Zita Mary Pansy Smith: November 1918 - September 2006

Sadly, the loss of Gill's father in June has been followed by the death of her mother this month. The following are transcripts of the Tributes given at her funeral:-

The Funeral Sermon

Reading 1 John 4:7-12

The reading we have just heard seems a strange one for a funeral service; it is more suited to a wedding and indeed, is often used in that context. So, why has this reason been chosen? Perhaps the answer will become clear as I progress.

If we are to read our newspapers and watch the news on television it would seem that we live in a world devoid of love. This week has seen the fifth anniversary of 9/11. We have heard once again of the ‘War on Terror’- a war that has so far claimed an estimated further 72,000 civilian lives and the lives of over 3,000 service personnel in Afghanistan and Iraq. We have no idea how many have died on the, so called ‘other side.’

It seems that death and destruction have become the stock trade of the media, and it would be easy to assume that the world was full of hate and that love was dead.

But that is not the case. What go unreported are the thousands of small acts of love that take place day by day. In the rubble of Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, there are individuals working, supporting and loving those the world has forgotten, some working for Organisations, some individually.

In our country the same is true. We hear of the gunning down of a 15 year old boy in Moss-side, Manchester, but nothing of the Seventh Day Adventist Pastor, who is up in the middle of the night comforting the family.

So why am I saying all this? I am saying it because Zita was one of those unnoticed people who quietly got on with helping and loving people. Very rarely did she get into the news, and those outside here circle of family and friends most likely never knew some of the things she did. It is not for me to list them here - that is for those who will give the tributes, should they so wish. I simply need to say that Zita showed love to all: her family and friends, of course; but also to those who, through no fault of their own, needed care and attention, but most of all love.

Mother Teresa of Calcutta said: “I have come more and more to realise that being unwanted is the worse disease that any human being can ever experience. Nowadays we have found medicine for leprosy and lepers can be cured. There is medicine for TB and consumptives can be cured. But for being unwanted, except there are willing hands to serve and there’s a loving heart to love, I don’t think this terrible disease can be cured.”

Zita dedicated much of her life making sure that those with whom she had contact, did not feel unwanted and for that we give thanks to God today. Sometimes those acts of love were not without cost. In times, she too was in pain but that did not stop her. Love can be costly, but never as costly as it was to God. “For God so loved the world that he gave his son. Zita’s loving acts may not have been earth shattering but when added to similar acts that happen minute by minute, hour by hour and day by day, they help create a power that can never be defeated, a power that always triumphs in the end because it is the very power of God : for “God is love.”

So, today, we thank God for her example. However, hopefully we can do more than that we can follower her example and the example of others like her, in bringing a little more love into the world.

So the reading from 1 John is most appropriate. “Beloved, let us live on another for love is from God.”

Gill's and Elaine's Trubute

This tribute will be in two parts. In the first part I will attempt to tell you a little about the Zita you don’t perhaps know, because I know that many of you who join with me today, could stand here and give this tribute and most of you know of her life in the village and involvement with St Raphael better than I.

My mother was very much her father’s daughter. She imbibed and shared his fierce belief in people, his ability to be and remain independent in his judgements and actions, but to work within the structures of the society he lived in. Both mothers’ parents came from seafaring families, where men and women were separated for months at a time. During these times men needed to sew and cook and women needed to maintain property and manage the family affairs. So it was that Mother and her siblings were all taught to sew, cook, clean, and decorate regardless of gender. This got both of my parents into trouble from time to time. For example, the first time my mother was ill, it came as a bit of a surprise that she had to give my father detailed instruction on how to boil an egg. My mother horrified her mother-in-law by painting the window frames. I should add that at the time she was sitting on the window sill, painting the outside of an upstairs window and she was quite heavily pregnant.

Mother’s father was a teacher and for that he was viewed as a rebel by the family. The same strength that enabled Grandpa to persue his career in education was shared by mother. This enabled her maintain her stand for those and for that which she believed in. None more so, than in her successful resistance to all the pressure and well intended advise regarding my sisters education. Elaine’s sever dyslexia and the then teaching method resulted in her experiencing very sever difficulties at school. School was fee paying. Our paternal grandfather, who got to where he was by working his way up, did not understand why my parents thought it necessary to pay for our education, never mind that one of the children wasn’t learning. There were times when only my mother stood between Elaine and at the very least, a school for the ineducatable. I wonder if during this time, my mother ever imagined that this child she fought so hard for would become a university graduate?

