Memorial Service for William (Bill) Bernard MacGowan  

Isaiah 25.6-9 Revelations 21.2-7  John 14.1-6

The Rev’d Dr. N. Martin-Coffey

We gather today as relatives, friends, childhood buddies, mentees, colleagues, and neighbors, and brothers and sisters in Christ of William Bernard MacGowan

            to express our grief and also to express our gratitude. 

Grief at our loss, at the empty space in our lives that Bill leaves.

 Gratitude for everything that Bill meant to us,

everything that Bill continues to mean to us here.

It is a day for tears and for smiles.

Bill was born on December 16, 1925 in Jacksonville to William Leroy and Kate Byrd MacGowan. He was baptized at Good Shepherd Episcopal Church and fell in love with the organ as a choir boy at Good Shepherd. He graduated in 1943 from Robert E. Lee High School where his father was a teacher,  and  received his B.A. and M.A. in music from the Univeristy of Michigan.  A naval communications officer during the Korean War, he established choirs and singing groups on the ships where he served. After his navy service, he held positions in numerous churches. It is said that music was Bill’s life.  How true this is! There’s proof in Bill’s work in the parishes he served from coast to coast--at the Old North Boston Church, Maple Street Congregation Church in Danvers, Massachusetts, All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena,  Bethesda by the Sea Episcopal and Union Congregation Church in Palm Beach. He made appearances on TV, played in the Los Angeles Philharmonic and other city symphonies. He played in chamber groups as well as being a soloist in places like the National Cathedral in Washington and Grace Cathedral in San Francisco. Bill was also professor--he taught Humanities at Cal Tech and was on the faculty at Florida Atlantic University. Yes, music was Bill’s life- his vocation, his life’s work and I suspect that all of us here have been blessed by his musical gifts in some way.  Bill’s brother, John, reports that in his later years as Bill reflected upon his life, he repeatedly commented that his life had been about  music, and also good friends and good food.

In 1995 Bill moved to Gainesville.  He was the music director and organist at St. Michael’s where he founded the St. Michael’s Singers and donated two of his organs. Bill told me that in the late 90s he launched a campaign to secure an organ for the Chapel of the Incarnation, another Gainesville church he served. He loved to travel. He loved scuba diving and his underwater adventures led him all over the world. Perhaps this is why Bill elected for his ashes to be a part of an underwater memorial reef (r-e-e-f) that will become the foundation and new home for a variety of acquatic life.

Bill’s last Sunday at St. Michael’s (where he was organ emeritus) before he took to his deathbed was in Advent when there was an offering of Telleman and Distler. I remember speaking to him after the service and he was excited and animated about the music that day, offering suggestions for improvements next year.  Bill’s brother John shared that there was a two month period of bodily decline which became more of a rapid and marked decline that last week of his life.  Bill died gently on the morning of December 15 at Oak Hammock here in Gainesville. He is sorely missed.

Music was Bill’s life but this assertion

leads to a question.

Music ends. The sound disappears as soon as we hear it.

Life ends. Our loved ones die and we see them no longer.

Is that all there is?

Our Christian faith tells us that God

            who gives us life at our beginning

also gives eternal life

to everyone

who will receive it.

What we call the end of life is,

 in fact,

the start of something greater.

            In our gospel we hear how our Lord

goes to prepare a place for us--

                                    in a house with many rooms……..       

This morning we have heard some beautiful, stunning,

poignant music selected by Bill himself,

 music that has passed away

but music

which is an anticipation of music

that is unending,

that flows forth forever;

the music of worship,

the sound of praise,

the eternal alleluia.

All of Bill’s existence—

his years growing up in Jacksonville and

 at Good Shepherd Episcopal Church,

his many summers at the

Interlochen Center for the Arts in Michigan,

His playing the organ and directing choirs in  so many churches,

                        his  rich and full professional life lived in so many

places from coast to coast,

            all those meals with good friends and

all that good food,

the quieter and yet active years at the end of his life,

plus the frustrations and delights—

all life’s troubles, joys, & complexities

—the entirely of his life , I would assert,

was a rehearsal,

a preparation for his part in that unending life,

that unending music to which

            he was called the day before his 85^th birthday.

