Caitlin Trussell on September 14, 2018
You know the kind of laugh that makes you laugh along with it? Even if you missed the joke?! Laughter is contagious. Les’ laugh particularly so. It’s one of the main things many of you talk about when describing him. Last week at the hospital, soon after Les died, Marianne was telling a story about Les and she said, “Oh, the pen…” She went over to her purse, grabbed the pen, and held it up to push its top. She looked around at all of us, asking if it was too soon, and was immediately assured it wasn’t. She clicked the pen and out came Les’ laugh.
His laugh was talked about over and over again in a video made by his law firm. In the same video he was quoted answering a question about his greatest accomplishment. He was most proud of his many decades of marriage with Marianne. They were partners who loved each other’s company, who made each other’s lives of service possible, and often fell asleep laughing at the end of the day. Les’ joy and their joy together is why Marianne chose the readings from the Bible books of Galatians and Psalms.
Listening to Les himself over the last few years and also to his family over the last few weeks included story after story about Les’ joy of life and his service to others even through some significant health challenges – asthma since he was three years old, losing a clavicle bone to cancer in his teen years, and a couple more cancer surgeries as an adult. The stories also share a common theme about time. As much as Les laughed, he was utterly serious about time.
Being present in the time he had with each person and most especially in the time spent with his family – never missing dinner even if his work continued later at the kitchen table. He also shared the gift of over 40 years of time with the hundreds of acolytes in this church; youth who lit candles, carried Bibles, and lifted the cross in worship. He called the youth acolytes every Saturday night to remind them of their worship commitment the next day no matter where he was in the world. Perhaps this focus on time was in part because Les was not expected to live past his 50s. Every day was truly a gift.
There’s a temptation at funerals to try to look back and prove our worthiness before God. To think that we have to prove our own goodness or the worthiness of the person who died, and position ourselves in right relationship with God with a list of the good. But if Jesus’ death on a cross means anything, it means that God is not in the sin accounting business. Another way to say it is that it’s not about what we’re doing, or what Les did, it is all about what Jesus does for us.
In the gospel reading, Jesus says, “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” After all, how much more can be given? And really, how might God go about getting our attention? God, at some point, needs to grab us in ways that we might have some shot at understanding. God needs to speak in human terms, through people.
In a very real way, God did this through Les. Les lived his life in service to everyone around him, laying his life down day after day in service to others. When I pray out loud with people, I often say a prayer of thanksgiving for the way God shows God’s love for us through other people. Les was one such person through whom we experienced a small fraction of the love that God has for us.
And also, in a very real way, God did this through Jesus, who literally laid his life down on a cross in self-sacrifice. The Gospel of John emphasizes the power of God in Jesus. Jesus, who is God. God, who is Jesus. Jesus whose life reveals God’s love and care for all people regardless of class, gender, or race. Jesus whose ministry of God’s unconditional love led to his execution on a cross.
Jesus’ death on the cross means a lot of things. (If I listed them all, Les might wonder if I was taking your time seriously.) So here’s just one thing the cross means, it means God knows suffering and grief. More than that, the cross reveals the mystery of God suffering with us when we suffer and grieve.
In self-sacrificing love, Jesus laid his life down on a cross and now catches death up into God, drawing Les into holy rest. Here, now, we are assured that this is God’s promise for Les. And be assured, that this is God’s promise for you. Thanks be to God!
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Scripture selections by Les’ family:
John 15:12-13 ‘This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
Galatians 5:22-23 By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things.
Psalm 16:7-8, 11
7 I bless the Lord who gives me counsel;
in the night also my heart instructs me.
8 I keep the Lord always before me;
because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
11 You show me the path of life.
In your presence there is fullness of joy;
in your right hand are pleasures for evermore.