Bishop Packard's
Sermon
Alice Humphrey’s Memorial Service in Germany
St. Alban's May 2007
I think the emphasis is on the word
“celebrate”, today. “Thanksgiving”
is the record of who Alice was, what she did, and what
she was like. And that it is now a matter of record.
But “celebrate” is something
different altogether. Celebrate has a future aspect
to it. What was it about Alice’s life that reflected
a grace given by Jesus Christ? How does her memory –
and in this sense – memory means “presence”
convert (and convict) the moments we are currently living?
This happened to the disciples. Their
lives were so changed after the Resurrection that they
realized they were fundamentally “in on it”.
Jesus’ death and resurrection was essential to
the way they lived their lives. You see, we are all
partakers of this holy communion.
Alice’s life is so well documented
by Bill that we might miss the effect of what her memory
is yet to do.
Alice is the best guide for this reflection
on “life after death” because in her living
she was most truly alive. By the animation in which
she lived her life it is easier to infer there is something
more to it.
We have only to go to the lessons
of this Easter Season to see what I mean. Even casual
bystanders – unbelievers – noticed that
Peter and the other disciples were quickened somehow
by their faith in Jesus Christ. They fully expected
to see him again and they planned on living their lives
accordingly.
Their time in the Upper Room before
the Resurrection – shuttered, isolated and closed
off – was a world apart from their embrace of
their mission after Pentecost. Indeed, we may be in
a similar place now. I say that because we may be attending
this service, dutifully, to pay our respects to Alice
– nothing wrong with that – but really have
no practical expectation that we will meet her again.
Yet that is the promise! This may be a little uncomfortable
to think of – sort of séance-like but this
was the same accusation leveled at the disciples after
the Resurrection.
It was Jesus keeping his word –
and returning – which changed everything. It was
that faith that the saints counted on and it is that
same faith we count on with Alice Phillips Humphreys
and all our loved ones who have died, and, for now,
we see no longer.
We might say that they are guardians
of certain aspects of life until the Kingdom comes.
Because they were finite their embrace is not expansive,
God leaves that for the saints, but theirs has enough
scope to catch our attention again and makes us thankful
that they came our way in life. This is not some warm,
nostalgic remembrance only, because from God’s
perspective this is a full blown interaction with a
living remembrance. It is so hard for us to accomplish
this. Oh, we can do it briefly after someone has died
because their memory is still fresh but over time these
interactive moments step into the background for us.
But it is not that way for God. An Alice moment will
always be an Alice moment.
In some generations there has been
an insistence to this “perpetualizing” of
memory. The land is full of monuments to such moments.
Indeed, some personalities were so grand in life their
reverberations still reach us today. Think of Abraham
Lincoln. The noblest have programs of education or scholarship
which reach across the years to other generations saying,
“this is a person who lived and loved is someone
we want to share with you.” That is an important
thing to do and it might be important to do for Alice.
It is God’s practical project
for the frail living. It keeps us occupied until that
great day when all the dead are joined with the living.
Its goal is the incomplete task of bringing the Kingdom
of Heaven to earth. In our small ways all of our journeys
– even for Alice when she was among us –
was to bring the Kingdom of God that much closer. I
don’t mean to sound jaded when I said that God
had given us something to keep us occupied in these
temporary days until he brings the Kingdom to earth.
You see it is a matter of time and for Almighty God
it is a matter of perspective. The blink of an eye!
There are certain things Alice did
we might pass on and who knows what kind of longevity
it might have and I don’t mean shopping! One might
be the Alice greeting -- a sort of wide eyed welcome.
Another might be to make crooked all (or one) of the
straight pictures you see. This playfulness with uniformity
might – just might – put in jeopardy our
serious insistence on having things our way. As one
theologian once wrote, “making sacred means enabling
these human symbols to become effective signs of the
presence and of that living Christ.” Tilting a
picture or two might be what we need.
You might say to yourself, “Well
we are taking about our Alice, here, aren’t we?
The Alice I knew was just delightfully, well, whacky!”
And that she was, but with a twinkle in her eye. I always
got the impression that she fully knew what she was
doing – did it anyway – and did it with
gusto. I don’t know if you are aware of it but
there are shelves and shelves of books dedicated to
the theology of play at Union Theological Seminary in
New York. A professor there wrote his dissertation on
it. I know what you’re thinking – this man
needs to get out more. Maybe he does but listen to this,
“Sheer whimsy in life counterbalances all those
human insistences and at best has greater wisdom because
it exposes its underlying uncertainty. What we intend
we can never truly match in our action.”
The person who plays with life waits
in expectation for the final answer which only comes
with grace. By the way, does this sound like anyone
familiar to you? What a charming way for this pilgrim
to spend her life of whimsy than to be the serious life
partner of Bill, the proud mother of Mandy and prouder
still grandmother of Tyler, Caitlin and Mason. She could
even be a serious mother-in-law of Patrick. I thought
it was revealing when Alice’s brother Marty once
said he hadn’t realized something about his sister
to which the listener said, “Strange, she’s
told me everything possible about you!” Whimsy,
yes, but serious, serous, serous about the things that
count.
My wife and I tried to find the origin
of Alice’s favorite hymn, “The Snow Lay
on the
Ground”. Couldn’t do it. We came up with:
not traceable – just “bubbled up”
in history and became part of worship organically and
naturally.
The tune just bubbled up from
God’s great storehouse of whimsy. And so did Alice.