The same holds true for each of us.

Those things that we do,

the music we make,

the dancing we do,

            the life we live,

the succession of our days and months and years together

constitute one vast rehearsal,

preparations for a larger life and

 for music that will never end.

The music we now make finds it fulfillment

 in the eternal music

of that shining city

to which each of us is called….

Each of us has some memory of Bill’s rehearsal

here on earth,

                        memories that you treasure

                                    and find significant.

                                                Bill is someone to whom I was drawn

my first Sunday at St. Michael’s.

I was drawn to that twinkle in his eye,

that life he exuded,

that man sitting in the wheelchair with those cute suspenders,

and that charmingly sweet smile.

I will remember lunches with Bill at Oak Hammock—

the delightful conversations,

hearing about his love of St. Michael’s &

wanting good and holy things for it.

And I will remember

            his lunch menu-- gin and steak!

I hope that you will share with each other your memories of Bill

in the hours ahead and days to come,   

knowing that even though Bill’s body has died,

                                    and his life and music have changed,

they have not ended.

And I pray that you will remember Jesus’ words…

“Do not let your hearts be troubled…..

In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. 

I go to prepare a place for you.”

St Michael’s  Episcopal Church, Gainesville

Transfiguration Sunday

World Mission Sunday 2010

Kathy Navajas

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD (Psalm 19:14) 

Good morning, I am Kathy Navajas, from Holy Trinity. The Rev. Martin-Coffey invited me to speak today, as we think about mission and what that means for us. At Holy Trinity I am the chair of the Outreach Commission and the Cuba Companionship Ministry. As a downtown church, Holy Trinity lives with the poor every day, every Sunday morning we feed them, every night they sleep in our doorways. Every Tuesday and Thursday we listen to their stories, we help them get ID cards, we share what we can, and we try to be the face of Christ to them.  At the University of Florida I teach Spanish, and I’m the coordinator of first semester Spanish. Many of my students have been or want to go on mission trips. They want to learn Spanish in order to communicate—both speaking and listening. My goal as a teacher is to deepen their curiosity, and then help them develop the linguistic and cultural skills necessary to speak, to listen, and to understand the ways their presence and their work resonates in Latin America. Some of that involves rethinking the idea that we know exactly what they need.

      500 years ago, on the beaches of this state, Spanish missionaries who accompanied the conquistadores would stand and read to the indigenous people gathered there a 900 word document about the Christian story and the power of the pope, who from Rome had given these lands and the people in them to the Spanish monarchs. The native people were given two choices: to acknowledge the church as “the ruler and superior of the whole world” or be killed, their children enslaved and forcibly subjected to “the yoke and obedience of the Church.”

      The document was read to them in Spanish, a language they had never heard. The Spaniards stood there expectantly on the beach, armed and waiting to see which they would choose.

      We know the rest of the story of that mission. It is not the only story of Christian mission, but it is the one that haunts us who take seriously the great commission: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations”. How do we make disciples of all the nations and not be complicit with the history of conquest? I try to remember that this is not the only commission we get from Jesus. He also told us to love our neighbor as ourselves. Disciple-making must be informed by this love.

      In today’s gospel, we see some disciple-making in action. Peter, John and James follow Jesus up the mountain to pray, but they are weighed down by sleep, their senses dulled. Suddenly they are startled into alertness by witnessing God’s glory. And right away Peter thinks he knows what to do; seeing God’s glory spurs him to action. But he gets a powerful corrective from God almighty, who redirects Peter’s attention to Jesus and makes him stand still and hush up. God reminds him that disciples are learners and followers. Do we ever know enough to dispense with standing still and keeping silent?

