Sermons
"Where is God? A memorial reflection for Fred Hillbruner."
Good Afternoon.
My name is Bonnie Perry
and I am the senior pastor here at All Saints.
A couple years ago
the author Annie Dillard
was speaking at the Chicago Humanities festival.
After her keynote address,
a woman rose and asked,
"Given the tragedy of September 11th,
the state of the environment
and the rancor in our country,
how can you say,
how can you say
that you believe
in the existence of an all loving God?" To which Annie Dillard replied,
"Because--we've met."
We've met.
I met God
in Fred Hillbruner's hospital room.
Scripture tells us
to take off our shoes
whenever we walk on Holy Ground.
My shoes should have been off
as I came and went from Fred's room.
For I met God
-I encountered that which is
Holy and Sacred,
Infinite and Embodied
in the palpable love
that you Barb and Christopher and Elizabeth
-Copper, Bob, Sandy, and Kari-
I met God
in the love
all of you so freely bestowed
upon Fred and each other.
I experienced credible evidence
of the presence of God
in the love which is so clearly
the foundation of your family.
Death is a crucible
-it lays us bare
-leaving us with only
the essentials of our existence.
Your family-the family
you and Fred helped to create
is overflowing with
compassion,
commitment and
courage.
Your willingness to set aside
powerful pains from the past
to enable everyone
regardless of history-
private time to grieve,
to cry and to say good-bye
-was genuine compassion of the highest order. Your ability
to sit and wait,
despair and hope,
and an hour later
begin
it all over again-
was clear evidence
of your commitment to Fred and each other.
Your willingness
to save three other people's lives,
by following through with Fred's wishes
to be an organ donor-
the vigil you kept
that day and night
was beyond courageous.
It was sacred,
it was life giving.
I am in awe of you
and the holiness imbued in your family.
Fred was an amazing man
-he has touched,
shaped and formed each of you.
His dying leaves a ragged hole
in all of us.
Our lives will not be the same without him.
The two pieces of scripture
we read this afternoon-
give us some idea of how
in Heaven's name we will ever continue on. Revelation
offers us a hope for the future.
A time when
God will wipe away
every tear from our eyes
when death shall be no more,
mourning and crying and pain
will be no more
- a time promised, but not yet realized.
And so we are faced
with how to live in the present
-how to live and breathe
and get up each morning
in the Valley of the shadow of Death. The only way to do that
-the only way to move through
the valley of the shadow of death
is with each other.
To be with each other
--to be with each other
in whatever form you can-
- to hold each other across the miles
- -to cry with one another
today, tomorrow and the next
and-to continuously share
quintessential Fred stories with each other.
Yours is a family-
a community-
based upon 30 years
of real life and real love.
That love is sacred, holy and Godly
-in it you will find rest for your weary souls. Yea, though I walk through
the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil; for thou art with me. Be with each other-
for there are the memories of Fred
and there is the presence of God.
Amen.