A Reflection on the Life of David Guest Smith, “Sailor” Dave December 30, 2023
The Church Of The Holy Trinity, Hertford, NC Thomas E Wilson Guest Presider
A Service of Thanksgiving For His Life. (8-19-1937 to 11-28-23)
Lamentations (3:22-26, 31-33), 2nd Corinthians (4:16- 5:9), John (6: 36-400
When “Sailor” Dave Smith died, we here at the Church of the Holy Trinity in Hertford had been using the Advent Wreath as a way of getting ready for Christmas. The Advent wreath has five Candles which help illustrate the way that we approach the Holy. The Wreath had four candles in the circle which symbolizes the steps to union with the divine; Hope, then Peace, then Joy and then Love. After we pause each week to look at the journey, on Christmas Day we light the Christ Candle, the center to say that Christ has come into the world and we are connected to the Divine.
We understand that these symbolize the steps in Prayer and Spiritual Grace in every day life; Hope, Joy, Peace, Love lead into holy Union. When I learned how to grow in Prayer instead of just parroting old ritual prayers as I prepared to be a Priest, I found that there is an inward journey to union as well to take undergirding all the Bible Study, Religious Theories, and Liturgical Stagecraft that I was learning. Just closing my eyes and say the first thing I could think of to fill up the silence in talking to God. You can talk any way you want in talking to God, but growing with God is a little more complicated than shooting off my thoughts to the empty silence.
The first step is Hope. This is where I had to stop and think about what it was I was going to ask for. I had to ask “What would God want for me?” instead of pouring out what I wanted and just blunder ahead. Let me give you an example. When I was in college one summer, I worked as an actor in an Outdoor Drama in Florida. I was pretty good, in that I learned and said my lines well, could do a realistic battle with the Indians, commanded my stage in my places the Director approved, stood looking pretty in my 16th Century Spanish Soldier costume. I thought I was good, but I was the only member of the cast not to sing. I was just belting out and not really paying attention to the notes or tone. My ego, covering my 19 year old insecurity, was too great for me to shed for me to be part of a larger cast in song. I did not approach the song, nor the summer, with Hope. The problem was that I was play acting and did not form a relationship with my character; I was only doing it for the money, and what I could get out of a wild summer on the Beach with a equally shallow girl friend.
When we approach something with Hope, we begin by stepping outside what we want and begin to explore an opportunity for union with something greater than myself. We had to be prepared to grow and learn; and to be persuaded that we could do it. That was Hope: the beginning of growth. As Paul wrote in his Letter to the Corinthians “Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day.” and “We walk by faith and not by sight.”
The second part of the learning was Peace. We have to learn how to be comfortable stretching ourselves leaving our fragile egos behind. We have to learn that failure is a way of learning and we do not need to be totally in charge. Learning was not an admission of stupidity but a step into a move towards mastery.
Joy was that next step as we learned each new step and were proud of stretching ourselves to do what we once feared.
The next step is Love which is the step beyond having joy because of our mastery, but to see our growth as a way to give a gift of love.
The next step is union where we would see ourselves as connected to something much larger than ourselves. As John remembers Jesus promise “I will raise you up on the last day.” or as I like to think that the Christ is here to raise us all up on every day.
I think of Dave and how he learned to sail. When I first heard the name “Sailor Dave Smith”, I thought it was interesting that parents would give the name “Sailor” as their son's first name. But it was the choice of friends to use to differentiate two men in the development named Dave, Trooper Dave and Sailor Dave, based on what they had done before they came to the development.
You don't get popped out of the womb being a sailor, you begin by learning how much you do not know, but you trust you will learn if you devote time and energy to match your hope. There will be a lot of failures, but there will come a time of peace where the wind, the water, the sails, the apparatus are your friends that you no longer battle against; there is peace is the boat. Then, there is joy and you want to do it as much as possible. So much joy, that friends start calling you Sailor Dave as if that was your birth name and that is where union begins.
Those are the steps, Hope, Peace, Joy, Love and Union that Dave took when he made the decision to study music and play a musical instrument, starting with a Sousaphone. These were the steps, Hope, Peace, Joy, Love and Union that Dave did when he looked at his nation he loved and made the decision to be in the service as an outward and visible sign of his love. These were the steps, Hope, Peace, Joy, Love and Union that Dave took when he learned how to fly with eagles. These were the steps, Hope, Peace, Joy, Love and Union that Dave took when he joined choirs and learned how to sing together with others to make a beautiful noise for God's people. These were the steps Hope, Peace, Joy, Love and Union that Dave learned how to be a member of a church. These were the steps Hope, Peace, Joy, Love and Union that Dave noticed Alice, a beautiful woman and dated and married her 55 years ago. These were the steps Hope, Peace, Joy, Love and Union that Dave went through to become a parent raising two sons two sons, David and Michael and being a grandfather to Nathaniel. These were the steps Hope, Peace, Joy, Love and Union that Dave took in his life ending with union with God and all creation that we celebrate today. As the reading for Lamentations read today reminds us: “Steadfast Love never ceases.”
I noted Dave's birthdate and Dave was two days older, than my wife, she was born on August 12, 1937 who she died six months ago. When I first met Pat almost 40 years ago, I did not like her, nor she me. Then as time went on I saw in her something I admired. Then I had hope that we might share some time. Then I had peace when I did not screw it up. Then I had joy in being with her. Then we shared love together, and 32 years ago we entered into Union. She died a little more than six months ago, but the Union remains. She is still in my life; I cannot see her but she is here in my soul and in God's arms. As Dave is part of this church's and your soul and God's love.
We are coming to the end of this year and tomorrow evening we might share, with our friends and our God, the choices that we choose to make in our lives in this coming New Year. Today, we give thanks for Dave Smith's life and choices; for the journeys in his life and in his death in Union with God's love.
Preparing For A Eulogy
Stepping off the larger stage leaving behind
all the trappings of what our wallet can hold,
when we can look at what it took to be bold,
by stepping out of a comfortable daily grind.
When we make a decision to breathe deeply,
of each moment we've been given to cherish,
to leave behind all the dull, tawdry or garish,
which clutters our very souls, oh so cheaply.
These are moments when we can stop to see,
all of the choices we have made to be bold,
not worrying if we are too young or too old,
seizing moments to live into the real “me”.
The “me” moments that we can only hope
mourners'll want stretch lives to that scope.
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