      In our lives as Christians we too trudge up the mountain after Jesus, weighed down by worries, weary, oblivious to the small miracles that happen all the time. Most days we are only half awake, as we negotiate the familiar, the details faded into the background. But sometimes, in the work of mission we find ourselves startled into alertness in new lands and cultures—whether it’s tent city in Gainesville or a small town in Cuba. We see with eyes wide open and, like Peter, we think we know what to do—quick, let’s build a well or a school or a parish hall—something important and permanent, some evidence that we were here. We are spurred to action by witnessing suffering. Like Peter, we want to please God. We don’t notice the cloud overshadowing us. We don’t hear the voice of God—who mostly whispers nowadays, have you noticed?—insisting that we listen. Before we can make disciples of all nations, we must pause in the building and talking. We must remember we are learners ourselves, hushed by God, alone with Jesus, fully alert, keeping silent. And we must return again and again to that place of silent focus even as we respond to the suffering of the world. This is how we become disciples. This is how we make disciples.

      Cuba Companionship offers opportunities for honing our skills as disciples. In our companion churches there they know the Christian story, and we are not there to conquer. They are as Christian as we are—you know, good days, bad days as disciples. They offer us a warm embrace and their best food; we bring them medicines, Sunday school supplies, vestments from the altar guild. Those who speak no Spanish are utterly dependent for every need on the Cuban’s power of observation and intuition, an extraordinary opportunity for us to practice humility. Since we can’t talk, we can’t make anything happen. So we begin to observe closely, to read the energy between people, to listen to tone more than to words, and to register our own feelings. In complete immersion and dependence we become more alert disciples, more humble disciples, moving  between what we think, what we see and feel, and what it all means in the dialogue of mission. It’s a ministry of listening, of reflection, of turning to God in silence to help us focus. It’s a ministry of walking arm in arm, of following Christ together, helping each other stay awake while Jesus prays for us all on the mountain; while we are being transformed into the same image, from one degree of glory to another, for this comes from the Lord. 

AMEN

25B Pentecost

Job 42.1-6  10-17 Psalm 34.1-8 (19-22)-Mark 10.46-52

St. Michael’s

 The Rev’d  Dr. N. Martin-Coffey

In the name of the One who made us for love, who saved us by love, and who loves us still.

Jesus was a healer, no doubt about it. Not only was this ability to heal widely attested to in the Gospels, but non-Christian sources--like the historian Josephus – make mention of Jesus’ capacity to cure.  Certainly the early church continued these healing ways. The Book of Acts is filled with accounts of Jesus’ followers performing remarkable cures after the likeness of the Lord.

Like many, I find healing an interesting phenomenon all right.  Especially when I have been called to Shands Hospital when they need an Episcopal priest (the Chapel of the Incarnation is the closest Episcopal church and I think I must have the same zip code as Shands), I have people ask me questions like:

Why and how does prayer sometimes result in healing and other times not?

Is there a formulaic way of healing prayer that works?

What method of visualization or meditation or even worship services (liturgies) might we “bottle” that will make for healing every time?

In our Bible study on Wednesday night we extended these questions to talking about touch and location as a part of healing.  Did Jesus always touch the person when he healed them? What about healing prayer for someone a long distance away?

The healing of Bartimaeus in Mark’s gospel evokes a good question too.    What is the connection between  “faith” and “being made well.’  In our gospel Jesus tells Bartimaeus, son of Timaeus, “Go, your faith has made you well.”    How much faith?  Is faith the size of a mustard seed enough?  And what is meant by faith?  I think of faith not so much as right dogma, a tightly woven and bound theological understanding but as trust and openeness--expectant trust and radical openness.   Bartimaeus could be the poster child for such kind “radical openness” or “expectant trust.”  Bartimaeus ignores the people who tell him sternly to be quiet and he calls out to Jesus even more loudly after they tell him sternly to be quiet, “Son of David, have mercy on me.”  (Mark 10.48) He throws off his cloak, a rather reckless gesture for a blind man, unless he believed that he would be able to find it later! 

I suppose I have more questions about Christ’s healing powers than answers, but this passage of the healing of the blind beggar suggests two things. 

(1) First, in praying to Christ for healing, we need to ask as directly and specifically what it is that we want. To answer Jesus’ question, “What do you want from me?”  I know that when I am journeying with another in spiritual direction or pastoral counseling, a question I frequently ask, “How would you have me pray for you?”  The other thing about this passage I hear about healing and prayer is (2) surrender.  I am not talking about giving up which can become despair. But surrendering to God’s will, trying to find and get into God’s will of health, goodness, and wholeness. And surrendering is not something that’s done once and for all.  It is required minute by minute, and helps us to be active participants.   Being surrendered is becoming extraordinarily active in one’s process.  When it comes to prayer – the surrendering of one’s self to God’s loving care – something happens. Grace happens.