Mother grew up during the great depression of the nineteen twenties, a time when there was no welfare state. Her father was the headmaster of an elementary school. Grandfather took his duties very seriously. She told us about two brothers who had been expelled from their previous schools. Grandpa took them in to his school. He eventually found they could draw and he encouraged them in this. She told us that when they left school they eventually made a name for themselves as artists. Mother and her siblings regularly lost second best coats or shoes to children at his school who had none. Nor was this the sole province of my grandfather. Mother remembers coming home from school to find her mother rifling the beds for blankets. Granny had gone to assist a farm workers wife who was giving birth to a baby. There were no blankets or coverings in this womans home apart from newspapers. Grandma had no spare blankets so everyone in the house had one less blanket on their bed.

Like the Queen, mother’s life was governed by her strong sence of duty. Whatever the personal cost, mother would always act according to that which she perceived as her duty. She never talked about it, but it underpinned everything she did.

I do have to say that at times she was very sorely tried. She once told me that, following her engagement to my father, she was introduced to his extended family. She found the inspection by elderly aunts quite vexing. On one occasion she was asked if she liked housework. When she replied in the negative, she was asked why she wanted to get married. I believe her honest blunt reply rather shocked this victorian lady.

I would like to tell you about when we grew up, about the chickens, about her care for her mother-in-law and her own parents, her sacrifices, the fun times like the impromptu picnics at West Mersea, the embarrassing times like the washing up in the oven and holding up the London train because she lost her shoe on the track.

I would share with you the love of dancing she shared with my father, Sequence dancing at Kesgrave and the gold medal.

After Elaine and I grew up, Mother joined the Town’s women Guild and through them was able to attend some very interesting meetings on the then modern trends in housing. It seems boring to us, but when she talked about it she really lit up! But then when Grandpa retired for teaching he became a councillor. He was very heavily involved in promoting the idea of social housing. In fact the first council houses in colchester were built in the road Councillor Ham lived. As I said My mother was her fathers daughter.

Faith or Works?

It is some time since we have posted anything here. Somehow summer has slipped by.

The following is a sermon preached by me one the 3rd of September. I had not intended to publish it, but some people have asked for a copy, so putting it up here seemed the best option.

Dave

Faith or Works?

Readings: James 1-17 –end, Mark 7.1-8, 14-15, 21-23

Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress and, and to keep oneself unstained by the world. (James 1-27)

For by grace you have been saved, through faith, and this is not of your own doing; if is the gift of God – not the result of works, so that on one may boast. (Eph 2-8)

Introduction

These to verses, to some extent, sum up the long standing debate in Christianity – just how are we put right with God? Is it by having faith in the person and sacrifice of Jesus, or is it by living a good and caring life?

However, this debate is older than Christianity. In our gospel reading this morning, Jesus is confronted with the Pharisees. They wanted to know why Jesus was allowing his disciples to eat without washing their hands. Surely, anyone who claims to be religious and a good Jew should be following all the laws and traditions laid down. To the Pharisee, there were rules for everything, and only by following these rules could a person be considered righteous before God.

Throughout the centuries, the church too began to act this way. To put it simply: sin separated people from God; it was as if they had a large negative bank balance with God. To pay off that debt they not only had to have faith in Christ but to earn credits. They could do that by attending mass, going on pilgrimage to holy places and (surprise, surprise) giving money to the church. Even then, the debt was likely to be so large that the balance had to be worked off by torment in purgatory and by people paying for mass to be said for you soul.

All this changed with the reformation and the doctrine of ‘Justification by Faith.’ For a person to be put right with God they simply had to believe that Jesus was the Son of God and that by his sacrifice on the cross he had paid the debt of their sins. The cry of the Reformation became “Faith Alone.” Good work, though desirable, were not essential to the salvation of ones soul. Because of this Martin Luther, the so called father of the Reformation called the Book of James an ‘Epistle of Straw,’ because of its emphasis on works. This difference caused the split between Protestantism and Catholicism

To some extent, these two opposing view remain even today, nearly 600 years on.

