A Sermon in Memory of Josie Martins
Johanna S. Morrigan
Ninth Sunday after Pentecost, Year B
Deuteronomy 8:1-10
Psalm 34
Ephesians 4:25--5:2
John 6:37-51
She never missed a Sunday. Rain or shine, sleet or snow - she was always here when she promised to be. She brought with her a zest for life that was absolutely contagious. It was impossible to be around her without experiencing something that was bigger than all of us. I cannot think of anyone who reflects our readings this morning better than Josie Martins.
The Deuteronomist tells us to "...keep the commandments of the LORD your God, by walking in God's ways...." Was there ever any doubt that Josie Martins walked in any way other than God's ways? I think not.
Our psalmist tells us to, "Look upon the LORD and be radiant." - Josie glowed with that radiance...
In Ephesians, Paul says, "... be kind to one another, tenderhearted.....be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love..." The light of love shimmered around her.
And in today's gospel, Jesus says, "I am the bread of life." When Josie Martins gave you the bread in the Eucharist, you knew that you had been given the bread of life.
It's as though the Spirit knew that we needed these readings today as we remember Josie. That remarkable woman who came into our midst at a time of confusion and fear - a time when we were embarking on a new adventure called Total Ministry, which we didn't understand, and weren't all that sure we wanted to.
It was a time when we were confused and uncertain...as though everything on a once familiar landscape had suddenly shifted and changed - and we didn't have the slightest idea if we knew what on earth we were doing. We had lost our dearly beloved shepherd - Charlie - and many of us wondered if we would survive at all. We were an old parish - we had dwindled in numbers for years, and folks talked of dying and death... death of our church, death of our friends and loved ones, death of ourselves... It was a dark and lonely time.
And then one Sunday morning Josie Martins arrived at Our Saviour's ... a gift from the loving heart of a merciful God who knew that we needed light and hope and courage. I have absolutely no doubt that Josie Martins was God's most precious gift to us at that time of anxiety and fear.
I remember the first morning that she served us here at Our Saviour's. She told us how she had lived a full and active life, and then, when most people would be thinking about winding down and getting ready to coast into a comfortable retirement - she told us that God had called her.
A quiet, comfortable retirement was not part of God's plan for Josie Martins. God had called her to be God's priest - to bring God's love to God's children who were lost and frightened and alone. As she told us about how the 13 years that she had been a priest had been among the most fulfilling and rewarding times of her life, she absolutely glowed with that radiance which comes from following the call of God. That very first morning, she began to fill this old church with renewed life, and hope and courage.
Josie taught us something of remarkable and irreplaceable value. She taught us that life is to be lived and that love is to be loved - that God is to be adored and played with and delighted in up until that last minute - right up to that very moment when God takes us to the promised land where we are going to live forever ... Josie taught us that life is not about comfortable retirements, or turning in our union cards and waiting to die..... She taught us that life is about whistling at the altar when you've forgotten the words to the hymn. She taught us that it's about chuckling and starting over when you've read the birthday blessing prayer instead of the anniversary blessing prayer. She taught us that life's a marvelous adventure filled the delight and wonder of childhood - it's a time to twirl our pinwheels, to fling water at everyone while we renew our baptismal vows, to laugh at our mistakes, and to sing our hearts out in love and adoration of a God who came to live among us so that we might have life - and so that we might live it abundantly. Josie taught us about life... how to live it and how to leave it.
And she's still teaching us Can't you just see it? I've no doubt that Josie is bustling about with God and all of the saints and angels of heaven - laughing and loving and praying for each and every one of us. On Sunday mornings when Debbie is at the organ, getting ready to start the opening hymn, can't you almost hear Josie saying, "Hit it, Debbie!"?
Josie Martins left a legacy of love... A legacy of hope... a legacy of hutzpa and gusto... and with that legacy, she left us a challenge. A challenge to keep on keeping on - to keep on this road we have begun to Total Ministry - to truly discovering and living out what it means for each one of us to listen to God's call and to answer that call with a delight and determination not to waste one single precious minute of time that God has given us. I had always expected that when our Ministry Team is ordained and commissioned, Josie would be there in a front row seat cheering us on.
And although not in the way that I ‘d imagined, she will be there - hanging over the edges of heaven, looking on, declaring the love of a living God, and saying, "You did it! ... I knew you could do it ... and now, get on with it ...!"
AMEN.