In thinking about prayer and healing, I am reminded of a woman named Patty I knew from the church where I served before I came to Gainesville. She helped to start the pastoral care team—sort of like Stephen’s Ministers, years ago.  In her forties, Patty was diagnosed with an unusual disease in which her skin increasingly hardened (sceleroderma). She had such pain in her joints.  We prayed and prayed for her—our healing ministry, her church family, and her priest. Though she eventually died from this at the age of fifty-one, I was surprised and pleased that healing of a different form did happen.  I saw healing between Patty and her daughter who had not spoken in years.  I learned that sometimes healing becomes apparent in the physical, observable dimension. But sometimes not.

I praise Christ for that relational healing, and pray that we may be forthright in naming our heart’s desire, and strong in surrendering ourselves to God’s will--that stream of goodness, light, life, and wholeness.  Amen.

MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS

This past Sunday Ms. Marianne O'Neill and Ms. Linda Wilcox were with as members of the Global Reconciliation Commission to share the advantages of the MDG.  What follows is the text of their offering.

MARIANNE: John’s gospel message has many implications for us as Christians today. The resurrected Jesus appears once again to the disciples and this time, we see him caring for his own by providing fish and bread for breakfast.  He asks of Peter and of us two things, feed my sheep and follow me.  He is with us now asking us, do you love me?  How will we respond?  He wants to share the gifts of nourishment and life with us and he wants us to care for others with nothing less than divine love.  How will we respond?  We have heard much about “feeding my sheep,” but we often overlook the two words with which this passage ends.  “Follow Me.”  Today’s Forward Day by Day offers an excellent reflection on this part of the gospel.  It ends with these words “… no one will find it an easy matter to follow Christ, yet that is both our duty and our great reward.“

We are here today for perhaps different reasons but one of the reasons I think that we are here is that in our own ways we have both been given a heart for the poor and the disadvantaged.  One of my personal requests to follow Jesus was a tough call and I responded in much the same way as Moses, “Why Me?”  But answer the call I did and went way out of my comfort zone to Cuba in 2006.  That is when I first began to understand in a personal way what this gospel lesson means. That is when I found out in a very real way who “others” are.  Just as in the story of the Samaritan woman, Jesus is calling us out of our comfort zones, not to love just those we already love but also those neighbors who are perhaps different and need our help the most.

This is why we are here; to offer to you the opportunity to extend this divine love globally by participating in our world’s effort through the United Nations and our own Episcopal Church’s initiative to eliminate poverty and discrimination and help create an equitable and just society for all of God’s people throughout the world by responding to the church’s call to participate in the Millennium Development Goals.  These goals declare in part, "...We will spare no effort to free our fellow men, women and children from the abject and dehumanizing conditions of extreme poverty, to which more than a billion of them are currently subjected."  

LINDA: The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are eight goals which address the deepest material brokenness in the world today. These goals were agreed to in the year 2000 by 189 heads of state and government -- including the United States.  They address  Poverty the likes of which we just don't see within the United States.  The Episcopal Church got on board with this initiative at the 2000 General Convention, by passing a resolution urging all dioceses to participate in education, advocacy and 0.7% giving.  At the 2003 General Convention,  the Episcopal Church again passed  a resolution  endorsing and embracing the achievement of the MDGs and challenged all dioceses and congregations to embrace 0.7% giving.  At our 2007 Diocesan Convention, the Diocese of Florida committed to support the eight Millennium Development Goals over the next eight years and the Global Reconciliation Commission was formed as its arm to help carry out these goals.  Marianne and I are both members of the Commission, and your own Mother Nancee is the chair.  This year we are in year 4 and the goal is Reducing Child Mortality.

So what exactly are these Goals?

