Homily for the Celebration of the Life
of Anna McClure Russell
February 21, 2022
+
“Lord of all hopefulness, Lord of all joy, whose trust ever childlike no cares could destroy . . .” So begins Anna’s favorite hymn. Starting with hopefulness and joy, however, does not mean that our world is free of all sadness. It means that we are meant to trust in ways that put that sadness into perspective. I can see Anna lifting her chin, her eyes sparkling as she joyfully challenges me.
“You tell them, Janey!”
I will try.
When words fail me, this beloved hymn (a favorite for my own family as well,) always inspires me. The words were written by English poet and humorist, Jan Struther. Just as Anna did, she loved words, jokes and poems. We can not know if the Englishwoman loved terrible Norwegian jokes, . . .but in Paradise all things are possible! Born in 1901 and living through both world wars, she experienced tremendous hardship in her short life. Like John Rutter, a self proclaimed atheist who has written so many choral pieces which express monumental faith, I believe that God was nevertheless working through Struther, even as she proclaimed herself to be agnostic. Despite her own lack of certainty, she managed to write— beyond her cares and her destroyed faith—these words that perfectly reflect Anna.
In the Episcopal Church, (as you can see in your bulletin,) we celebrate Resurrection —even as we grieve. Because of that, we do not exactly have eulogies in our service, such as you might see in other faith traditions. Nonetheless, we know that Anna’s life here was transformative. Even working outside the classroom, her remarkable approach to life made such a difference to students; she helped doors to open wide for so many.
There is so much to celebrate about Anna’s great loves: Jim and Kirk and Jennifer (and of course, Daisy!) —and her sisters and brothers. But as we gather today, Anna would encourage us to feel even more certain about Resurrection joy than we are about the gift of her earthly life. Jesus’ stunning gift for us is that both life and love continue in ways more beautiful than we can comprehend. It is this trust we hear in Psalm 121:
The Lord will keep you from all evil;
he will keep your life.
The Lord will keep your going out
and your coming in
from this time on and for evermore.
This trust comes from choosing and living a life of deliberate faith. That is why, in lieu of reading a eulogy for today, we instead present the truth of the Resurrection through the beauty and love of Anna’s life. Sometimes, that can be difficult, but not in this case. Meeting Anna for the first time inevitably revealed a joyous glow; it reflected both her love for those dearest to her, and her love of God. I know for her beloved St. Mark’s in Berkeley Springs it was the same as it has been for Our Saviour in Rock Hill. Even on the gloomiest of days, seeing Anna coming through the doors made the sun come out. That kind of joy is almost always grounded in trust and hope; Anna’s radiance shared that perspective with those around her: “Lord of all kindliness, Lord of all grace, your hands swift to welcome, your arms to embrace. . .”
When Jim and I got together to talk about Scripture and hymns for today, it was almost effortless. This was partly due to Jim, of course, and the way that Anna’s loves were also dear to him, but our time was also filled with a gentle and peaceful Spirit. As our opening words proclaimed, “Happy from now on are those who die in the Lord! So it is, says the Spirit, for they rest from their labors.” We might let those words roll over us, but we ought not. Boyd Bailey says, “To die in the Lord means you lived in the Lord. You died to trusting your morality, accomplishments and self-reliance and came alive to trust Jesus Christ alone, . . .You die in the Lord when you have lived for the Lord in this life.” (https://www.wisdomhunters.com/die-in-the-lord/)
The view of Jesus Christ through Anna’s life is this very essence. Think of the lives changed by Anna’s loving and thoughtful presence across 20 years of Upward Bound. I bet you have seen on a church sign, as I have, a variation on the William J, Toms quote, “Be careful how you live. You may be the only Bible some person ever reads.” (Goodreads) I can just imagine one student after another encountering exactly that as they entered the Upward Bound Office; they could not have known until later how life changing it would be.
Anna’s faith was life-changing for herself and for others. As we celebrate her earthly life today, we also celebrate her forever life in Christ. I said to Jim a few weeks ago that a love such as he and Anna shared could only continue. The Good Shepherd has made that possible for Jim and Anna, and for us. We heard one of my favorite prayers earlier in this service that affirms this. “Give us faith to see in death the gate of eternal life, so that in quiet confidence we may continue our course on earth, until, by your call, we are reunited with those who have gone before; through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Our hearts miss Anna: the world feels subdued in her absence from us, but I promise you that she is closer than we know. Because it speaks to the way we live with Jesus here on Earth, Anna’s favorite hymn ends with sleeping:
Lord of all gentleness, Lord of all calm,
whose voice is contentment, whose presence is balm:
Be there at our sleeping, and give us, we pray, your peace in our hearts, Lord, at the end of the day.
But Anna is not asleep. She is awake, and alive with Christ. And so, it helps to hear the same words we sang earlier this morning with the essential knowledge that Anna now sings them from Paradise with great joy:
Mine is the sunlight, Mine is the morning,
Born of the one light Eden saw play.
Praise with elation, Praise every morning,
God’s re-creation of the new day!
Amen.
Comments