One of my parishioners says to me "What are you going to say about me at my funeral?"
Let me assure you that more than one person has said to me about Doris
"What are you going to say about her?"
It was well known that she and I had a tempestuous relationship
And I suspect that I am not the only person who could say that about her.
She is the third senior member of the Movement for the Ordination of Women (MOW) whose funeral I have been present at in recent months (see here and here)
Like Alison Gent and Alder Hall this portrait shows the truth of the G&S word
"(See) my daughters all of whom are beauties."
Doris was also keenly involved involved with the
Prayer Book Society
which promoted the use of the Book of Common Prayer of 1662
I therefore found myself in deep agreement on one issue
and in disagreement on another
And we had our moments!
One day I had a phone call from the Archdeacon, who had had a phone call from the Archbishop
who had had a letter from the Primate of Australia
who had had a letter from Doris Howles!!
Like many of us
who are convinced that we should promote greater liberty
and great causes
we also think that everyone should agree with us
and are not terribly sympathetic to those who don't!
Doris was like it
I am like it!
And it makes for an interesting life.
Jesus reminds us
that God's house
is a big house
and that there is room for all sorts of people.
There is room for Doris
there is even room for me, and you!!!
This Gospel teaching reminds us perhaps
that what Jesus is saying
that we are the limited ones
God is the open one!
I give thanks for Doris
for her tenacity, for her commitment
for her difficulty
and give thanks that we don't live in a world
where everyone rolls over and gives in.
Doris certainly didn't.
Jesus says "In my Father's house
there is room for all!"
It is us, not God,
who has the problem with people who disagree with us.
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