LINDA:   Points out symbols

1.  This icon was created for the Global Reconcilliation Commission and has been hanging in your Administration Building. On Mary’s halo in this beautiful picture are the eight symbols for the MDG’s.  The first symbol is a soup bowl and stands for:  ERADICATING EXTREME POVERTY AND HUNGER

Marianne points out Facts

Fact:   In 2008 28% of people in developing countries lived on less than $1.25 a day.  Almost half the world — over 3 billion people — live on less than $2.50 a day.  When is the last time you were able to purchase one meal for $2.50?  We can achieve this first goal and cut this number in half collectively with our 0.7% contributions.

2. The second symbol is a pencil which represents:  ACHIEVING UNIVERSAL PRIMARY EDUCATION

Fact: 72 million children are not enrolled in school. Almost half of them live in Sub-Saharan Africa (which is all the countries to the west of the Niles below the Sahara Desert). Nearly a billion people entered the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their names.  Less than 1% of what the world spent every year on weapons was needed to put every child into school by the year 2000 and yet it didn’t happen.  Did you know those of you who use computers can twitter your US Congressmen and Senate Representatives about important legislation and involvement in world affairs?  There are many ways to respond; you can pray and participate in changing these facts along with your contributions.

3. The third symbol is the symbol for female and stands for:  PROMOTING GENDER EQUALITY AND EMPOWERING WOMEN

Fact:   2/5 of all adults are illiterate, 2/3 of them are women.  Recent statistics show that for every 100 boys out of school, there are still 117 girls in the same situation. Uneducated girls are more at risk than boys to become marginalized. They are more vulnerable to exploitation.  They are more likely than educated girls to contract HIV/AIDS. Women’s rights and access to land, credit and education are limited not only due to legal discrimination, but also because of more subtle barriers such as their work load, mobility and low bargaining position in the household and community. 50% of the world’s refugee population are women.  Perhaps those of us who are women should respond simply in gratitude for how far we have come in achieving equality in our own country.  Collectively we can raise the status of women around the world.

4. The fourth symbol is a teddy bear which Marianne and I are also wearing.  The teddy bear stands for our current Goal # 4 which is:  REDUCING CHILD MORTALITY

Fact:  1 billion children live in poverty (1 in 2 children in the world). 640 million live without adequate shelter, 400 million have no access to safe water, and 270 million have no access to health services. Every year 10 million children die of preventable diseases which amount to 30 thousand deaths per day. What would you give to save the life of your child?  We can and we must save the lives of these children by raising their standards through our collective contributions.

5. The fifth symbol is a woman with child and stands for:  IMPROVING MATERNAL HEALTH CARE

Fact:  A woman dies from complications in childbirth every minute – about 529,000 each year -- the vast majority of them in developing countries. A woman in sub-Saharan Africa has a 1 in 16 chance of dying in pregnancy or childbirth, compared to a 1 in 4,000 risk in a developing country – the largest difference between poor and rich countries of any health indicator.  Access to skilled care during pregnancy, childbirth and the first month after delivery is key to saving these women's lives – and those of their children. Try to imagine you or a loved one going through pregnancy and child birth without access to health care.  Collectively our contributions can provide this access to medical care.

6. The sixth symbol is a medicine bottle representing:  COMBATING HIV/AIDS, MALERIA AND OTHER DEVESTATING DISEASES

Fact:  Recent statistics show that around 33 million people are living with HIV, 67% in sub-Saharan and 15 million children have lost one or both parents to the HIV virus.  190-320 million cases of malaria have been detected, 88% in sub-Saharan Africa.  Annually around 9 million people are infected by tuberculosis.  HIV/AIDS drugs which cost $7000 annually now cost $300 annually.  A simple US $10 mosquito net could provide protection from malaria. Additionally, providing pregnant women with anti-malaria tablets twice during their pregnancy greatly reduces their risk of infection and of having low-birth weight babies, a major cause of infant death.  Less than $1.00 per day for adults and $.50 for children will provide low cost anti-malaria drugs. "

7. The seventh symbol is a tree which is for:  ENSURING ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY

Fact:  More than 1 in 6 people in the world don't have access to safe drinking water.  1 out of every 4 deaths under the age of 5 worldwide is due to a water-related disease. Nearly 80% of illnesses in developing countries are linked to poor water and sanitation conditions.  In 2006 2.5 billion people didn’t have access to sanitary services. 14% of the world’s population (in the developed world) produces 49% of the yearly CO2 total.  For only $10, you can provide access to clean water for one person... for ten years! And with percussion drilling, you can drill one well for $149.13.  Clean water doesn't just save lives, it changes them... forever.  We can work together to restore forests, reduce our carbon footprint and ensure that our environment is safe for our children, our grandchildren and all the world’s children.

