We went to a funeral today.
It was a Catholic service for an Irishman, with bagpipes, violin, taps
and a Dixieland Jazz band to send him on his way. The priest said he has been a priest for over
30 years and in all those years, this was only one of three funerals where the
deceased chose a pine box as his casket. The Gospel chosen for the service was
the Prodigal Son. It was a fitting
lesson, especially when Paul’s story was told. A Navy man, former member of the
Minnesota House of Representatives, former Anoka County Commissioner and member
of numerous veteran’s and civic organizations, Paul McCarron was a humble man
who had, since the age of 16, shied away from God, thinking that he was not
worthy of God’s unconditional love. In
the last six weeks of his life, Paul came to know God and understand that we
have nothing to do with whether or not God loves us. God just does. And so, this man who called himself a
recovering Catholic, had reconnected with his Father in Heaven.
I commented that this particular text is a risky one for
clergy to take on; especially considering it was being used in a Burial
Service. Many people come near to death
without having had a lifelong relationship with God. This end of life altar call can sometimes
seem like a last ditch effort to get into heaven, no matter the kind of life
lead. But there really was no risk
today. Though many may have wondered why
Paul’s service was being held in a Catholic church, we learned that this was
one of Paul’s last wishes in life, that he had spent much time mulling this
decision over, and made a conversion because it was what he wanted to do, not
because he felt obligated at the end of his life.
Paul was a giving man, all his life he did things others did
not want to do by taking political office, becoming a champion for causes, a
punching bag because of those causes, a servant of the people, of service
people and of veterans and many more things.
He did not do anything for the glory or for the hope of salvation. He did them because he felt called to do
them; he believed that what he was doing was for the good of others.
Whether or not we call a person like Paul a follower of God,
a child of God, the hands and feet of God, Paul did not think he was valued in
such a way. He, at the end of his life,
came back to the home he grew up in, ready to beg to be welcomed back, like the
son who is known as the Prodigal Son in Luke’s Gospel. And God was there, running to greet him, to
embrace him, to wrap him in a cloak, to announce to the world that his son had
returned, just as the father met the son on the road. There is no denying the joy of the returned
son to his loving father.
God loves us no matter what. We make choices that separate us from our
relationship with God, but it is only we who walk away, emotionally or
physically from the relationship. God
loves us with a patience beyond our comprehension. God waits for us to cry out and ask to be
welcomed back, knowing that we, in God’s mind, never left.
O Holy One, it is only through
your infinite mercy that we are always a part of the holy family. We fall, we leave, we struggle, we make
choices to put ourselves first and we run away from your embrace, but you are
always there, loving us through our mistakes.
Thank you for never giving up on us!
Amen.