Charlotte
Collins Reed
Christ
Church Episcopal
February 24,
2019
Roxanne Grattan
Roxanne was one of the first people I
met at Christ Church. She was from Xenia
and I was coming from Springfield, Ohio, about 30 minutes away, so we connected
quickly. I soon discovered the Roxanne
who met life on her own terms and did not hide her joy or her fear, her hopes
or her frustrations. In the few years I
knew her, Roxanne had back surgery complete with what must have been a full set
of complications, fought her way back, faced down a double knee replacement, experienced
much personal loss and grief, and finally confronted the cancer that took her
life, but not without a fight. What I
found remarkable about Roxanne was her raw honesty about her journey. She was sustained by her faith in the God
who, in the words of Isaiah, “gives power to the faint and strengthens the
powerless.” Roxanne was brave enough to cry in church, strong enough to care
deeply for others in the midst of her own pain, and stubborn enough to refuse
to take “no” for an answer. I can only
imagine how tenacious Roxanne was in her younger years. Roxanne’s life and love impacted the lives of
so many people over her 65 years. Everyone
participating in this service is part of a ministry Roxanne was involved with,
from vestry, to Education for Ministry, to the flower guild, to the knitting
group, and those were just her recent ministries. Her ministry impacted people everywhere from
Christ Church to Africa and a lot of points in between. There are so many Roxanne stories to share as
we celebrate her life today.
But as much as we celebrate Roxanne’s
life, we also gather today to grieve her death, to loosen our grip on her as
wife, mother, sister, aunt, cousin, co-worker, student, or friend, and commit
her eternal life to God. We gather to
tell stories, but we also gather to share tears. We are told in scripture that Jesus wept at
the grave of Lazarus, his friend, so we have no shame in shedding our own tears
when we lose a loved one. The reading
from Revelation promises a time when God “will wipe away the tears from all
eyes. Death will be no more; mourning
and crying and pain will be no more.”
But that time is not here yet.
Death is very real, and we are called to wipe away the tears from each
other’s eyes. Grief is hard work and
demands to be respected. Mark, Lauren,
and Mark, Jr., you are surrounded this day by people who love you and want to
help you in this work every way that we can.
While we gather to celebrate and to
grieve, primarily we gather in this church on this day to proclaim the
resurrection of Jesus from the dead. In
her baptism many years ago, Roxanne was joined with Jesus in his death and
resurrection. In her death on January
19, Roxanne was joined with Jesus in new life.
In the reading from John’s gospel, we heard Jesus promise that he has
gone ahead to prepare a place for us so that where he is, we might be also. Roxanne has now joined Jesus in that place. Roxanne is in that place where “those who
wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings
like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.” Roxanne is in that place where she is strong
and whole again. For that, we give God
thanks and praise.
Amen.
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