performances in life, gather together to make sense of the play she was in, in her life as well as trying to make sense of the roles that we played.
For my sins, in previous years I was an actor in plays, and in a way, I still am doing different roles, some leads, some character roles, some love stories, some villains, some second spear carrier on the left. Every character I played in plays, I had to know something about what was going on with them and how they interacted with the other actors. I had to know what was in their pockets which the audience would never see. Being an actor helped me get better at understanding the scenes in which I play in life outside the theatre; Husband, father, lover, teacher. counselor, Priest, neighbor, citizen, schmuck and fool.
I can tell that some of you are saying to yourself; “Oh no! Please God if you exist, stop the old Ham is launching into Jacques’ monologue in Act 3 of As You Like it, about “All the world’s a stage/ And all the men and women merely players.”
In the play of Pat’s life, some of you have played different roles as hero or buffoon, as helper or hindrance, playing as directed by her or as an improvising partner. You all know different bits about her that you have shared with others for which you give thanks. You knew some things that you will take to your grave for which you have learned to forgive. You knew some things that were in her shadow that she was not aware of and you had the courage to tell her about, or the discretion not to mention, or the love to overlook.
Our part in the play today is to turn her over to the energy beneath all the universe which, we for convenience’s sake, we call God. God is the one whose creation she, Pat, is. As the Psalmist for today sang: “The LORD shall watch over your going out and your coming in, from this time forth for evermore.” By this incredible energy, in which she participated, she was known, in and out ,of all her costumes, and before her earthly life began and after the curtain went down. By this boundless love she was, and is, loved and beloved by. As the writer of Lamentations in the Hebrew Testament lesson for today cried, “The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” The writer of John’s Gospel comforts us with the hope that Pats rests in God in the New Creation to be awakened from having to play any more roles. In that rest, as the writer of the Revelation to John envisions, The Lamb at the center of the throne will be her shepherd, and she will be guided to springs of the water of life, and God will wipe away every tear from her eyes."
I invite all of you to come forward to receive communion. The word “Communion” means that we are connected, and the bread and wine are symbols of that connection with God and with Pat. Some people ask me how many attended the service and my standard answer is, “The place is crowded! What with all those angels, archangels and all the company of heaven.” Each of us brings the people in our hearts to communion. Even if is when only two or three are gathered together, the place is crowded.
There will be a time when the people who have the first hand memory of Pat will die, then the people who passed on the stories of Pat have left the stage, then the written memories will fade and the stones will wear out, but the love for Pat will continue, forever. Her spirit is here in the place she loved, and in the people she loved and was loved by.
Play Continues After Curtains Fall
She played a final scene last week,
reviews coming in. left and right;
“Do you remember that late night,
what she said getting up to speak?
She said those things that could not,
would not, be taken back at any time,
said without a clear reason or rhyme,
yet her gracious love put us on a spot.”
We all have habits of loving and hurting,
but friends, and Gods, forgive even that
careless thought said, starting that spat,
which came as prelude to her us flirting.
Let us bless the memories while we can,
so at God’s final curtain call we’ll stand.
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