Lifesongs

100707

On being a Woman of God

Proverbs 31:10-31

At the celebration of the life of Myrtle Parr Davis

¹⁰A capable wife who can find?
She is far more precious than jewels.
¹¹The heart of her husband trusts in her,
and he will have no lack of gain.
¹²She does him good, and not harm,
all the days of her life.
¹³She seeks wool and flax,
and works with willing hands.
¹⁴She is like the ships of the merchant,
she brings her food from far away.
¹⁵She rises while it is still night
and provides food for her household
and tasks for her servant-girls.
¹⁶She considers a field and buys it;
with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard.
¹⁷She girds herself with strength,
and makes her arms strong.
¹⁸She perceives that her merchandise is profitable.
Her lamp does not go out at night.
¹⁹She puts her hands to the distaff,
and her hands hold the spindle.
²⁰She opens her hand to the poor,
and reaches out her hands to the needy.
²¹She is not afraid for her household when it snows,
for all her household are clothed in crimson.
²²She makes herself coverings;
her clothing is fine linen and purple.
²³Her husband is known in the city gates,
taking his seat among the elders of the land.
²⁴She makes linen garments and sells them;
she supplies the merchant with sashes.
²⁵Strength and dignity are her clothing,
and she laughs at the time to come.
²⁶She opens her mouth with wisdom,
and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.
²⁷She looks well to the ways of her household,
and does not eat the bread of idleness.
²⁸Her children rise up and call her happy (blessed);
her husband too, and he praises her:
²⁹“Many women have done excellently,
but you surpass them all.”
³⁰Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain,
but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.
³¹Give her a share in the fruit of her hands,
and let her works praise her in the city gates.

In the seven years that I’ve been blessed to be a part of this greater community of faith, I’ve had the honor of officiating or participating in many funerals for women who, in principle, fit this description that we find in the last chapter of Proverbs.  There have not been as many women who have fit the description in BOTH principle and FACT.

From what I’ve known and heard of Myrtle over the years, she exemplified both.

Some of you in this sanctuary have had the privilege of knowing Myrtle all your life: siblings, cousins, children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. 

Others of us have only known her for a season.  While it is no less significant, we may have only had the chance to see one, final thread of the beautiful tapestry that was her life as it was put in place. 

As a pastor, as a fellow believer, and as a simple follower of Christ these times, these events have been the most humbling to me.  To watch as family and friends gather to bid farewell and celebrate the life of a loved one on their passing provides some of the most profound insight into what it means to live a life of faithfulness to Christ.  I don’t mean that I’VE had the profound insight, I mean that those moments have made clear to me the reality that we preach our own funerals by the way we live our lives.  We set the tone for how family will enter the visitation time, how they will greet each other and how they will approach the casket.  We set the tone for what the time of gathering will be like. 

As I sat in the funeral home last night, watching family and friends greet one another and visit and share and laugh and catch up, there were, of course, tears shed, but there seemed to be so much more lightness in the air than darkness.  More joy than sorrow.  Not that the sorrow was suppressed or ignored or anything like that.  What makes a funeral like this for a person like this such a celebratory occasion – I should say SAINT like this – to use the appropriate biblical term – don’t worry about what contemporary imagery and tradition have turned it into – Paul’s reference to followers of Christ as “saints” speaks more to what we carry inside than to how close we come to carrying out our calling of living out the image of Christ 100% of the time – Myrtle came closer than most – what makes these times more a cause for celebration is what Corky told me last night – it is the certainty of knowing that Myrtle is face to face right now, that she is in the presence of the one who loves her and knows her better than any of us in this room this morning, and she is experiencing pure unadulterated joy.  As happy as a time as there may have been in her life – at the birth of her children, at her marriage to Wilson, or any number of other events, the joy that she is experiencing now is so far beyond that momentary flash of brightness as to be dim by comparison.  I would venture to say that Myrtle was as much a saint as St. Francis or Mother Teresa, but by virtue of her allowing the Holy Spirit to guide her life, to inform how she lived and acted and dealt with folks, not by how much she denied herself in order to provide for her family or for other needy people – though she did that too.

Ultimately what this morning is about is taking note.  We are taking note of the passing of a precious daughter of God, a devoted mother, a faithful disciple of Christ, a passionate lover of God, who expressed that love through her love of her family and throughout her community – both her faith community here at Totuskey as well as in Haynesville and across the Northern Neck. 

As we all know, she also expressed that love through song.  She sang in a beautiful Alto voice – even up until just a few weeks or even days ago.  She knew those words to those hymns where it counts – in her heart. 

The beautiful thing about Myrtle’s life is that it reflected her musical voice. 

I’m not a musician, I’ve not been musically trained, but here’s what I mean:

In a hymn, you have the melody line, which is what most of us sing.  Some of us struggle more than others to follow it.  But then there are these parts – these voices that chime in and create a harmony.  They are a complement to the melody that brings out a fuller, richer sound than what the melody can provide by itself.  The Melody doesn’t stop being the ‘lead’ voice, but when a convergence of voices comes together to sing a chord, with a Soprano, an Alto, a Tenor and a Base note all being sung at the same time, the sound can be … enrapturing.  Is that even a word?  Do you know what I mean? 

In our lives, we have those who have provided the melody for us, who have lead us with strong clear notes of direction and purpose and style.  And then there are those who, while still providing for and allowing that melody to be central to our lives, have broadened and deepened our appreciation of the beauty of the melody – who have complemented it and shown by the uniqueness of how THEIR lives have begun to resonate to that same melody how we are all called to harmonize our own lives to the grand melody that God is singing throughout creation. 

Thank you, Myrtle, for the gift of your voice – and every way that you ‘sang’.