Isaiah 61: 1 – 3; Psalm
23; Revelation
7: 9 – 17
A homily given by Fr.
Gene Tucker, on the occasion of The
Burial Office for Gordon Longhta at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul the Apostle, Springfield, Illinois on Wednesday,
December 24, 2014.
“LOVING AND LOSING”
Not long ago, my younger daughter, Julie, and I had an
email conversation that had to do with her two wonderful, young sons. One of these two boys is five years old, and
the other one is eight months old.
Julie and her husband, Fraz, are loving the business of
being parents. They love every minute of
parenting, just about.
So Julie expressed the joys of loving these two
boys. But she also expressed the sorrow
at losing them as they continue to grow, get older, move along with their own
lives and then to be out on their own someday.
She expressed this sense of loss by saying something on the order of,
“Don’t grow too quickly, let me savor these times and these days.”
As I reflected on what she’d said, a quote from Alfred,
Lord Tennyson, came to mind. Tennyson
reflected on loving and losing in this way:
‘Tis better to have loved and lost, than
never to have loved at all.[1]
Love and loss are the two things that bring us together
here this morning, as we celebrate God’s gift to us that was given in the life
of Gordon Longhta. It’s been our joy to
love Gordon as a husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather, friend,
co-worker and associate, and church member.
The ties of love that bind us together with him are
indestructible. The ties of love that
bind us together outlive and outlast the separation that death brings.
And yet, there is a profound sense of loss.
For the curtain of death has been pulled between us. We no longer see Gordon in the ways that we
were able to before.
Gordon’s death reminds us that, at life’s end, we will
lose everything we have, except love. We
cannot separate ourselves from the love that God has for us, love which is seen
most clearly in the person and saving work of Jesus Christ.
St. Paul expresses this reality at the end of chapter eight of his wonderful letter to the early Christians in Rome. He expresses the reality that nothing will ever separate us from the love of God this way: “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Gordon learned about the depth and the long-lasting
nature of God’s love here in this Cathedral Church. Somewhere here this morning, a photocopy of
an article from the Cathedral’s newsletter shows Gordon as a ten year old boy,
being an acolyte for the blessing of the farm that was located south of where
the Knights Action Park is now located, is circulating. Gordon was involved in the faith life of this
Cathedral from a very early age, and he was steeped in the business of learning
just how much God loves us. He learned
that God’s love lasts through all eternity.
We can be thankful that Gordon now knows just how deeply and intensely
God loves, for he stands in God’s very presence now.
The spiritual foundation that was laid here in this
Cathedral would carry him forward through life, as he finished high school,
served in the Air National Guard, and then met and married Margaret on April
23, 1960 at Ware’s Grove Lutheran Church (which is located off Illinois Route
127 just south of Raymond, Illinois).
Despite having a twelfth grade education, he became, in
time, the Director of the Illinois Railroad Association, a position that caused
him to meet Governors, Senators and other officials on a regular basis.
Gordon never lost the common touch. He loved gardening, and became a Master
Gardener. He loved animals. (Margaret tells the story that each one of
them had a heart for homeless animals:
One rescued dogs and the other one rescued cats.)
He loved his family, and spent lots of time with
them. I am told that weekends in the
Longhta home were often places where family and friends, often large numbers of
them, gathered for fellowship and fun.
Here is a man with a generous and loving heart.
And yet, we meet this morning with heavy hearts and mixed
emotions….we celebrate Gordon’s life – this morning – on the eve of what would
have been his 77th birth anniversary (he was born on Christmas Day),
even as the Cathedral in which we gather is decorated for the Christmas
services that will take place here later tonight. Yet we greet his death with a sense of
mourning and loss, mixed with relief that the suffering of this life that
marked the recent months of Gordon’s life are now over.
Thank you, Lord, for the gift of Gordon to us.
Thank you, Lord, for the gift of your love for Gordon and
for us, made known in Christ Jesus.
Thank you, Lord, for bearing us up in our sorrow and
loss.
AMEN.
