Wisdom 3:1-5,9; Psalm 121; John 6:37-40

In our lesson from John’s Gospel, Jesus affirms that his promise to the Father has been fulfilled.  That promise of Jesus the Son to God the Father was to lose nothing of that that had been entrusted to him, and that all that had been entrusted to him would be raised up on the last day.  Jesus loses none.  None of us is lost to God through the saving grace of Jesus Christ; none of us is lost to God’s unconditional love.

In Mary Beth’s last months of greatest frustration and loneliness, she would say to me that she just wanted to be with her dad.  The image of Dad, created for her by her beloved earthly father, was strength, protection, and discipline, and above all, unconditional love.  Would that every earthly father would establish this image for his children, thus, leaving his children with a deeper understanding of the strength, protection, discipline, and unconditional love that our heavenly Father provides for us, not because we earn it in some way, but through grace alone.  When we are blessed with an earthly father whom we are assured wants only what is best for, we can better understand God the Father who wants only the best for us.  Our image of God the Father impacts our lives immeasurably from early childhood through our entire lives.  Mary Beth was at peace with the knowledge that beyond her earthly death she would be gathered into the perfect unconditional love of her heavenly Father.  

Jesus assures the Father that he has lost nothing of that that was entrusted to him from the least known to the most famous. Of Jesus’ original twelve disciples, there are several we know only because they are named in scripture.  Without extra-biblical history and the handing down of legends, we would know nothing of the ministries of James, the Minor; Thaddeus, who might have been known as Jude; or Simon, the Zealot.  Nevertheless, these and others were chosen by Jesus for specific reasons and diligent purposes. 

Mary Beth, too, was chosen for God’s specific purposes.  It was Mary Beth whose instinct was to find a solution while others were naysaying and expressing doubts.  For years, our committee meetings and projects were arranged around her mother’s caregiver schedule.  For those of us who have been primary caregiver for an elderly parent, we know the realities of that most difficult stage of life.  Mary Beth fulfilled that role as best she could with love and joy.

Mary Beth guided us in collecting bottle caps for Boys’ Home, paperbacks for inmates, and shoes to be exchanged for funds to purchase Narcan, the drug used by first responders to counteract the effects of opioid overdose. And Mary Beth was faithful to worship for herself and for her mother, despite the great difficulties and declining health – legs that wouldn’t quite go in the right direction and a brain that lost its thought before it was complete; yet she came in worship and thanksgiving to God right up until the day it became absolutely impossible.

In the church records and vestry minutes of the Episcopal Church of the Advent, future generations will find the name Mary Beth Dally Wooden.  They likely will not find a St. Mary Beth’s Basilica or a Mary Beth Dally Wooden Blvd as for the apostles Peter and Paul.  With some searching they might find evidence of collections of bottle caps and paperback novels and used shoes. But somewhere at Boys’ Home, there may be a young boy kept warm by his first warm coat; somewhere there is an un-named inmate who finds some pleasant moments reading of faraway adventures in a dogeared paperback novel; perhaps even the life of another child of God was saved from death of opioid overdose by the Narcan that was purchased with funds collected from the sale of old shoes.  None will be able to trace these moments of God’s grace back to the efforts of one person.  Mary Beth knew she was only one, but she was one, and she knew she was called to make her contribution to the wellbeing of others, sharing the light of Christ with immeasurable blessing. 

Even though we could list Mary Beth’s many good works that blessed each of us in so many ways, it was not these that earned her way into heaven.  That way cannot be earned; it was purchased for her as it was for each of us by the one perfect sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ.  We have but to trust and follow; God’s grace and mercy are upon us. 

Our sweet Mary Beth abides now in that peace that surpasses all human comprehension – the ultimate understanding of the perfect unconditional love where none of God’s children is lost, all are gathered to him as our Savior Christ has promised, and we, along with Mary Beth, will all be raised on the last day.  

Burial of Mary Beth Dally Wooden