It's like that old camp game: Who stole the cookies from the cookie jar? . . . Who me? Couldn't be. Then who? . . . Must be you.

"Come you that have been blessed by God!"
"Who me? "
"You," the voice repeats, "you that have been blessed by God. You who gave me food when I was hungry and drink when I was thirsty; you who saw my need and welcomed me and clothed me; you who cared for me when I was sick and visited me in prison."

Someone in the courts of heaven turns and asks, "You don't mean me -- When did I do any of that for you?"
"Come, blessed one."
"Who me?" She says.
"Yes, you Jean Marion Lamond -- You who have been blessed by God. Truly I tell, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me. You went to those who hungered for acceptance and you prepared for them banquets of affirmation. You saw those who thirsted for attention and you listened. You welcomed the outcasts, the "unacceptable" people on the margins of society and you respected their goodness and giftedness. Those who were stripped defenseless before the world you covered with your love. The hurting and sick knew your healing touch, and you visited many who were imprisoned in lonely dark closets and some of us you even released into a world of rainbow colors.. In loving my people, Christ says, you have loved me."

Many people spend their lives looking for God in churches and in holy places. Jean spent her life loving, affirming, and touching the lives of the people she met. I ask you: Who is it that found Christ? Who is it that served Christ?

In her love for others, Jean not only was loving and serving Christ hidden in God's people. She was also proclaiming God's good news wherever she went. The good news, the gospel message -- that we are loved.

The essence of the Christian faith is quite simple: God loves you.

That good news is difficult for many of us to hear from a church that all-too-often seems to have rejected many of us. But we heard it from Jean: We heard that we are loveable. She, in her own special way, brought God's message into our lives. And; you know what the Bible's word for messenger is -- "angel."

Jean was God's special angel telling those who felt unworthy and unlovable "And you know ... that's okay" Affirming individuality, validating feelings, loving unconditionally. Did you hear the Angel Jean's message -- the good news? You are loved.

God loves you absolutely, joyfully, unconditionally, overwhelmingly, no matter what -- regardless of what the world says, or the church implies, and even when you feel least loveable.

Yeah, sure, you may be thinking: So, where's the good news today? Jean is dead. The angel who loved us is gone. If this is how God shows her love, I don't want any part of it.

Jean was part of so many of our lives, an integral part for many, part of the process of many people's becoming and growing. The process isn't complete and we're left hanging in empty space.

Part of me wants to shout at God: "Hey, You, we needed this woman!" And I still feel left hanging . . . We put up the Christmas stockings. We keep peeking inside. And it's still empty. We long to hear Jean's laughter as she tucks little gifts inside for each of us. And there is only silence.

So much for angel-messengers and good news. But listen again: Hear the whisper? "Balance and peace" -- an angelic message for us -- Jean's customary signature line.

But these gifts don't just fall into our laps. What falls into our laps is the aching emptiness of missing someone we love. Hear the echo? "Balance and peace." When this life hands us pain or emptiness God has given us the ability to make something of it. That's what the cross does -- takes the pain, even death & creates new life.

We're not going to "have" a good day or "have" peace, especially now. We are asked to follow Jesus' path: to take the painful parts of life and create something new. Hear the echoes of another angelic message? "Create a peaceful day." It's not going to happen by itself; we need to do our share to make it happen..

Jean had a gift -- the ability to affirm and empower others so that we are able to act -- to believe that we could create some peace in our lives. to take the miserable hard knocks of life and to create the peace and joy we long for. She saw what we often could not: that each of us has been blessed and loved by God.

Now her life has been transformed into a new life a life of joy and peace beyond our wildest imagination. So perhaps since she doesn't need it anymore, Jean has left us her gift -- dare we hope that we might do that for one another affirm and empower one another? Has Jean taught our hearts to love?

She's left us an abundance of treasured memories and, I think, a quite practical guide for being angels (messengers) of God's love. Someone found in on her refrigerator -- (after all that's where we go when we're hungry and need to be fed).

In the middle of the tears and the laughter, pause and listen: Can you hear it? -- that whispered message: "And you know . . . that's okay. You have been blessed by God."

Who me?
Yes -- you!