SERMON PREACHED BY THE REVEREND DR. HAROLD T. LEWIS, RECTOR
CALVARY EPISCOPAL CHURCH, PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA
AT THE REQUIEM MASS FOR THE REPOSE OF THE SOUL OF
ALFRED RALSTON HOPSON
THURSDAY 14 JANUARY 2010
“I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” (John 10:11)
Alfred Ralston Hopson departed this life on the Feast of the Epiphany. And I am sure that he arrived at the Pearly Gates singing --- singing in that sonorous and mellifluous bass of his with its unique timbre, a voice I heard almost every Sunday after Al retired from the choir. As a result of his move to his pew, the caliber of music emanating from the nave was greatly enhanced. As I processed down the aisle and passed by his pew, his unmistakable voice, always singing the bass line of the hymns, rang in my ears. It was the same voice St Peter heard for the first time a week ago, and probably has heard every day since. But what did Al sing when he got to heaven? Did he pick some Epiphany hymn, like “Songs of thankfulness and praise” or “We three Kings of orient are”? Oh no, he arrived in heaven, singing “I got shoes, you got shoes, all God’s chillun got shoes/When I get to heav’n gonna put on my shoes and walk all over God’s heav’n.”
Because we also know that when Al arrived in heaven he was decked out! I’m sure his shoes were white, to match his suit, his white-on-white shirt, a white tie with a large diamond pin, and a silk pocket square! I used to tease Al about wearing his white suit before Memorial Day, to which he would reply, “But it’s hot!” Yes, Al was a clothes horse, maybe even an over-the-top clothes horse. And he carried it off with style. A few years ago, Al and Ardelle went with me to a Baptist church in Braddock where I had been invited to preach. There was a dinner afterwards, and somewhere between the buffet table and his seat, Al lost a diamond pinky ring. An all-points-bulletin went out, and people scoured every inch of the fellowship hall. And like the pearl of great price, it was found at last, much to Al’s relief.
But his musical talent and his reputation as a fashion plate were just the outward and visible signs of a man of deep spiritual depth. Perhaps we might gain an insight into that spiritual depth in the words of today’s Gospel. Jesus says: “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep.” Jesus provides us here with a job description of a good shepherd, and by extension, of himself, the Good Shepherd. The good shepherd is not a thief or robber. He doesn’t take advantage of the sheep. Instead, he is devoted to taking care of them. And having legitimate business, the shepherd enters through the gate, and not through some back door or over a wall. What is more, the good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep. He sleeps in the doorway to the sheepfold, to protect the sheep from intruders. Finally, the good shepherd is not a hired hand, or as the KJV used to say, “an hireling.” This is not part-time job for a little extra pay; this is his life’s work, his vocation. And the relationship is so intimate that even when the members of several flocks are grazing together, the sheep recognize the voice of their particular shepherd.
Alfred Hopson was a sheep of the Good Shepherd, a sheep of the pasture known as the Church. Jesus knew Al and Al knew Jesus. The relationship between Al and his Lord was not merely some intellectual, theological connection. Al could sing “He walks with me and he talks with me and tells me I am his own” and mean it! He knew that he needed a Shepherd to guide and protect him, that he was helpless without that Shepherd. And everything Al did was a reflection of his gratitude to the Good Shepherd. When he sang, he was about the business of “giving God the glory.” When he stood at the lectern and read the lessons, you sensed that he had a deep understanding, an intimate understanding, of Scripture. But Al especially knew Jesus in the sacrament of the altar. When I had the privilege of bringing communion to Al and Ardelle in their home a week before Al’s death, he said, simply, “I feel so much better now that I have received communion.”
But wait, there’s more! Al was not merely inspired and led by the Good Shepherd. In his own life, he emulated --- he endeavored to be like the Good Shepherd. It takes a special kind of person to be a Christ-like shepherd. A shepherd has to love his sheep, and love them enough to be with them 24/7. A shepherd must have an instinct to provide protection. And nowhere was Al’s gift for shepherding more evident than with his relationship with his beloved Ardelle, his wife and fellow pilgrim of 45 years. We would look far and wide for a more loving and caring couple, or a couple more in sync with each other. They were able without batting an eyelash to finish each other’s sentences. There is nothing that Al would not do for Ardelle. He must have read Paul’s advice to the Ephesians: “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church, and gave himself up for her. . . Even so husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no man hates his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, as Christ does the church.” I am not privy to all the ways that Al cared for Ardelle, but I do know that Ardelle is taking lessons this week in the operation of the washing machine and the dishwasher! Al was no less loving in his care and concern for his children and grandchildren. It is a testimony to that love that they in turn have ministered to him selflessly during the time of his illness.
It can be said of Al that he fulfilled the wish of our Lord that he would have life, and have it abundantly. He enjoyed life, every aspect of it, and would have agreed with Archbishop of Canterbury William Temple who said “It is a great mistake to suppose that God is only, or even chiefly, concerned with religion.” Yes, Al was a party animal, and you could always depend on him being the first to arrive for any social event, especially if it was at Calvary Church! For the fourscore years that God granted him to be among us, he was someone through whom Christ’s light shone brightly. He was a window, a means of grace, in whom the Holy Spirit made his dwelling. In the same way that the shepherds were summoned to the Manger, so Al the shepherd was summoned to be part of our lives, to remind us that the miracle of the Resurrection is not so much that Jesus rose from the dead as that you and I may rise from our respective valleys of death to become extraordinary witnesses to Christ. So we gather this afternoon not so much to mourn Al’s loss ---- although Lord knows he will be sorely missed --- but to give thanks for his long life, as we return him to his Maker, this sheep of Christ’s own fold, this lamb of Christ’s own flock.
Let us pray:
Savior, like a shepherd lead us, much we need thy tender care;
In thy pleasant pastures feed us; for our use thy folds prepare.
Blessed Jesus! Blessed Jesus! Thou hast bought us, thine we are.
The Hymnal 1942, 708.
+Rest eternal grant unto Al, O Lord, and let light perpetual shine upon him. May his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed through the mercy of God, rest in peace, and rise in glory. AMEN.