Dick Watson's Memorial Service

October 6, 2007

Isaiah 25:6-9
Psalm 23
Romans 8:31b-39
John 5:24-27
I.N.I. (In the name of Jesus)



I admired Dick for his adventurous spirit. I marveled at his wide ranging interests, marked by the latest book he would be reading, the report on yet another long-lost Navy buddy who contacted him via the internet, or hearing about yet another far-flung trip he had planned with Linda.

Both Linda and Dick were fixtures here at Christ the King by the time I arrived, the type of parishioners that offered their whole selves to another seeking soul, that were true friends to others in the community, that garnered a reputation for the ways they used their gifts in teaching, that were genuinely engaged in the walk of faith and a shared life in the Spirit.

I came to look for them as preachers do after a while, ensconced in their pew, greeting those they loved or would come to love, knowing that more often than not, when I was in their presence, they would offer me a blessing.

In my first months at CtK, I held what are called “cottage meetings,” intended to gather subsets of the congregation to introduce myself more informally to them and to find out about their perspective on life and faith. Linda and Dick offered their home for a meeting of the Hollis contingent, and I grew to love that house in the woods on a dirt road, which to me reflected much of Linda and Dick’s spirit.

Some of my fondest memories of life together at CtK with Dick and Linda come from Adult Fellowship events which have a rich history here of building community, allowing fun and laughter, and throughout time making legends. At our annual round of the card game of Hearts, Linda was once crowned Queen, the one who had the least points, which is the purpose of Hearts.

After she died, held in Christ’s promise, Dick still participated in as many aspects of congregational life. One of my griefs is seeing the frustration on his face trying to keep with a Hearts’ Party, as his disease deepened its grip on him. I knew it was something he loved doing, but I knew that his ability to keep with it was waning.

With the ravages on both his mind and his body taking such an awful toll, I have prayed for Dick’s release, for his freedom from all that plagued him.

I am with the psalmist who paints a pastoral outdoor scene, and acknowledges that God restores the soul.

I am with the apostle Paul who speaks of the closeness of Christ and Christ’s love despite hardship, distress, or peril.

I want for Dick that he becomes clothed with Christ’s glory, Christ’s righteousness, Christ’s new life, and that though I will surely miss him, though his family will surely miss him, though his friends and sisters and brothers in Christ will surely miss him, I will release him into God’s promised future where there is no more death, no more crying, a great feast, and in the company of those who, held in Christ’s promise, like dear Linda, have made the great journey from life, to death, to life.

The apostle Paul had the right idea, I think, linking our lives to Christ in baptism is of great and ultimate comfort. Jesus offers passage from death to life, into a mysterious place that has only been approximated by biblical language into the word heaven. This passage is a free gift, and is centered on Jesus’ own journey in this life in this world. Here, in this world in his life, Jesus met those like Dick who were ravaged by diseases of mind and body and offering, and had compassion on them. Here Jesus met those whom society would push away, children, foreigners, the poor, and offer them blessing and the riches of God’s kingdom. Here Jesus met his own death through nails in hands and feet on the wood of the cross, and there broke heaven open to all, even as he rose to new life on the third day.

The baptismal journey is one which seeks to live as Christ lived. We offer to shed whatever limits our way, whether it is hatred, fear, or disease. Instead we look to take on Christ’s life lived for others, even through suffering, even through death. And in that exchange, Christ offers us a new way, safe passage, a new adventure to the way with God, which is abundant life, rich life, new life, eternal life.

We pattern that life whenever we strain to hear the good news of Christ in scripture. We pattern that life whenever we receive bread and wine, Jesus’ own gift of life to us with the promise of the forgiveness of sins, grace, and a taste of the feast of heaven.

We pattern the new life, the restored life, the resurrected life as we offer our whole selves to one another as those who seek the face of Christ and the mind of Christ, with joys beyond this world.

In recent years, Dick Watson had a difficult road, one that while he was living took him to a place that was filled with troubles, sadness, worry, and frailty.

I want to remember his joy in hiking the mountains, his smirk after a dry quip that made me wonder, “is he joking?”, and his upturned smile when asked about his children or his granddaughters.

As Dick heard the life-giving Word through his life, and lived in hope for Christ’s promise of future glory fulfilled, I encourage you with me to put on hiking boots, and with the words of Paul cheering and preaching with comfort to walk in newness of life.

I.N.I.

The Rev. Timothy J. Keyl, Pastor
Christ the King Lutheran Church
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