The Biblical Argument

The question of faith alone or faith plus works is made difficult by some hard-to-reconcile Bible passages. In Romans 3:28, Paul states: we hold that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law: but in James 2:24. we read: You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. Some see a difference between Paul (salvation is by faith alone) and James (salvation is by faith plus works). In reality, Paul and James did not disagree at all. The only point of disagreement some people claim is over the relationship between faith and works. As we have seen, Paul dogmatically says that justification is by faith alone (Ephesians 2:8-9) while James appears to be saying that justification is by faith plus works. This apparent problem is answered by examining what exactly James is talking about. James is refuting the belief that a person can have faith without producing any good works. So faith by itself, if it has no works is dead. (James 2:17). James goes on to emphasise the point that genuine faith in Christ will produce a changed life and good works (James 2:20-26). James is not saying that justification is by faith plus works, but rather that a person who is truly justified by faith will have good works in their life. If a person claims to be a believer, but has no good works in his life – then he likely does not have genuine faith in Christ (James 2:14, 17, 20, 26).

Paul says the same thing in his writings. The good fruit believers should have in their lives is listed in Galatians 5:22-23. Immediately after telling us that we are saved by faith, not works (Ephesians 2:8-9), Paul informs us that we were created to do good works (Ephesians 2:10). Paul expects just as much of a changed life as James does, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17)! James and Paul do not disagree on their teaching on salvation. They approach the same subject from different perspectives. Paul simply emphasized that justification is by faith alone while James put emphasis on the fact that faith in Christ produces good works.

For me the Biblical argument raises two fundamental questions? What application does it have for us today? Does it really affect life in the 21st century?

Does it really affect life in the 21st century?

If we believe, our salvation is by faith alone then it leads to a very self centred form of Christianity. Nowhere is this better demonstrated than in the Fundamentalist Christian groups in the United States. Their unerring belief that prophecies regarding God’s people Israel and major war in the Middle East which will bring about Christ’s return has lead them influence American politicians , including President Bush to give unwavering support to the Nation of Israel , a county that has ignored more United Nations resolutions than Sadam Hussain ever did. That support has lead to the subdegration of the Palestinian people and now the destruction of Lebanon as well as insecurity for many of the Israeli people. There seems to be little evidence of care for these people from these Fundamentalist groups.

Contrast that with the work of other Christians who are there on the streets of Lebanon, living with the people of the Gaza Strip, doing their best for the people of Iraq as their country slips into civil war. For these Christians, simply believing is not enough they feel called to help in some small way. Sadly, there voice is seldom heard in the corridors of power – what they do often goes un-noticed, but they have a firm belief that ‘faith without works is dead’ and that following Christ for them means ministering among the dispossessed.

What application does it have for us today?

The Church in England faces a huge challenge. Britain is one of the most secular societies in the western world. Why is that so? We are given many reasons, but it is fairly safe to say that a main cause is that we in the church have become inward looking. The Church of England a prime example. Just look at the agendas for General Synod for the past 30 years! It seems we are more worried about our own faith and how that works out in the church, than we are about what is happening in our parishes and the wider world.

What of St. David’s? We too face huge challenges in the future. Do we say to ourselves ‘Well my faith is Ok’ I’ll come along Sunday by Sunday and do my duty to God; I’ll even support other church activities. All very laudable, but if that’s all we do – if that becomes the sum total of our Christian commitment and all our efforts are put into maintaining the status quo at St. David’s – we should not be surprised when we become even less relevant to society outside.

However, If we begin to see St. David’s as the place where our faith in God is both strengthened and renewed, a place from which we can go out into the world so that we can not only bring the message of Christ but also work for him in whatever way he should choose, then St. David’s becomes more than a building and its presence in the parish extends further than the corner of Rocky Lane, its relevance along with the relevance of Christ grows.

Conclusion

Where do I stand?

Faith. You may be the sort of person who has faith, but have never really expressed it other than in worship. You need to seek out what God would have you to do.

Works. It may be you’re the sort of person who is trying to work your way into heaven. You do marvellous things, but deep down there is a void that only God can fill.

Faith and Works. You need to make sure that you keep the balance right between the two. Having a soul friend who you can trust is one idea to make sure you do.