Two days from now I’ll be joining throngs of Episcopalians heading for Anaheim, California for the 76^th General Convention of the Episcopal Church. To write that I am humbled and honored to be a deputy from Long Island would be an understatement. There are major issues at stake at this General Convention which, while there, I plan on blogging about and adding my own insights into.

However, in order to get to Anaheim there is so much to do. Besides doing laundry, cleaning and shopping, there is packing, preparing for Sunday’s Eucharist, and the ongoing efforts of trying to wrap my head around all the issues that this General Convention will address.

Without a doubt, one of the biggest tasks will be for the deputies and bishops to address ways to move beyond B033 – the resolution passed at the last General Convention which effectively enacted a moratorium of consenting to the ordination of any member of the lgbt community. It will be interesting to see how deputies and bishops will deal with this. I hope there will be open and honest discussion about the impact on our Church and individuals within our church.

One of the greatest concerns I have, though, remains the fear that the GC will be hijacked once again by those in the Church who really don’t wish to see us move forward in mission. The Church has a wonderful opportunity to spread the Gospel to all within our communities and ensuring that we are the welcoming, inclusive people of God Christ has called us to be.

More will follow. Until then, please pray for all gathered at General Convention. It will be a most interesting time.

Copyright © 2009 The Very Rev. Christopher D. Hofer

The following homily was delivered on Saturday, June 20, 2009 at the Cathedral of the Incarnation, Garden City, New York.

The Celebration of the Life of Marie Michel

Lamentations 3: 22-26, 31-33; Revelation 21:2-7; Matthew 5:1-12

          Friday, November 11th, 2005 will be a day I will never forget. Unlike some days etched in our hearts, it wasn’t an infamous one. It was just a normal, cold, late autumnal day. Yet, in the midst of normalcy, something profound happened. It was the day that a temporarily insane young priest realized just how pure in heart a certain bishop’s wife really was. That temporarily insane young priest was me and that pure in heart bishop’s wife was none other than Marie Michel.

          For those of you with a gift for remembering dates, you might recall that November 11th was the date of the 140^th Annual Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Long Island. Meeting at the Hyatt Regency Wind Watch Hotel in Hauppauge, clergy and laity alike assembled to do the work of Christ’s Church in the midst of this Dominion in the Sea. As is the custom, that evening found the delegates and their guests gathered in the beautiful ballroom to partake in the annual Convention dinner.

          To the horror of some and the elation of others, the Committee on Dispatch of Business, in a bold and innovative move, decided to shake things up a bit that year and have a D.J. and dancing instead of a program. Clearly spirit-filled, several dinner guests actually got out of their seats and started to dance. Gradually more and more diners filled the dance floor until there were well over 100 individuals shaking their groove thing and doing the “Electric Slide.”

          Totally pumped with adrenaline, I looked from the dance floor while dancing and saw Marie Michel sitting by herself watching the dancing from afar. Although I had never met Marie, I left the dancers, walked over to her and, in what I thought was a moment of rediscovered chivalry, introduced myself and asked her to dance. Calm and collected, Marie looked at me, smiled, graciously declined, and said, “I’d much rather you sit down and tell me a bit about yourself so I can get to know you.” That is what we did.

          From that moment onward, I discovered what many already knew. Marie Michel was not about being in the spotlight. She didn’t need to be the center of attention. Instead, through living a life supporting her husband and his ministry, through nurturing and caring for her children and grandchildren, and through always being available to family and friends in their time of need, Marie was able to give all who knew her the opportunity to see a glimpse into God’s realm here on earth.

          Through her living into that realm, Marie’s life was focused and dedicated first and foremost to her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, then to her family, friends and those she came to serve, and finally and often as an afterthought, to her own personal needs. Now, in her death and in her new life with Christ, Marie gives all of us an example of why Jesus called someone who was pure in heart, someone like Marie, “blessed.” Blessed was and is Marie and blessed are those who knew her.

          Marie’s life began an all too short 65 years ago in the heart of America’s breadbasket in the small town of Hastings, Nebraska, some 90 miles west of Lincoln. Hastings, population 24,064, best known as the birthplace of Kool-Aid and home of the Fisher Fountain, considered a “sign of hope” for the town during the Great Depression and dustbowl, provided young Marie, under the caring arms of her parents, a place to grow and flourish. Through the inculcation of strong Midwestern ethics, Marie learned to always put God and others first before herself, to put her total trust in God and to follow God wherever God would lead.

          Marie was taught that Jesus loved her for the Bible told her so. She knew that those who follow Christ, even if and when they are poor in sprit, mourn, hunger and thirst for righteousness, are merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers, persecuted or reviled are blessed because Jesus called them so. She believed that through the gift of new life given to her at her baptism, death was not an end yet only a beginning. That Christ, the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, will and does make all things right for those who put their trust in him.