She is the reminder of God’s grace to know that
this life will never be quite what it ought to be until
the Kingdom comes. Her life lives on in all the captured
moments of tilted pictures, tousled heads of grandchildren,
and uncompromising welcomes. You wait and see where
God will remind you of her next because he will never
forget and beckons us all to a service with her and
all the saints. +gep
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Andrew
Gary's Farewell Party at 815
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Bishop
George and Brook Packard, Bishop Katharine
and Andrew gather at the party
(left to
right) |
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Fellow
815 staffers gather to enjoy the food and
toast Andrew |
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Bishop
Packard expresses the appreciation and good
will from the chaplain family to Andrew |
Bishop
Packard Announces the Hiring of Chaplain Babs
Meairs
I am happy to announce the employment
of The Rev. Babs M. Meairs as the Field Coordinator
for this episcopacy.
Babs comes to this part-time
position as a uniquely and amply qualified priest,
chaplain, pastor and counselor. When she assumes
her duties in May she will have just completed
five years as the Director of Pastoral Care at
the VA San Diego Healthcare System in California
and before that she held staff chaplain positions
there and at the VA North Texas Healthcare System
and the VA Palo Alto Healthcare System. She is
a nationally known expert on pastoral care to
spinal cord injury patients and she was one of
the select chaplains I asked to come to New York
to assist us in September 11th response. She is
married to the Rev. Ed Busch and they have four
children and three grandchildren.
Chaplain Meairs will be the
first person to fill this strategic position and
I'm glad she is the one to bring a model of commitment,
compassion and professionalism to the post. It
is a two year assignment meant to rotate among
our recently retired and qualified chaplains;
duties include visitation to chaplains at their
locations and representing this office at various
conferences and meetings. We ask that the Coordinator
remain in the field - and thereby work from their
home as a base - in this case, for Babs, San Diego.
Please join me in a hearty welcome
to our sister and fellow chaplain in this work
on behalf of us all.
Bishop George E. Packard
Insurgent Snipers
Sent After Troops: Key targets include doctors,
chaplains; risk highest in cities
By John Diamond, USA Today
July 28, 2006
WASHINGTON - Iraqi
insurgents are teaching recruits sophisticated
sniper techniques for targeting U.S. troops that
include singling out engineers, medics and chaplains,
according to training material obtained by U.S.
military intelligence.
The insurgent sniper training
manual was posted on the Internet. Among its tips:
"Killing doctors and chaplains is suggested
as a means of psychological warfare."
Army Capt. Matt Hasson of Central
Command confirmed the manual's authenticity but
wouldn't talk about specifics.
The threat of sniper fire is greatest in urban
areas because shooters have more hiding places.
That's a concern for U.S. forces as more troops
enter Baghdad to combat escalating violence.
In Ramadi, west of Baghdad,
Army Col. Sean MacFarland disclosed plans this
month to level a dozen buildings used as hiding
places by snipers and bombers.
Combat troops don't always report
sniper deaths as such to prevent insurgents from
learning that an attack succeeded, says Army Maj.
John Morgan, a spokesman for U.S. forces in Baghdad.
Through November 2005, when the Pentagon last
reported a sniper fatality, the Army had attributed
28 of 2,100 U.S. deaths to snipers.
This year, snipers have killed
at least 16 U.S. troops, according to news accounts
or information posted on blogs by troops' family
members. None of these fatalities was blamed on
sniper fire in official reports; the deaths were
attributed to "small arms fire" or "combat
operations."
The insurgent manual says snipers
should target U.S. officers because they are hard
to replace, tank drivers because their deaths
could immobilize tank crews, and communications
officers because their deaths could delay calls
for reinforcements.
Translated into English by U.S.
intelligence, the manual advises snipers to avoid
large groups of soldiers "unless you are
sure of your ability to kill them and escape."
It ranks Iraqi government forces as lower-priority
targets who can be attacked by less well-trained
combat brigades.
U.S. intelligence discovered
the training manual in May 2005 on a website that
appears to be no longer functioning.
The Army's intelligence branch at the Training
and Doctrine Command at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas
studied the sniper problem last year out of concern
that it wasn't getting enough attention. Three
reports were distributed to officers in charge
of training troops for duty in Iraq.
"Snipers were - in our
estimation - a threat that was not being robustly
portrayed in mission rehearsal exercises,"
command spokesman Harvey Perritt said in an e-mail
response to questions.
The Army's sniper study
and a follow-up last November observed that insurgent
snipers are "well-trained," often work
in two-man teams, can shoot around troops' body
armor and have easy access to weapons from stockpiles
left by the former regime of Saddam Hussein.
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Resolution
D019
Title: Pastoral Concern for Troops in Iraq and
Afghanistan and their Families
Topic: Pastoral Care
Committee: Ministry
House of Initial Action: Bishops
Proposer: The Rev. Robert Windsor (Massachusetts)
Resolved, That
the 75th General Convention pray for the people
of Iraq and Afghanistan and for all those who
are working to bring peace to those lands, particularly
United States military personnel and their families,
relief forces from allied nations, and all civilian
aid workers from the United States and other countries;
and be it further
Resolved, That the Convention express
its particular concern and support for all personnel
serving in the military in Iraq and Afghanistan;
and be it further
Resolved, That the Convention urge all
Episcopalians and all congregations of The Episcopal
Church to join in such prayer and support; and
be it further
Resolved, That the Convention offer its
thanks and gratitude to all Episcopal chaplains
serving in the military for their pastoral ministries,
particularly those serving in Iraq and Afghanistan;
and be it further
Resolved, That the Convention direct
the Office of the Bishop Suffragan for Chaplaincies
to communicate to all Episcopal military chaplains
and to the Episcopal service men and women in
Iraq and Afghanistan these commitments of prayer,
concern, support, and thanksgiving. |
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