8. The eighth, and last symbol, is people united.  This symbol stands for:  CREATING A GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP FOR DEVELOPMENT              WITH TARGETS FOR AID, TRADE AND DEBT RELIEF

Fact:  The Official Development Assistance was $119.8 billion in 2008.  That’s 0.3% of the Gross Domestic Product of developed countries, but still short of the United Nation’s 0.7% target.  So not only can you use a computer to twitter your representatives,  so can you respond the traditional ways of picking up the phone or writing a letter to help change these statistics. The Gross Domestic Product of the 41 Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (567 million people) is less than the wealth of the world’s 7 richest people combined.  Think about that for a minute, 7 people in this world have more money than 41 deeply indebted countries whose populations total 567 million people.

Marianne:  So these are the life and death issues facing our neighbors around the globe.  These goals have been proven to be attainable with our individual and collective contributions.  We can pray, participate in many ways and pick up our wallets if we want to be part of the first generation in history with the ability and the compassion to address these problems as part of a world-wide effort.

LINDA: We have brochures available for you which break down other dollar amounts as well as detailing organizations to which the Diocese is giving their 0.7% contribution in support of this year’s goal, to reduce child mortality. These organizations have been researched by the GRC and found to be viable organizations whose administrative costs are 10% or less.

We have been asked, “Why should we be asked to give to one more thing when we’re already asked to give to so many causes?”, and “Why give globally instead of here at home?”

Why one more thing......because there is a desperate need and because  we, even if we’re struggling in our own ways, we aren’t not going to bed without a bite to eat, or drinking out of infested mud puddles like so many children in the world are today. Our scripture and tradition are overflowing with God calling us to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, care for the sick, nurture children, be good stewards of our creation and everything else the MDGs are about. The MDGs give us a structure not only for answering God’s call but a structure for connecting our work for God's mission of healing to a worldwide effort that can bring the people of our planet together as one.  

Why give globally?..... In our modern world, there is no corner of this planet which is unheard of, no road that cannot be seen from space, and no plight that cannot be telecast instantaneously across the globe.  We are connected in substantial ways, where does your morning coffee come from?, silk for your blouse or tie?, or some of the beautifully woven hand work that we so admire?  People from across the globe are a part of our daily lives when we stop to think about it.  The faces of these “others” are as close as our televisions, computer screens and newspapers.  These “others” are both right next door and far away. We are truly all a part of one another and interdependent.  These are our brothers and sisters, and are we not “our brother’s keeper”, called to love one another. 

MARIANNE: We appreciate your time in letting us tell you about these goals and we hope you will join us at coffee hour to look at some of the materials we have brought with us.  There is among other things we have with us a beautiful National Geographic publication entitled, Fragile, the Human Condition.  Sometimes pictures say far more than words can.  Also, on a lighter note, one of our responses to today’s gospel was to bring with us food (home baked goodies) to feed you during this coffee hour so please do join us after church.

In conclusion, in today’s gospel, Jesus tells Peter to feed my sheep and to follow me.  We think he is asking us as the body of Christ for more than feeding his people; We think he is asking us to love our neighbors globally with a ministry of reconciliation caring for the sick, the friendless, the poor and the disenfranchised to ensure not only that they are not hungry but also that they have access to a level playing field and are not marginalized due to an accident of birth.  We think he is asking us to follow his commandments in that great summary, “Love the Lord with all your heart, mind and soul, and Love your Neighbor as Yourself.”  The question remains:   

“WHO will we receive into our hearts as our neighbors and