          Through putting her whole faith and trust in God, Marie was able to live out that faith. A faith dedicated so much to God that others were immediately attracted to this grace-filled, unassuming, pure in heart woman. Of all who knew Marie, perhaps none was attracted to her unselfishness and God-loving being more so than her husband of 43 years, Rodney. Rod loved Marie and Marie loved Rod. She loved him so much that she was willing and able to leave places and friends behind to follow him from lay ministry to the diaconate, to the priesthood and even to the episcopate. She followed him from church to church and ministry to ministry. In every place they went, Marie was able to give her whole support to Rod and to the people he served.

          As Marie and Rod moved through life together, their ministry of loving and caring expanded with the addition of children to their home. Marie relished at the chance to serve her Lord through the ability to instill in her children the faith given to her in her baptism. She would teach her children Anne, John, David and Andrew to love and serve God as she did. She would teach them to look for companions in life who could share that love of God. This teaching is clearly evident through the joining of Kristy, Win and Kristi to the Michel family. Finally, she would bask in the joy to share God’s love even more through the addition of three beloved grandchildren, Madeleine, Kathryn and Gavin whom she adored.

          Marie’s service to others did not stop with her family or friends. Perhaps the greatest gift she gave to the Diocese of Long Island was her ministry with and for clergy spouses, partners and their families. Marie knew firsthand that being a clergy spouse, partner or child brought its own challenges as living in a clergy household is often one of the loneliest places in the world. She always made herself available to spouses and partners who needed an ear to listen or a sympathetic heart. Through following Rod from church to church during his visitations, Marie ensured that the clergy spouses, partners and families would not be ignored. Her ministry of an unassuming presence is a model for all who will have the privilege of following her. It is an example of unconditionally loving that all of us should model.

          In giving herself so much to God and her family, some might argue that Marie ignored herself and her own needs. Yet Marie knew that putting Jesus first and others second was the only true way to be fulfilled in life. She received immense joy when others were loved and their needs cared for. Although she reveled at the chance to retire to their home in Ephrata, Pennsylvania, to have time to garden and play with her beloved dog, Farley, nothing would satisfy her more than nurturing and caring for others. In Marie’s giving, she received far more than she could ever have asked or imagined. In knowing Marie, we too have received far more than we ever could have given.

          My sisters and my brothers, it is in knowing that we have benefited so much by Marie’s gift of love and service, that we mourn her death even more. The death of someone we love is always hard and never easy. Yet, the unexpected death of such a perfect, God-loving individual at too early of an age is almost too much to bear. The emptiness we experience in our hearts with her not being physically present with us is like a void that will never be filled.

          Our shock, our denial, our anger and our sadness at our sister’s death is a normal reaction in the midst of our grief. It is a reaction that Marie felt at the death of her friends, it is a reaction felt by our Savior Jesus at the death of his friend Lazarus, and it is a reaction we experience today even some six weeks after Marie’s death.

          It is in the midst of this sadness that we come together today to remember Marie’s life of service among us and her continued service with the saints of God. In our communal mourning, Christ comes to us to comfort us as he comforted Marie as she slipped from the hands of her loving family to the arms of her loving Savior. A life of blessing to all who believe that death will be no more, mourning and crying and pain will cease and joy will come in the morning as weeping only lasts the night.

          On this day of mourning and remembering allow Christ to wipe away the tears from your eyes as Marie so often wiped away the tears of those who suffered or were in pain. The Marie we lost now lives as sure and certainly as our Savior lives. Of that Marie had no doubt nor should we.

          As I look back to that November of 2005, I can’t help but wonder if I really wasn’t temporarily insane after all. Perhaps it was through the Holy Spirit’s nudging that I met Marie for a reason. In asking her to dance I received far much more than a jitterbug partner. I received, as all here can attest, the gift of Marie, a beloved, blessed child of God. What more could I or any of us ask for? Amen.

Copyright © 2009 The Very Rev. Christopher D. Hofer

          My friend has taught me so much: to love unconditionally, to forgive when I hurt him, to be content with his lot in life and to exercise restraint from complaining even when he’s in pain.

          My friend is going to be 82 this July. He’s very gray, he has glaucoma and can’t see well, he’s basically deaf and his mangled hips and arthritis give him so much trouble that he’s pretty much almost always in pain. Often he would rather spend the day in bed than having to move around.

          My friend loves everyone he meets. He loves little children and is so patient around them. He respects his fellow elders allowing them to say the first word. Nothing gives him greater pleasure than to be in relationship with others, to meet strangers, to play and to commune with nature.

          Every time I see my friend, he reminds me not to take myself too seriously, to be content with what I currently have and not to focus upon things that I want to have and to remember to live in the moment knowing that the next moment may or may not come. My friend, through his gentle presence and without saying a word, has been a great example of living a life focused upon God’s wishes instead of my own.

          I have had the privilege and joy of knowing and living with my friend for nearly 14 years. I cherish each and every moment with him knowing that tomorrow may not come. I thank Christ for my friend and for sending him to us so many years ago. Mostly, I thank my friend, our dog Quentin, for teaching me so much. May I always learn from him.

Copyright © 2009 The Very Rev. Christopher D. Hofer