As you can see by looking around today, the church
is still in full Christmas regalia which is exactly what Dodson would have
wanted. He adored the season of Christmas! And I suspect that he as a lifelong
educator would delight in the tree at the back of the church decorated with ornaments
made by kids in our afterschool program who went through a whole lot of glitter
and glue. I only met Dodson within the last couple of years as the new pastor
here, but one of the first things I noticed when I first met him was the
notebook. A small and well-worn spiral notebook that contained the titles of
all the books he had read throughout his professional life, recorded by year.
He proudly showed me the notebook and we had a
conversation about what he had read recently. And he allowed me the liberty of
paging through the sheaves of paper that had gone before. Always learning,
always sharing.
I got a sense as I often do, that here was a man I
wish I had known better and sooner. I know that sounds almost like a cliché
throwaway line, but in sincerity and especially with Dodson, it is most
certainly true. Susan’s sweeping words soar in his obituary, a snapshot of his
life and witness, both personally and professionally. And knowing he was a man
who traveled the world to learn and share, we placed several of our global
nativity scenes up front, including this one on the pulpit with me, from Peru,
belonging to one of the members of the Bible Class he loved so well.
At first when Susan and I got together after her
Dad’s death so much of what was on my mind was about Dodson and Louise
together, for to speak of one almost necessitates speaking of the other. But
then as we spoke more specifically about Dodson, one of the things I learned was
his love and regard for Abraham Lincoln.
With that, and based upon Dodson’s love of books,
it is today with a wry smile that I know how I could have become a good friend.
Lincoln had the answer, once noting that “My best friend is the man who will
get me a book that I haven’t read.”
As a history aficionado, I can see many parallels
between these two men. Challenging beginnings, success by endeavor, the
capacity to bond with and influence people while maintaining a moral compass.
And also a wry sense of humor and a life story that
includes living in seasons of great sadness as well as joy. As we gather this
day there are many words about Dodson or Lincoln I could lift up, and there
will be a few. But we are also here to give thanks to God for the man we were
all in our seasons privileged to know, and for God’s words that transcend this
moment and offer promise for the story from here.
As I endeavor to capture the man God gave us to
know and to love, and his legacy in this earthly life, perhaps the
meta-narrative, the overarching theme would be found in these Lincoln words: “In
the end it’s not the years in your life that counts, it’s the life in your
years.” As I consider Dodson’s life witness, it is why I selected the hymn “Take
My Life and Let It Be.” Because the very next words are- Consecrated, Lord, to
thee. This was Dodson.
You all know far greater than I his great influence
but also great devotion, in his professional life, and his relationships. Despite
his influence he was not a clanging gong or crashing cymbal, but one who gracefully
engaged life with a firm sense of commitment, and fairness, and taking genuine
interest in humanity and enabling people to learn, the world over. Not in a
haughty way, but with faithful persistence. And I would be remiss if I failed to mention
his time here as a leader at Holy Spirit. Always preparing for others to
receive, he was a man who took his commitment to education and married it with
his commitment to faith.
But it might never have been.
All of this would not have been possible much less
achievable without a sense of optimism and openness for opportunity and growth.
There is much in his life that would have suggested a different way….frail, not
athletic, health woes, poor, not dominant.
But when a door opened to give him a scholarship to
college, he grabbed it, even though it destined him to become an educator, not the
lawyer he intended to be. Which leads me to a second Lincoln quote.
“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns,
or we can rejoice that thorn bushes have roses.” Dodson lived this, and seemed to
grasp more often than most the patterns and seasons of life. Even these later
years that were not at all what he desired for himself or Louise. Nowhere was his
faith more evident than when I visited and had come to offer communion. He was
lying down sleeping, but I nudged his shoulder. He woke and with a look of
delight of anticipation realized, and cried out, “You came!” He insisted that
Louise, who’d gone down the hall in her wheelchair, be present. All must be
prepared! We dispatched a nurse to find her, and he got everything ready for
her when she arrived. When she came, he cheerfully told her I was there to
visit and to offer communion. If you know Louise in later years you know that to
the casual observer it would seem his words were not quite understood. But ever
optimistic, and gracious and leaning into that faith, he helped her eat the communion
wafer. As she smiled, he turned to me and exclaimed- “She really is SO happy
you’re here!”
Ever gracious, ever devoted, ever faithful. That is
the measure of life in his years. Shown in both large ways and in that simple
moment in the room at Berks Heim where reason alone would not have been enough
to believe what was taking place.
Abraham Lincoln was once reading a Bible and a
skeptic upon seeing it, asked why a man of such education and reason would read
it. To which he replied, “Take all that you can of this book upon reason, and
the balance on faith, and you will live and die a happier man.” Which I think
places us squarely not only in the life we recall, but in our gospel for this
day. While we can know seasons, and we can read books and expand our minds,
just beyond us is the truth for which only faith can provide the key.
Faith is what helps us hear that in Christ there
are more chapters in the book and more of the story to know- for Dodson and for
us.
For a man for whom most of his life was spent
preparing others, all has been prepared. For a man for whom these last years
have seemed a test of faith, there is now certainty. For a man so dedicated to
justice, the words of Jesus are trustworthy- “this is true. I wouldn’t tell you
so unless it was. And there you shall be
also.” And he is.
And I imagine the joy of seeing the fullness of all
that teaching now experienced!
Dodson, you have taught us well. May all you have
shared not be forgotten. And may almighty God strengthen us to live by faith that
the next chapters of our story are yet to unfold but the ending is assured.
