Click play to listen to an audio recording of the funeral service:

Click here to read the bulletin for the service.

Full text of the homily posted below:

In today’s gospel reading, Jesus says, “Anyone who comes to me I will never drive away.”

This statement is a testimony to the infinite breadth and unfathomable depth of God’s unconditional love. This fact about divine love was the single most important truth in the life of our friend, Pat.

Jesus’ statement begins with that all-inclusive word: Anyone.

Jesus makes no provisos or exceptions to the kind of people who are welcome in his presence. The divine welcome is not limited to any particular ethnic background, gender-identity, sexual orientation, social class, political affiliation, or even religious belief.

Jesus says this particular invitation is addressed to “anyone who comes to me.” Now, this addendum might seem like a barrier to some. People like to talk about having a “come-to-Jesus moment” when they need to face a difficult truth. This is understandable, considering that Jesus is the kind of spiritual teacher who will not let the delusions of powerful people go unchecked. To others, “anyone who comes to me” might sound like it only applies to those who identify as Christians. This too is understandable, but that’s not what Jesus is talking about here.

Jesus’ open invitation seems merely polite, but in fact, it flies in the face of a divided world that would prefer to separate insiders from outsiders, based on any number of artificially-manufactured categories. But Jesus doesn’t play that game. In the words of the late spiritual author Rachel Held Evans, “What makes the Gospel offensive isn’t who it keeps out but who it lets in.” For Jesus, “anyone” means ANYONE!

Think about all the different kinds of people who come to one another, in big ways and small, throughout the course of a day: at work or school, in line at the store, walking down the street, or coming home at the end of the day. According to the sacred Scriptures of the Christian tradition, Christ is present in each and every one of these people we encounter (including the person we encounter in the mirror). Whatever we do unto others is what we do unto Christ himself.

“Come to Jesus” is a phrase that applies, not only to difficult conversations or religious epiphanies, but also to the many ways in which people meet each other in the humdrum of daily life. Jesus understood this, which is why he taught his followers to “love one another as I have loved you.” When we meet one another in an attitude of love, the Christ in us is loving the Christ in them, whether we realize it or not. When we do so, we complete a spiritual circuit that increases the energetic flow of love in the world.

Pat understood this truth at a deeper level than many others care to do. It drove his spirituality and informed his activism for social justice.

Pat once told me a story about his confirmation. For those who may not be Episcopalians, confirmation is a ritual where a young person, after an extended period of study and reflection, “confirms” the promises made by their parents and godparents at their baptism. It’s the Christian equivalent of a Bar Mitzvah in the Jewish tradition. Confirmation is the moment when a young person becomes an adult, in the eyes of the Church, and chooses to follow the way of Jesus as their own spiritual path.

Pat told me that, when the bishop laid hands on his head and prayed for the Holy Spirit to enlighten him, he felt unworthy of undergoing this ritual because he didn’t think he had studied as hard as he should have during his time of preparation. There were questions to which he still had no answers and commitments that he still did not understand. He felt that the bishop must be making some kind of mistake in confirming him, so God would surely intervene and stop the ritual from taking place.

But that is not what happened. Instead, the bishop laid hands on Pat’s head and prayed the traditional prayer:

“Defend, O Lord, this thy Child with thy heavenly grace; that he may continue thine for ever; and daily increase in thy Holy Spirit more and more, until he come unto thy everlasting kingdom.”

What Pat experienced, in that moment, was an unconditional love, which transcended his lack of understanding and sense of unworthiness, yet fully accepted and embraced him anyway. His young mind was unable to fully comprehend this love, so he persisted in his belief that there had been some kind of mistake.

Pat’s doubt and felt sense of unworthiness propelled him into a lifelong journey of spiritual searching and reflection. He spent time in churches and monasteries. He prayed fervently and read books. In time, he decided that what he was learning should propel him into action to make this world a better place, so he marched, worked, and organized to help those who were less fortunate than himself. He loved his family and friends, his wife, sons, stepchildren, and grandchildren, to the best of his ability. As many of us know, he was far from perfect, but his life was driven by a passion to experience and express the depth and breadth of divine love.

I believe that God answered the bishop’s prayer at Pat’s confirmation. When I look at his life, I see a man who was richly defended with heavenly grace, daily increasing more and more in the Holy Spirit. Pat expected to be “driven away” at confirmation because of his unworthiness, but instead he found a Lord and Savior who said to him: “Anyone who comes to me I will never drive away.”

Pat’s favorite theologian, Paul Tillich, wrote extensively about this unconditional love. He says:

You are accepted, accepted by that which is greater than you, and the name of which you do not know. Do not ask for the name now; perhaps you will find it later. Do not try to do anything now; perhaps later you will do much. Do not seek for anything; do not perform anything; do not intend anything. Simply accept the fact that you are accepted!

As his chaplain and pastor for many years, it was my honor to reflect this observation back to Pat before he died, just as it is my very great honor to celebrate his life with all of you today. I pray that, today, in this gathering of remembrance and thanksgiving, each and every one of you would know and feel yourselves to be loved and accepted by the same love that took hold of Pat’s mind and heart.

It does not depend on your faith, understanding, or worthiness to be effective. This love is real, whether you believe in it or not. It is yours, whether you want it or not. This love holds you close to God’s heart with a gentle power that is stronger than the force of gravity, which holds the galaxies together. Whoever you are, whatever you’ve done, and however you believe today, you are loved with a love that will not let you go.

The only thing this love asks in return is that we complete the circuit by loving one another with that same unconditional love.

In memory of Pat, and in the light of this love that embraces us all, I pray that you will love one another today and remember always that you are loved by a love that says, “Anyone who comes to me I will never drive away.”