A Sermon Delivered at the Funeral of Charles Land, February 2, 2008
Isaiah 61:1-3; Psalm 139:1-11; 2 Corinthians 4:16-5:9; John 14:1-6
Blair Pogue
This Lent the St. Matthew’s faith community and anyone who wants to join us will explore the question “what does it mean to live a holy life and to die a holy death?” I am sorry Chuck won’t be with us– at least in person -- because I know he would have a lot to say. Chuck thought long and hard about this very question, and especially since he was diagnosed with esophageal cancer in November 2003.
I met Chuck not long after I arrived at St. Matthew’s in mid-September 2005. What I know of him before that time comes from stories he and others have told me. The man I met in 2005 knew the deep truth of Psalm 139, which we heard a few moments ago. “LORD, you have searched me out and known me; you know my sitting down and my rising up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You trace my journeys and my resting-places and are acquainted with all my ways.” The psalmist goes on to say that wherever he goes, God is there. To the questions, “where can I go then from your Spirit?” and “where can I flee from your presence?” the answer is no where. God is with us always and everywhere, whether we find ourselves in rocky or smooth places, in darkness or in light.
The Chuck Land I met in 2005 wanted to learn more about God. After he participated in an Emmaus Walk in Kentucky his desire deepened. God touched Chuck’s heart in a special way during that Walk, giving him a deep sense of God’s love and mercy. Repeatedly Chuck described to me and others the closing ceremony of the Emmaus Walk, how powerful it was to walk into a dark church full of candlelight, and to see the faces of loved ones -- wife Cindy, father Ed, mother Joan and sisters Stacy and Ellen as he committed himself anew to his faith. Chuck’s cancer diagnosis and the clarity he received on the Emmaus Walk gave him a sense of urgency and a new passion for life. Aware of the finitude and fragility of life on this earth, Chuck spent his time reading the scriptures, in prayer, helping others and discerning what God was calling him to do and to be.
He was at worship each Sunday, thankful for the opportunity to re-remember God’s love for him and the world and to take strength from the Eucharist. He was a regular participant at the Wednesday Noonday Prayer and Bible study, eager to dig into the scriptures and discern their meeting. Friends from the Wednesday study remember his passion to learn and to apply those learnings to his life. Chuck knew he didn’t have time to waste and he wanted to get to the point. One participant remembers Chuck whipping out a Bible dictionary when she mentioned her struggle with the word “fear” as in “Fear God.” Exegetical resources at hand, Chuck read other definitions for the Hebrew word translated “fear” including awe – which helped her greatly.
In addition to study Chuck desired to make deeper faith commitments. He and Cindy began the oblate program at the St. Paul Monastery and went through much of the Befrienders spiritual companionship training at St. Mark’s Cathedral. He also engaged in service to the best of his ability, serving the homeless meals at Loaves and Fishes at the Dorothy Day Center in St. Paul until this was no longer possible, making food for others, and, as one of the sister’s at the monastery observed, revealing his “servant heart” continually as he helped behind the scenes at the monastery and elsewhere.
Chuck, along with Cindy, served St. Matthew’s in many ways as well. In addition to serving at Loaves and Fishes they provided hospitality through the Brother Lawrence Guild and helped me in the church office. Chuck and son Chas together made the beautiful wood cross we pray around two nights per month during our Taize service, and one Easter they spent weeks making at least a hundred wood crosses as gifts for church members, quietly giving them to one of the interim priests and asking that their names be kept quiet. Chuck desired to serve, and he was generous with his time and resources.
Chuck was also a man of action and humor. One time I mentioned how nice it would be to have a doorbell at church. Chuck immediately went out and purchased and then installed a doorbell. To my great amusement it had 12 ring tones. The first time someone used it the church office echoed loudly with an enthusiastic version of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.” It also plays “happy birthday to you.” Every time that doorbell rings I will think of Chuck. Co-workers remember him as a constant practical joker, hiding colleagues’ office chairs, always ready with a joke, always a twinkle in his eye.
Those of you who knew Chuck before September 2005 know that he not only went through many joys in his life including meeting and marrying Cindy, and holding his new son Chas, but also some tough times. By the grace of God, Chuck was blessed to experience a couple of resurrections in his life, including sobriety and the extra time he was given after he almost died of cardiac arrest during surgery in December 2003. Chuck was given more time after that near-death experience and he did not take that gift for granted. He knew that life came one day at a time.
Living a holy life does not mean living a perfect life. For as most of us know, it is often through our stumblings, mistakes and failures that we learn and grow the most. If we are willing to look to God for grace and guidance, God will take these mistakes and redeem them. We then become all the stronger and wiser for having gone through the valley of the shadow of death and letting God bring us back. The less smooth and straight parts of our pilgrimage of life and faith also make us less judgmental and more compassionate toward others.
Chuck was blessed to die a holy death. For weeks Cindy, Chas and Joan kept vigil around his bed, joined by family and friends including Eucharistic visitors from St. Matthew’s. Around that bed the Eucharist and prayers were shared, and endless laughter ensued – even during the most difficult of times. When Chuck was finally birthed into the next phase of life with God, Cindy, Chas and Joan were there. We should all be so blessed to die like this, surrounded by the love and support of others, surrounded by loved ones reminding us of Christ’s love for us.
So many people companioned Chuck, Cindy, Chas and their family during the last few difficult years. Joan, Chuck’s mother was a constant visitor, bringing with her a strong faith, good cheer, and an extra pair of hands. The Lands were surrounded by prayers, meals and expressions of love from friends, neighbors and church members. In these last weeks neighbors provided two meals each week, and the church at times provided so much food that it didn’t fit in the Lands refrigerator. An untold number of employees in from the University of Minnesota St. Paul Campus agricultural school contributed numerous vacation days to Cindy so that she could stay home with Chuck this last year and during Chuck’s final weeks. Countless others stopped by to give a hug or small gift, help out or to work in Cindy’s garden. The love of Christ shone through all these people, and sustained the Lands even in the most difficult of times.
Our reading from 2nd Corinthians is an important reminder of our ultimate destiny and calling, and especially when the challenges of this life change our life for ever. “So we do not lose heart,” Saint Paul writes. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure, because we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen; for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal (4:16-18).
Our Gospel from John provides comfort for those who mourn. In it Jesus speaks to his students and friends not long before his death, reminding them that there is room for everyone in God’s home, and that Jesus goes before them to prepare a place for them and for us. The passage begins, “do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me.” He reminds his followers that in God’s house there are many dwelling places. God does not just desire to co-exist with us, but to dwell with us, to be involved in the life of deep interrelatedness, mutuality and sharing that is our Trinitarian God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The way to God’s house is not hidden, but clear to all who are willing to see. As Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth and the life.”
In a few moments we will commend Chuck into the hands of our savior Jesus Christ. This is both a challenge and a joy. It is a challenge for all who knew and loved Chuck and feel his loss keenly. It is a joy for all who knew and loved Chuck and now rejoice that he is with his maker and redeemer. He is free from pain, free from suffering, and free to dwell with God more fully than ever before. May God bless, protect and keep Chuck and his family at this time of letting go, grief and celebration, and may we give thanks to God for all that Chuck taught us about what it means to live a holy life and die a holy death. Amen.
