Sermon at Memorial Service for Henry Pease

Sermon in Loving Memory of the Rev. Henry J. Pease
Given at the Requiem Eucharist
April 19, 2008 in St. Stephen’s Pro-Cathedral, Wilkes-Barre
By the Ven. Richard I. Cluett

[More on Father Pease here]

Precious in the sight of God is the death of his saints. Precious, too, is the life of that saint. Beloved Henry J. Pease is such a one.

What calls to mind a beloved person? When you think about this man, what is it that comes to mind? The life and the death of Henry J. Pease have brought us to this day and to this service. I know some call him Mr. Pease, and that is an honorific, befitting this man. MR. Pease. Others of us know him as Father Pease, or Professor Pease, or Dad or Grampa, or simply as friend, colleague, or neighbor, Henry.

But now that we are here, what comes to mind – what comes to your mind – such a man whose life and death has brought us all here this day? Each of has had our own experience with this extraordinary ordinary man. So what is it for you?

Is it his years of love and never-failing presence or patience or encouragement or wisdom or courage or strength? Perhaps, it is his willingness to risk and to cross national boundaries and even hemispheres to rescue and care for his family. Perhaps, for some that is what it is that calls to mind this person, Henry Pease.

Is it his incredible sense of duty that never allowed him to shrink from a task no matter how mundane or onerous, or unpleasant or dangerous. Or is it his sense of family and tenacity and courage and unwillingness to have any of his own hurt or lost or abandoned? Or is it his persistent and available presence in the parish, holding true to what is good and of God – even to the point of annoyance? Or is it his leadership in diocese or parish or town or county or region or elsewhere I know not of…

For some perhaps it might be the fact – the fact of the life of Henry Pease as a disciple and minister of Jesus Christ. One might even say it so boldly as the fact of his bringing Jesus Christ present in the here and now in a mortal, flawed, and wonderful man – full and lovely – a true mensch, which is to say, a truly good person!

Howard Thurman once wrote: “Ask what makes you come alive and do that. Because what the world needs are people who have come alive.” Henry was fully alive.

In her wonderfully poetic elegy, Canon Romeril wrote: A precious man died today. Precious indeed is Henry Pease, in the sight of God, man, woman and child.

Perhaps that is why we have all come here today; perhaps that is what has brought us all out to Wilkes-Barre on this fine spring day. To thank God for Henry Pease, Mr. Pease, Professor Pease, Father Pease, Dad, Grampa, and or is it just for Henry being Henry.

He contributed in so many ways to the welfare of people and to the building of God’s kingdom, to the establishing of a just and fair society, to the education of young people, his own and those he taught.

Henry believed in the God who came in Jesus Christ to bring life and meaning into the world. He not only believed, but he based his life on this God and he himself worked tirelessly and selflessly to bring meaning into this world, he worked to bring hope into the lives of people, he worked to help people find resources necessary for living: economic, food, clothing, shelter, education, and the resources of Faith. He worked to bring order into lives and communities and institutions.

In a note to the diocesan community after giving a considerable, yet still partial, list of some of Henry’s activities and ministry, Canon Don Muller, former rector of this pro-cathedral and colleague of Henry, wrote, “… Henry was a giver. He advocated for others, and yet didn't seem to worry about what he was getting. He took on tasks that others (including myself) would not do…”

You know, so often the deaths we experience seem capricious or sudden or calamitous or outrageous. But in this one, we know Henry lived a full, loving and meaningful life. And though a death not convenient or wanted, it was in the natural order of things. His death is akin to the passing of a tribal elder, the passing of the leader of his clan, the passing of a wise teacher, the passing of a beloved priest. It is the passing of a son – a child of God – who returns to the Father. And it is also the passing of a torch to those of us who remain behind in this life.

What a legacy Henry has left his children and grandchildren and community and the Church and the Academy. This is what a life full of faith and meaning lived rightly – one can even use that word, righteously. Yes, that fits. This is what a righteous life looks like. And it is good and natural that Henry has been gathered to God and is now numbered with the saints in light. For we know that “the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God.

I don’t know which of those dwelling places that Jesus was speaking about is being occupied by Henry, but I do know that he is there in that place where there is no pain or grief, but life eternal.

Henry has left his children and grandchildren prepared to go on, to carry on – as best they can and will do, as best a father can do. And I know that we who love and respect him remain and that in this man’s life, we have received from God through this Henry Pease a precious gift that is a legacy of righteousness – a legacy which is to be treasured, but should not be hoarded or squandered, but rather shared liberally, even courageously, with those with whom we live in this world.

This passing of a man, this passing of a torch, this receiving of a legacy of purpose and meaning and service on behalf of others brings to mind that scene described in the closing of Saint Matthew’s Gospel:

“Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Father Scott Allen wrote, “Pray that laborers like Henry continue to be animated by the Spirit to do the work of ministry.” I would say it, “Pray that we may have the grace to so glorify Christ in our own day.”

We give thanks to God for the life, witness, and example of Henry J. Pease, and we commend him to God’s continual care and love.