gone to be with the God she loves. The shadows of grief are for a moment. We need to remember that the light of God’s love shines on behind us and we have the assurance that death is not the end.
Years ago when I was in school, I remember preaching in a small mountain church. I got there and it was night, and in the winter months, it was dark and dreary. As I pulled up in my little Ford before that church, it seemed dark, lonesome and dreary. As I walked toward the church, I thought this is, indeed, going to be a depressing service. I assumed since I saw no light that there would not be many present for the service. But when I opened the door, light flooded out toward me from the church that was filled with many lights and filled with people who had gathered there to worship.
On this side of death, it may look gloomy and sad to us, but when the door of death is opened, light floods into our lives and the shadows disappear. The light of God’s presence sustains us and we walk into the eternal life that God has prepared. Myrtle has gone to that land of light. She no longer is in the land of shadows. She has found the peace of God. May God come into our lives to give us a sense of peace and rest and may we find comfort in knowing that for her, she has gone from this life to dwell in the eternal realm that God has prepared.
Alfred Lord Tennyson has expressed his faith in life beyond death in these beautiful lines in his “In Memoriam.”
Strong Son of God, Immortal Love,
Whom we, that have not seen thy face,
By faith, and faith alone, embrace,
Believing where we cannot prove;
Thou wilt not leave us in the dust:
Thou madest man, he knows not why,
He thinks he was made not to die;
And thou hast made him: thou art just.
We have but faith; we cannot know;
For knowledge is of things we see;
And yet we trust it comes from thee,
A beam in darkness; let it grow.
Let knowledge grow from more to more,
But more of reverence in us dwell;
That mind and soul, according well,
May make one music as before,
But vaster.2
O God of Light, we come to this moment of death, expressing our grief at the loss of this good woman, Myrtle Bates. We thank you for her life among us, for her faith and hope. Encircle the family now in the arms of Your love and give them the assurance that death is not the end. May they know that truly we walk through valley into the land of eternal life that you have prepared. May Your comfort, peace, love and grace abide in the hearts of the family both now and forevermore. Amen.
2 Alfred Lord Tennyson, “In Memoriam,” James Dalton Morrison, editor. Masterpieces of Religious Verse (New York: Harper & Brothers Publishing, 1948), 327-328.
3: A Homily
for
Phyllis Cave and Brandon Shaw
(Murder and Suicide)
Romans 8:18-27
At a time like this, words cannot adequately express all that we feel or would like to say. When death intrudes our life suddenly and as unexpectedly as the events over the past few days did, we are overwhelmed with emotion, anger and many unresolved questions. Nevertheless, we gather this afternoon to share our grief but more to probe the mystery of such a tragedy and to try and sense the presence of God.
We Stand before the Mystery of Death and Search for Light.
We come today first of all acknowledging the mystery of life. For all of us there is a sense of shock and denial, some sense of depression, physical symptoms, and even some hostility. Questions run through our minds. Why is there such suffering and pain? Why does God allow such tragedies to happen? These are your questions and my questions. We acknowledge that we cannot understand all of the mystery of life. Suffering and death have no easy word. There is no right word for such a time as this.
But death is not the only mystery of life. So is birth itself. So is the beauty of fall, the coldness of winter, the budding of life in the spring, and the warmth of summer. There is a mystery also in birth and growing, in loving and caring. We can’t understand it all. The buds on the trees in the springtime of the year remind us that life goes on. They have been dormant all through winter, but the warmth of spring brings them back to life. Flowers blossom forth from the seeds and bulbs that have been planted so that we have their loveliness in the summer. No one can explain so easily how life continues or why it ends as it does. There is a deep sense of mystery.
Thankful for the Gift of Life
We also thank God for the gift of life. We thank God for the years shared with Phyllis and Brandon. Family members remember Phyllis when she had a full head of brown curly hair. Family members loved to call her “Baby doll.” When she was young, she loved life, was energetic, filled with laughter, fun-loving and loved to tease her brother and others. She was a caring and affectionate person. She has always been good and faithful to her closest friends. She enjoyed fishing and camping with her family when she was young. She loved her family dearly. As she got older, she seemed to develop a low sense of self-esteem. Although gifted and intelligent, she struggled with her own self-direction in life. One of her songs entitled “Vapors” expresses something of this feeling. Listen to her words and the poetry that she wrote:
Vaporized beam that I am, no more in time,
than a shift of sand.
In a world that’s not mine.
I know that I’m
passin’ through
with one secret of life.
It’s all in your mood.
Take stride in your strife. Hey, live your life.
Vaporized beam that I am, no more in time,
than a shift of sand.
In a world that’s not mine.
Vaporized beam that I am,
travelling this land.
Let me always be kind,
to that other man in time.
Vaporized beam that I am, no more in time,
than a shift of sand.
In a world that’s not mine.
She did not seem to have enough self-confidence in herself. For some time now, Phyllis became obsessed that someone was going to harm Brandon and her. In her confused emotional state, Phyllis thought that her tragic act would somehow protect them from a greater danger. She loved Brandon deeply, and in her mental sickness she thought she was protecting him. We can never fully get inside her mind but
