Seth Tinsley

Homily from Seth Tinsley's funeral

April 16, 2016

Readings: Isaiah 61:1-3; Psalm 42:1-7; Revelation 7:9-17; John 14:1-6

In the name of God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

            “Do not let your hearts be troubled,” says Jesus in the reading we just heard from John. But how can our hearts not be troubled? We gather this morning to liturgically mark the death of a great father, friend, son, husband, who died far too young. I know that my heart is troubled this morning, and I don’t think I’m the only one here who feels that way. As much as we may want it to be, faith is not an epidural to numb us from the pains of life. We’ve all heard the cliché that the way to move forward is to take things one day at a time, one step at a time. But how do we move forward with troubled hearts?

Father Bob sermon

Sermon for the Funeral of the Rev. Bob McGee

Wait Chapel- Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, North Carolina

Saturday, September 6, 2014

Readings: Isaiah 40:1-8; Psalm 121; 1 John 4:7-12; John 2:1-11

In the name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

            As the Mullah Nasruddin is reported to have once said, “I’ll be surprised if I make it through this life without dying.” That was something that Bob told me a few years ago after surviving one of his near-death experiences, and it reflects the way in which his illness changed him. Some of you have likely heard the story from the Zen Buddhist tradition that Bob told in the past few years. A man walks across a field and encounters a tiger, who begins to chase after him. The man runs towards a cliff and swings over the edge, holding onto a vine. Below him, another hungry tiger has come to wait for him to drop. Two small mice then arrive and begin to gnaw on the vine, when he notices a ripe, red strawberry. Holding onto the vine with one hand, he grabs the strawberry with the other and eats it. And how sweet it tasted.