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At his funeral, Bill Manley’s Granddaughter spoke of a time she was going through a rough period & asked her grandfather for advice. What should she do about a marriage that was falling apart? Life is short – no, it can be long and drawn out if you’re miserable. What are we waiting for? What are we waiting for to really begin living? The gift of immortality in God is not the special gift everyone thinks it is. (Doctors, preachers) We’ve made death into a taboo subject. Regardless of how you view the concept of eternal life, we still have the reality of death, so what was the point of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection? I believe that it was so we could live as those who go forth to die, and to die as those who go forth to live. You see, my spiritual director even had to remind me this week, we have this crazy little thing in human existence called “finitude.” It means that we won’t live forever, and in that limited time frame, we have some very important choices to make. What we do on this earth will leave a legacy to be remembered or perhaps to be too easily forgotten. I’ve been reminded lately of what it truly means to live a life well. It will be obvious at Ruby Gray’s Memorial Service this afternoon that she was able to look into the eyes of every student she taught and see the eyes of Jesus. It was obvious when Mary Eleanor spoke at Bill Gall’s funeral that he had made the commitment early on to be a committed father. It was obvious at Bill Manley’s funeral that a very rich man could find in his heart the strength to give his wealth away to schools, hospitals, and for the education of his descendants. Over my years as a pastor, both here and in Altoona, I’ve noticed that the funeral service is one of those rare chances to try to string together meaning in a person’s life. If your life were a book, would anyone enjoy reading it? Certainly, none of us can do it all. It’s simply impossible. But what we can do does make a difference. At times we have to choose to risk – risk the hurt of a relationship, risk the anger of someone we love, risk a promotion, or risk, yes, even losing our lives. Jesus was about making a difference, sitting in a hospital room, praying, helping a child. It doesn’t feel like much – but it can be everything. You see Jesus was “God made flesh” for us in whatever way you care to interpret that statement. Jesus wore the divine image better than any of us can. We try, and we fail, but the important question is, “Are we willing to try again?” God chose to be like us, one of us, so that the realm of human life would become sacred. We are living on holy time. You probably already know that the Greeks had two words for time chronos – which is where we get the word chronological, and kairos – and we don’t seem to have an equivalent for that. Chronos time is the steady beat to beat, minute to minute kind, the sense of linear time that we Westerners are very used to. Kairos time indicates those special moments when earth and heaven touch and become one. Kairos time stands still. They are the moments that, I think, follow us into heaven, and are always a part of who we are. What are we waiting for? We are waiting for Jesus, Emmanuel, the God made flesh, the human made sacred. When we receive that holy child of Bethlehem – a humble birth in a lowly town. We realize that we can be all that God calls us to be. And it may scare us. It’s easy for us to let our legacy become a matter of chance rather than a matter of purpose. For Jesus, it was purposeful and look how that purpose has lasted. What will your legacy be? That you were generous, that you were kind to others, that you were a dedicated mother or father, that you cared about the planet and it’s future, that you made knowledge a holy endeavor, that you somehow and in some way, when presented with the option – chose to be faithful, to be true to the divine image inside of you. What are you waiting for? Amen |