<font color='black' size='4' face='Times New Roman, Times, serif'>Loved it, Bob!
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<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica;font-size:10pt;color:black"><blockquote style="border-left: 2px solid blue; padding-left: 3px;">Hobbes replied, “Well, you still have afternoons and weekends.” Calvin rejoined, “That’s when I watch TV.” <sup>3</sup></blockquote></div>
If the deacon is not preaching Trinity Sunday, then one must be the curate! ;)</div>
<div>Our deacon is surely going to enjoy not preaching Sunday!</div>
<div><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Peace and blessings,</span></div>
<div>Joe<br>
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<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica;font-size:10pt;color:black">-----Original Message-----<br>
From: Robert P Morrison <robertpmorrison@charter.net><br>
To: 'propertalk@stsams.org' <propertalk@stsams.org><br>
Sent: Fri, May 20, 2016 6:44 pm<br>
Subject: [Propertalk] Funeral homily<br>
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<div class="aolReplacedBody">Inasmuch as it may interest you -
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<div>I don't preach this Sunday, our Deacon gets to play with the Trinity! I have the "second part" of the funeral homily tomorrow morning, however. The man who died - Paul - has a nephew who's a pastor in a community church in Washington State, so he's going take the first part of the homily to talk about Paul's life, and then I'll add this, based on the readings and the six years in which I knew Paul.
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<div>Happy weekend!</div>
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<div>Bob</div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">A MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR PAUL D MINSHALL</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF ST. ALBAN, ALBANY 21<sup>st</sup> MAY, 2016</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">ISAIAH 25:6-9 PSALM 23</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">1 CORINTHIANS 15:20-26, 35-38, 42-44, 53-58</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">JOHN 6:37-40</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> What does it mean to be alive? Pastor Rob gave us a pretty good picture of what life was about for Paul.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> A poet wrote,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> You start dying slowly</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> if you do not travel,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> if you do not read,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> if you do not listen to the sounds of life,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> if you do not appreciate yourself. <sup>1</sup></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> This sounds as if it could have been written for or about Paul. He really enjoyed travelling, whether literally, or figuratively, in his mind, taking in thoughts about different locations from the comfort of an arm chair. And if there’s one thing he missed out on doing, it would have been another visit to Alaska to visit great grandchildren. But then, Paul knew that there were some things that one never gets around to doing. That’s what the prophet Isaiah tried to get across to his listeners. That’s what lay behind Paul’s comments to the early Christians in Corinth. Life isn’t necessarily fair. In fact, it’s filled with difficulty; it’s filled with disappointments; it’s filled with things which frustrate us and make us angry. Neither the prophet nor the apostle want us to think otherwise. They know that tears, that cries of pain and irritation, that anger will all be a part of our lives. If this were not so, then the prophet would have no need to say that “God will wipe away the tears from every face,”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> We know that Paul – Paul Minshall, not Paul the apostle – was very frustrated by the fact that nothing more could be done for his deteriorating eyesight. We know that he was frustrated by the fact that he was moving a bit slower. Yet, while Paul didn’t appreciate what was going on in this part of his physical life, we know from his attendance faithfully at Church, from his participation in the life of the congregation, that, somehow, Paul was able to reconcile himself to this part of aging. Just like the rest of us, he was aware that change was part of life, especially in the life of a follower of Jesus. We’re all asked to deal with this as a part of our daily routines. Yes, Paul believed that he was accompanied by God in whatever he was doing. He expressed this both verbally and in writing. But while he accepted this in faith, he knew that that didn’t mean there would be no questions, that he wouldn’t have to wrestle with problems. Indeed, if there <b><u>WEREN’T</u></b> questions, if there <b><u>WEREN’T</u></b> doubts, then faith wouldn’t be necessary.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> So Isaiah and Paul, poetically, talked about faith, talked about the hope that we have from God that, no matter how much we cry and sigh now, there <b><u>WILL</u></b> be an end to everything that dispirits us, and that after waiting with confidence and working through the problems of this life we <b><u>WILL</u></b> be wrapped up in the joy and exuberance of God.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Many people talk of life as a voyage on the ocean, and Paul was no exception. In fact, the simile of being in a boat, of leaving one shore and not being able to see the other one, yet trusting that it was there and the people would arrive there safely; this simile was on his mind a lot. He talked about this. He wrote about this. He wrote both to and about his brother, Rich, after he died. He talked about Rich being with Jesus, and he talked about his own journey, not yet that far out on the ocean, although he knew that he’d complete the journey and be reunited with Rich and his sister, June, at some point.