Sermon for Requiem Eucharist for Helen Katherine Gibson
“I am the good shepherd”
“I am the bread of life,” Jesus says, who also says “I am the Good Shepherd.” The two phrases go together and inform our understanding of what we do here today, an understanding of things spiritual and intellectual that were well known and understood by the very person who gathers us into that understanding.
We meet here at Christ Church for the Christian funeral of Helen Katharine Gibson. We meet in accord not simply with her wishes per se but her wishes in accord with the pattern and understanding of the Christian faith which she believed and to which she gave such eloquent testimony by her example and service, her commitment and generosity.
“O Jesus, I have promised.” They are the first words of one of the hymns which she wanted sung at her Requiem. Nothing captures more profoundly the character of Helen. Her whole life was about a promise to the Christ who promises salvation to all that seek his will. Helen knew this and knew something else. It is not a one-off moment of assertion but a life-long process of learning about “put[ting] on the Lord Jesus Christ,” about living with Christ in his body, the Church. For Helen it was essential, “the one thing necessary.” She combined in her approach to Parish and community life both the service qualities of a Martha, “busy with many things,” and the contemplative qualities of a Mary, “sitting at the feet of Jesus.” She knew that service and worship go together and belong to the nature of our life in Christ. It was not simply what she wanted; it was also what she thought was right and proper.
Though diminutive in stature, she was great-souled in character. There was a remarkable toughness to Helen. She was not one to give up and remained courteous and lively in heart and mind right to the end, undeterred by such minor things as broken bones! Those were only inconveniences. She was not one to complain. The major frustration for her was not being able to do all the things that she wanted to do. I am talking about her when she was in her nineties! For years upon years, she attended the 8:00am service here at Christ Church, nestled in the back Choir pew, often with Cecilia and Lynn Pascoe and rarely, if ever, did she miss a mid-week service at least until these last few years. Even then, she was always present either in her room or Aggie’s room at Kingsway Gardens, now Macleod House, with Bill and Wilfred and one of her Newfoundland Angels/caregivers for Holy Communion. She delighted in the worship of the Church. She had a strong sense of duty, duty towards God and duty towards neighbour. In both she was, I think, an inspiration to us all.
Helen had a strong sense of what was proper and right, not in a narrow and pedantic way but as alive to the things that matter. Shortly after coming to Christ Church some seventeen or eighteen years ago, I remember her speaking to me about two things. First, why had I omitted at the 8:00am Communion Service a part of the service commonly called The Comfortable Words? I assured her that I had no objection to The Comfortable Words but was only trying to keep the service reasonably short. Her reply was, “well, they surely don’t take that much time, do they?” She was right and needless to say I have never omitted them at the 8:00 Sunday service ever since and certainly not today!