The Church of the
Incarnation, Jersey City NJ
August 22, 2013
The Funeral of
Stanley Oglesby
Job 19:21-27a
Psalm 139:1-11
Revelation 7:9-17
John 14:1-6
God Never Lets Go of Us
As
a priest, I guess I’m sort of a professional Christian. I spend much of my life
thinking about and talking about how we come to know God through the life,
death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
There
are some times, though, when I catch myself feeling kind of surprised that
Christianity ever really took off as a religion. It amazes me that faith in
Jesus spread from a small group of frightened and dazed followers in Palestine
two thousand years to the millions of people all around the world, including right
here in Jersey City, who claim Jesus is Lord.
Christianity’s
popularity surprises me because our faith really doesn’t try to sugarcoat life.
Our Christian faith is honest about suffering, loss, and despair. Our Christian
faith is honest that all too often life can feel like – that life is, in the words
of our reading from Revelation – a great ordeal.
We
never claim that being a Christian means we’ll live a life without suffering.
Just the opposite, often.
The
Christian honesty about life’s suffering, loss and despair has its roots in
Judaism, of course.
In
our first lesson this morning we heard a passage from the Book of Job – the
powerful tale of an upright and righteous man who is sorely, sorely afflicted.
Job is afflicted for no really good reason. We’re told there’s a little
heavenly bet made between God and Satan on whether Job will finally crack and
curse God. Not such a great reason for so much suffering.
Job
never quite curses God. But, man, he sure suffers – he sure goes through a
great ordeal – he sure experiences loss – he sure despairs.
At
one point, Job cries out, “Have pity on me, have pity on me, O you my friends,
for the hand of God has touched me! Why do you, like God, pursue me never
satisfied with my flesh?”
Job’s
suffering, Job’s losses, and Job’s despair were all too real.
Yet,
throughout his great ordeal, even when all hope seemed to be lost – especially when all hope seemed to be
lost - God never lets go of Job.
And
then there’s Jesus.
Although
we Christians believe Jesus is the Son of God, we’ve always insisted that Jesus
was a real flesh and blood human being. Jesus lived and walked among us. Jesus
shared in our humanity. And the gospels are clear that our brother Jesus knew
real suffering and painful despair.
Jesus
knew the pain of rejection when the people in his hometown refused to accept
him, leaving him seemingly powerless to heal and to teach.
Jesus
knew the pain of loss when he wept outside the tomb of his friend Lazarus.
Jesus
knew the pain of betrayal when one of his own turned against him and just about
everybody abandoned him to die alone the shameful death of a common criminal.
Jesus
knew the pain of saying good-bye to those he loved – of looking at their
confused and frightened faces – of hearing Thomas say, “Lord, we do not know
where you are going. How can we know the way?”
Jesus
knew the searing physical pain of dying on the cross – the nails driven through
his wrists and feet, the thorns thrust on his head, the gasping for breath as
his dying body strained for air.
Jesus
knew the emotional and spiritual pain of dying on the cross, crying out, “My
God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
Yet,
throughout the great ordeal, even when all hope seemed to be lost – especially when all hope seemed to be
lost - God never lets go of Jesus.
And
then there’s Stanley - and there’s us.
Today
we are experiencing real suffering, loss and despair.
I
never had the chance to meet Stanley but listening to his mom, his sister and
his niece – reading his obituary – and hearing the remembrances today - really
make me wish I had known him.
I
know you all would have loved to have him for a lot longer. He lived his life
with love, zest and compassion. He was someone who managed to pull off being
both a boxer…and a model. He was someone who loved all kinds of animals. He was
a faithful Christian. He was someone who was a devoted husband, father, son, grandson,
brother, and uncle. He was a caring and reliable friend. He was a trusted and
respected coworker.
And
he looked good doing it!
(His
family told me he resembled Billy Dee Williams. I took that with a grain of
salt until I saw the pictures. It’s true!)
But,
like for all of us, at times life was a great ordeal for Stan.
He
experienced great suffering, loss and despair.
In
the midst of all that suffering, loss and despair, like Job and Jesus and so
many others before him, like many of us here today, there must have been times
when Stan cried out to God, “Why have you forsaken me?”
And
maybe Stan couldn’t feel it, but throughout the great ordeal, even when all
hope seemed to be lost – especially
when all hope seemed to be lost - God never let go of Stanley.
And
God still hasn’t let go of him and will never let go of him.
When
Jesus died on the cross, it looked like that was the end of the story. Thomas
and the other first frightened and dazed disciples must have thought that they
had been fooled – that all their hopes were destroyed – that death really was
the end for Jesus and death was the end for us all.
But,
three days later, love defeated death once and for ever.
God
never let go of Jesus.
God
never let go of Stanley.
And
God will never let go of us.
So,
yes, today is a day of suffering, loss and despair. We will miss Stanley.
But,
today is also a day of celebration.
It’s
a day to celebrate the life of this wonderful man.
And
it’s a day to celebrate that Stanley is now with the God of love who never let
go of him – the God who never lets go of us.
Amen.
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