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Just as Isaiah described, Paul looked forward to the banquet which awaits all of us. He didn’t bother to think about or plan the menu. The good thing about Paul’s faith was that he knew that whatever was there would be so enjoyable that it would be worth the wait, worth even the diminished abilities of his physical body. Nor did Paul spend a lot of time worrying as, apparently, the Christians in Corinth did, about how we’d be in God’s bearer Presence. Spending time trying to determine our height, our weight, or any other characteristic, as the apostle pointed out, was simply a waste of time. Again, just as in the menu at God’s banquet, so trying to second guess God about the appointments of how God’s reign would be celebrated would simply be a waste of time.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Paul understood this. He didn’t get himself tied up in knots about the details of what was going to happen. He accepted Jesus’ words at their face value – that he and all of us, friends of Jesus, would never be forgotten but would be drawn together in Jesus’ company.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> By accepting this, and by living this out in his life, Paul gave an example to me and to everyone else he met, whether here among the congregation, or wherever else he was. Other people were so important to him. He didn’t simply <b><u>NEED</u></b> company, he thrived in it. He sought it out at every opportunity he could take, so that he could share his experiences. He had travelled. He had read. He had listened to an incredible richness in the sounds of life. And he appreciated himself. So he was able to share. As that poet suggested, by doing this, which included talking about his faith, and trying to make sense of what he read in the Bible and what he discussed with others; by doing this, Paul <b><u>LIVED</u></b>. He didn’t simply exist; he <b><u>LIVED</u></b> so that others’ lives would be touched, and enriched, and made a bit easier.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Alan shared that over the last months and weeks, Paul had read and marked both passages in the letters to the Corinthian Christmas and also some of the Psalms. These, and the act of reading them and mulling them over, were <b><u>THAT</u></b> important to Paul. He was thinking ahead, not just for himself, but for us also.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> One of the brothers who lives in community in the Society of St. John the Evangelist, in Cambridge,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Massachusetts, wrote the other day, “What we are to become — and that is already envisioned in the heart of God — and </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">what we are becoming through the ‘daily visitation’ of the Holy Spirit, animates us, transforms us even now.” </span><sup style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">2</sup></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> In other words, what God has in mind for us, what God wishes for each of us, gives us the courage to face up to whatever struggles, whatever sadness and grief, whatever tears, whatever angers, we may have right now. But, as we celebrated at Pentecost a couple of Sundays ago, each and every day God’s Spirit visits us to renew us and to guide us so that we can take whatever steps may be necessary so that we can enjoy each day.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Yesterday, in the cartoon panel, “Calvin and Hobbes”, the young boy Calvin said, “Here I am, waiting for the bus. Eleven more years of school to go. Then college, then maybe graduate school, and then I work until I die. What kind of a world is this?! You only get five years to be a kind?? What about exploring and discovering and playing? Those things are important to!” To which Hobbes replied, “Well, you still have afternoons and weekends.” Calvin rejoined, “That’s when I watch TV.” <sup>3</sup></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Isaiah, Paul, Jesus – none of them said that we should expect life to be a picnic, or that it would be all TV watching or even running through the fields and lying on the grass, resting on a tree. Nor did Paul look for that. He knew that life was work. But he knew also, that life with and in Christ brought and would continue to bring joy and fulfilment, until the ages of ages.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> So in that faith – Paul’s as well as the faith to which we’re each called – in that faith, we will learn to deal with the sadness of partings as we entrust Paul into God’s care.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Thanks be to God for Paul’s faith and service!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">NOTES:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">[1]</span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Attributed to Pablo Neruda. See <a target="_blank" href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=9&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwj7stvplenMAhUS52MKHYa2DhsQFgg7MAg&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.middlewaysociety.org%2Fpoetry-108-you-start-dying-slowly-by-pablo-neruda%2F&usg=AFQjCNFQSIk5Z64tEbgNHYOGtQ5XZeeKuA">https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=9&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwj7stvplenMAhUS52MKHYa2DhsQFgg7MAg&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.middlewaysociety.org%2Fpoetry-108-you-start-dying-slowly-by-pablo-neruda%2F&usg=AFQjCNFQSIk5Z64tEbgNHYOGtQ5XZeeKuA</a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">2</span></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Br. Mark Brown <a target="_blank" href="http://ssje.us4.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=344ed142b391b2b520df4080c&id=4d195c0c63&e=d3bff814a3">Society of Saint John the Evangelist</a> <a target="_blank" href="http://ssje.us4.list%20manage.com/track/click?u=344ed142b391b2b520df4080c&id=e4f7ae1426&e=d3bff814a3">http://ssje.us4.list manage.com/track/click?u=344ed142b391b2b520df4080c&id=e4f7ae1426&e=d3bff814a3</a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">3</span></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> “Calvin and Hobbes” by Bill Watterson, April 18, 1988 <a target="_blank" href="http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1988/04/18?utm_source=ch-fb&utm_medium=socialmarketing&utm_content=quotes&utm_campaign=social">http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1988/04/18?utm_source=ch-fb&utm_medium=socialmarketing&utm_content=quotes&utm_campaign=social</a></span></div>
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