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Homilies by Rev. Andrew Collis unless indicated otherwise.

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Memorial Service
Frederick (Fred) Joseph Spry
January 15, 1933 - October 20, 2017
South Sydney Uniting Church
Sunday, October 29, 2017

Revelation 3:14, 20-22; Luke 11:9-10


‘Heaven's door’

This is a terrible occasion. It’s also an occasion for giving thanks, for worship. We pray, in love, that we might find words to speak in the spaces between grieving and striving, silence and recommitment to patience/kindness. God be with you …

I won’t be saying much. I acknowledge the support of Adrian with whom I have run many miles, and give thanks for his long-running care of us, his trust and creativity (our multi-faceted arts program owes Adrian a great deal). It’s also a genuine pleasure, over more than 10 years, to have seen Ollie and Isabelle grow into such fine young people.

The song by Bob Dylan sits somewhere between suffering and hoping, inspired as it is by scriptures like those we have read from the Revelation to St John and the Gospel According to St Luke.

In Revelation 3, Jesus is the one knocking – at the door of churches/houses/hearts. In Luke 11, Jesus encourages us to “keep knocking”. The door, it would seem, opens from both sides. It may open or be opened at any time. In this sense, then, heaven’s door is unlocked.

Heaven’s door is one through which we are invited to come and go, to accompany and to be accompanied, to risk love and to receive love, to make a noise (sing a song) and to listen (for God’s coming, and for the asking-seeking-knocking of others).

And when the door opens, from either side, we rejoice (see John 10:7). Relationship is restored. Trust is restored. Hope is restored.

Ollie says his Grandpa was always happy to see him and his sister Isabelle, whenever they came to visit. Adam says that Fred lived for such times with his grandchildren. Sharing meals (making special salads), watching movies, telling stories, exchanging gifts, making memories, making history.

Maybe it’s a mystical image (shrouded in “black cloud”), this heaven’s door. I don’t mean to deny the agony of feeling alone, feeling shut-out or shut-in. And yet, we are given such a striking double-image that we might have means of mourning and means of re-membering – that we might enter more deeply into the truth of our being for one another.

As we look now at pictures prepared by Ollie and Isabelle, perhaps we can reflect on times Fred opened the door for us, on times we opened the door to him, on times the door was opened – and may open again at any time – as if by grace, as if by mercy, as if by miracle, as if by the Holy Spirit … And give thanks. Amen.



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