“Do Not Let Your Hearts be Troubled”
Homily Delivered at
the Funeral for Norman Kenyon
July 8, 2016 2 p.m.
Trinity Episcopal
Parish, Ashland Oregon
The Rev. Fr. Tony
Hutchinson, SCP, Ph.D.
Job 19:21-27a; Psalm
121; 1 John 3:1-2; John 14:1-6
God, take away our hearts of stone and give us hearts of flesh. Amen.
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust God, and trust me as well.” The death of a loved one is hard. We miss them.
We wonder about how they are, or even whether they are. The death of a loved troubles the heart. And it troubles it for a long time.
These words of Jesus are, then, a comfort: “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust God. Trust me.” Trust in the love behind, beneath, and
driving the universe. Trust in the God
who once suffered on a cross and himself died.
Trust in the God who himself wept at his friend Lazarus’ death. Trust.
Trust is a matter of relationship. And so is our hope for the dead. As we get older, we gradually realize that
more and more of those we love have passed on to death, what Shakespeare called
that “undiscovered country, from whose bourne no traveler returns.” And we can either give up hope and joy
forever, or give our hearts over to the power of love, of relationship, and
God. The great doctrine of the communion
of the saints is all about this: those
who have gone on before are still here, but unseen. For them life is changed, not ended. And so we pray for them and ask them to pray
for us. Our relationships go on, though
they are changed. And it is all in the
warm embrace of an all nurturing God who loves us and wills joy and salvation
for all.
I only knew Norm briefly after I came to Ashland and before
he and Pat moved north to be closer to family.
During that short time, I realized that he and she were all about
relationship. Ashland’s Meals on Wheels
program, now Food and Friends, took off and became a strong part of our
community life under the example of their volunteer leadership, with the model
of their happy and helping compassion for others. Looking now on Norm’s family, drawn together
for this sad event, relationship is still what his life is all about. And that is what makes the event also one of
joy, and hope.
In the Father’s house, there are many dwelling places, Jesus
says. The word means stopping over
places, temporary abodes on our journey in the eternities following Jesus. There are many, not a few or one. That’s because there are many of us, and a
great variety of relationships between us and Jesus. When all is said and done, Jesus is the way
we follow in this great mystery. Our
relationship with him is what draws us on.
In that, there is hope and joy. Let not your hearts be troubled. Amen.
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