Here is the text of the homily I prepared for the funeral we celebrated today in Temagami for one of the residents who was suddenly taken home to the Father's house.
Dear friends, we have come to this place today to pray for our brother, our friend Lance. This community doesn’t normally gather in this place on Monday morning, but some things in life are unpredictable, and we must always be ready and willing to experience them, to learn from them and then to recognize the wisdom that we have gained from such encounters.
Our meeting today is not unlike the group described in the gospel we have just heard, a gathering of attendants who were given the privilege of accompanying the bridegroom when he arrived for the wedding banquet. Like them, we spend our entire lives waiting for the moment when Christ, our bridegroom will arrive. When he does, we trust that he will take us into the wedding banquet with him. There, we will partake fully in the celebration.
None of us knows the moment when this encounter will take place. While we wait, Jesus tells us that we must prepare our lamps, keep the oil reserves filled and the wicks trimmed. We do this by loving one another as he has loved us, by forgiving one another whenever we have been wronged and by constantly seeking opportunities and occasions for sharing the love and the joy that we have come to know in the relationship of trust we share with our God.
From the moment of his baptism, Lance was invited to wait for the arrival of the bridegroom. He waited for this encounter as he lived in Welland, on the lookout for so many years for the safety of that city’s residents, sharing the joy of his anticipation for this day of encounter with all the little ones who found joy on hockey rinks, and later in life, keeping his lamp ready as he encountered the many visitors to this beautiful part of the country.
Until last week, Lance dreamed and planned for a future filled with gatherings and encounters with his friends, his sister and her family, his beloved children, his grandchildren and his companion Millie, but the length of our days here on earth is not determined by our own merit. God alone knows how long we will have to share the light of our faith with others until he calls us home.
Today, our faith gathers us here in this church. The scriptures tell us that the souls of the virtuous are in the hands of God and no torment will ever touch them. This is a promise that we can rely on. Lance is at peace now, in a place where the trials of this world can no longer trouble him.
As for us, what lessons have we learned from having known Lance? How has his life influenced our own? Each of us has been entrusted with our own lamp, complete with fuel and a wick. It’s up to us to make sure that it’s ready to be lit, to burn brightly, to show the light of our faith to those we encounter. Eventually, the day will come when each of us will stand before the judgment seat of God … to give an account of ourselves and the ways we have shared his love, his light and his life with all those who have shared this journey with us.
Funeral homily for Lance Charles White
Dear friends, we have come to this place today to pray for our brother, our friend Lance. This community doesn’t normally gather in this place on Monday morning, but some things in life are unpredictable, and we must always be ready and willing to experience them, to learn from them and then to recognize the wisdom that we have gained from such encounters.
Our meeting today is not unlike the group described in the gospel we have just heard, a gathering of attendants who were given the privilege of accompanying the bridegroom when he arrived for the wedding banquet. Like them, we spend our entire lives waiting for the moment when Christ, our bridegroom will arrive. When he does, we trust that he will take us into the wedding banquet with him. There, we will partake fully in the celebration.
None of us knows the moment when this encounter will take place. While we wait, Jesus tells us that we must prepare our lamps, keep the oil reserves filled and the wicks trimmed. We do this by loving one another as he has loved us, by forgiving one another whenever we have been wronged and by constantly seeking opportunities and occasions for sharing the love and the joy that we have come to know in the relationship of trust we share with our God.
From the moment of his baptism, Lance was invited to wait for the arrival of the bridegroom. He waited for this encounter as he lived in Welland, on the lookout for so many years for the safety of that city’s residents, sharing the joy of his anticipation for this day of encounter with all the little ones who found joy on hockey rinks, and later in life, keeping his lamp ready as he encountered the many visitors to this beautiful part of the country.
Until last week, Lance dreamed and planned for a future filled with gatherings and encounters with his friends, his sister and her family, his beloved children, his grandchildren and his companion Millie, but the length of our days here on earth is not determined by our own merit. God alone knows how long we will have to share the light of our faith with others until he calls us home.
Today, our faith gathers us here in this church. The scriptures tell us that the souls of the virtuous are in the hands of God and no torment will ever touch them. This is a promise that we can rely on. Lance is at peace now, in a place where the trials of this world can no longer trouble him.
As for us, what lessons have we learned from having known Lance? How has his life influenced our own? Each of us has been entrusted with our own lamp, complete with fuel and a wick. It’s up to us to make sure that it’s ready to be lit, to burn brightly, to show the light of our faith to those we encounter. Eventually, the day will come when each of us will stand before the judgment seat of God … to give an account of ourselves and the ways we have shared his love, his light and his life with all those who have shared this journey with us.
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