And so we come together again. We gathered 7 years ago to say our goodbyes to Loren and to celebrate his life, and today, we gather again to say our goodbyes to Sarah and to celebrate her life. And we have to start by rejoicing that those two beloveds have found their way back to their sweet communion after 7 years of living in different realms!
Sarah Green Williams. Born in 1932. She told our young adults in 2008, "I came in with F.D.R. and he is my hero yet." She grew up in Oak Ridge, TN, and her love of books started early working for 50 cents an hour at the library in Oak Ridge. She was a lifelong learner, earning her degree in psychology from the University of Tennessee, and then working as a librarian and a primary school teacher. When David started school, she returned to school and earned her degree in social work, going on to work as a case worker for the Division of Family and Children Services in Georgia and a nursing home inspector for the state of Virginia. She was the opening social services director at the Westminster-Canterbury retirement community in Richmond. Eventually, she returned to school yet again to train in massage.
That's a sample of her formal learning and training, but Sarah was the original seeker, oriented toward mystery, always journeying toward deeper understanding and greater awareness. In late 2007, Sarah joined other elders here at St. Luke's for our first Blessing of the Elders service. In preparation for that, she wrote a "This I Believe" Statement which she simply titled, "Sarah's Beliefs." Just listen to her reading list entitled "Some Significant Books" that she noted in that statement:
And then, in true Sarah fashion, she listed one additional book borrowed from the UNC Chapel Hill Library by Curtis R. Ryan Jordan in Transition: from Hussein to Abdullah complete with the due back date, Nov. 12, 2007, and the postage cost for the interlibrary loan, $2.34.
She was also a big fan of Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell and Charles Williams. My goodness, what a diverse, multifaceted range of thought! Sarah was shaped by all these thinkers—her brilliant mind and vast heart and indomitable spirit stretched and deepened by each and every one. In Sarah's life and in her commitment to justice, you can hear echoes of Charles Williams and his brilliant theology of co-inherence, which talks about our mutual indwelling with Christ and one another and the world. For Charles Williams and for Sarah Williams, salvation was not a solitary affair—we are all made whole together, with the emphasis on together.
Sarah's love of these thinkers and their ideas formed the basis of deep and abiding friendship with kindred spirits. In her "Sarah's Beliefs" statement, she remarked that she had had a steady procession of female friends, including meditation mentors and yoga and t'ai chi helpers. She valued her friends and kindred spirits, and there was no spirit more kindred to her than that of her beloved husband, Loren.
Married for 54 years, three wonderful sons, three wonderful daughter-in-laws, 5 blessed grandchildren. She loved you all with a fierce love, only surpassed by her total pride in you—not just in your accomplishments, but in you and the paths you all walk.
And Sarah and Loren did a beautiful thing in keeping up with their sibling relationships their whole lives long—deep and beautiful and abiding relationships across the board.
Sarah and Loren gave us all such a gift as they lived their lives and their love and their marriage very much in front of our eyes. I can remember them going toe-to-toe in the Undercroft, the way couples sometimes do, and yet, you knew that they were absolutely devoted to one another. Watching them, I learned so much about what real marriage looks like, and I found in their witness both hope and challenge to keep striving to go deeper and deeper in my own commitment. What a gift they gave us all!
Sarah loved the Episcopal church—wherever she and Loren lived, they found a community they could pour themselves into. St. Luke's was blessed to have them walk among us here for a good, long time. Sarah could leave the energizer bunny in the dust, especially when it came to matters of justice. Teaching English to Hispanic immigrants and migrant workers, Katrina Relief, passion for the MDG's that sought to alleviate extreme poverty across the world, a yearning for peace in the world. She haunts me still, "Cyndi, when can we do a U2charist" (that's a eucharist set to the music of the rock band U2) "to raise money for the MDG's?" Whatever we tried, there she was, front row, two seats in.
She was fearless about seeking justice and peace, and she was fearless in seeking joy, and the best justice work happens when it is watered with joy. She loved to travel, she loved to hike and camp, she loved her jewelry which mirrored her exuberance, she loved Stick Boy magic cookies, and she loved really good coffee.
And she was fearless in facing her final years and her advancing dementia—a move to a new community, making new friends, connecting to a new church. The last thing Sarah wrote in her "Sarah's Beliefs" statement, before her book list, was this: "We have other problems and crises and at this time they are: a stroke and lymphoma." Matter-of-fact, to-the-point, nothing-more-to-say, vintage Sarah. It is what it is, and she would face into it, and live fully in the midst of it all.
We, at St. Luke's, have been present to Sarah these last 7 years in spirit and through our prayers. But it was you—Loren, Susan, Steve, Helen, David, Sarah, Kate, Sam, Sally, Aaron, Robert, Betty and Julie—it was you who walked this journey up close and personal. You continued to live that witness of steadfast love that Sarah and Loren bequeathed to you, and though this journey has been hard, I imagine it has also been sweet. You will hold the memory of having walked this journey so faithfully and so well, you will hold that memory always. On behalf of this community, thank you so much for the tender loving care you have wrapped around Sarah throughout these years.
And so, we give thanks today that Sarah Green Williams has crossed over into the next stage of her eternal life. We rejoice that she has once again been made whole and born anew. We give thanks for her taking her place next to Loren in the communion of saints and for the crazy, wild, wonderful conversations that are no doubt taking place as she gets to rub up against all the great thinkers that inspired her throughout her life.
And when we care about matters of justice, when we drink deeply of friendship, when we strike out on adventure, when we love well, when we savor a cup of really good coffee—know that we will touch her essence, and in that moment, we'll remember, she's with us always. Amen.
The Rev. Cynthia K. R. Banks
St. Luke's Episcopal Church, Boone, NC
January 30, 2016
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