Marie Bolerjack was born on June 12, 1927 in Quay Oklahoma. She departed this live on Friday January 22, 2010 at the age of 82. She is survived by her husband Austin, sons Stewart, David, Byrum, and Nathan along with a slew of children and grandchildren.
She was an active member of the First Presbyterian Church in Berryville and this homily was said at her funeral on Wednesday January 27, 2010 at the First Presbyterian Church in Berryville.
Matthew 7:1-5
Luke 10:25-28
Marie once told me this story:
She, Austin and the kids were going from Mississippi to Oklahoma to visit family. It was the mid 1960’s and the boys were still pretty young. Could you just imagine the four boys, Stewart, David, Byrum, and Nathan, together in the back of the car with no air conditioning and the windows rolled down on a steamy summer day rolling into the Arkansas River valley? I can just hear somebody scream “Stop touching me!” even now.
Well, it was noonish when they hit Little Rock and the kids were hungry. Austin and Marie didn’t want to pull off the highway in downtown Little Rock, and who did in the mid ‘60’s. So Marie promised the boys that they would get some lunch as soon as they got past the city. Four hot, hungry, cranky boys in cut-offs that aren’t cut-off to the same length with matching buzz cuts; that alone should qualify Marie and Austin for “Parent of the Year.”
Well, being the mid 60’s there wasn’t one or six fast food places at every exit, so they ended up traveling quite a way before finding a little diner. They pulled up, parked the car, and got out of the car; and I bet the boys were cheering as they went to the door. By now, it’s a little after one in the afternoon, they go into the diner and Marie asks if they are still serving lunch. The black woman behind the counter says “Sure, c’mon in, take a seat.”
As the afternoon goes on, one at a time, several men, all black, come into the diner. They walk up to the woman at the counter and whisper a question. The woman answers and they leave. After this happens two or three times, it occurs to Marie that they are in a “Blacks Only” café—with Mississippi tags on the vehicle. Oh. “But you know,” Marie says, “nobody made us feel uncomfortable. We had a nice lunch and got back on the road.”
Now I ask you; isn’t that exactly what you would expect of the matriarch, the grand dame of Clan Bolerjack? In the middle of the ‘60’s, in the midst of civil unrest and race riots, not ten years after the Little Rock Police Department and the US Army 327th Airborne were called in to integrate Little Rock Central High School, Marie integrates a diner. This may sound absurd, but in 1960’s Central Arkansas, it takes a lady to do that kind of work, and Marie Bolerjack is just that lady.
She and Austin not only raised these four wonderful men, they raised a small herd of young men and women. She shared a mother’s love with the world, a love that was unconditional, without bounds or limits. Nobody had to earn her love, she gave it freely.
Marie never knew a stranger. There was never a stray in her house. When I said this the other day, one of the boys laughed saying “We were all strays.” Maybe we are, but as far as Marie was concerned, there were only loved ones. We were all her children as we are all children of God.
One of Marie’s favorite bible passages was, “Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get.” She knew that this meant that it was up to God to judge, not us. So while she was not a fan of bad behavior, she knew that she and we were and are reliant on God’s grace and peace. And she knew by God’s grace and peace that it was up to her to share the love of God with everyone.
She knew this was God’s hesed, God’s agape—words that came from a bible study she participated in not so long ago. These words are the ancient Hebrew and Greek words used to describe God’s love for creation. She knew that it was up to her to share God’s love with the world. She knew this was God’s call on her life because she knew that it was as important to share as it was to receive God’s grace, peace, and love.
In Luke 10:25, a lawyer, a Scribe asks, “Teacher what must I do to inherit eternal life?” The lawyers, the scribes were experts in the law, they knew what scripture said. I once heard that no lawyer worth their salt ever asks a question they don’t know the answer to, and Jesus was counting on this. So Jesus asks him back, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?” The Scribe answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.”
The reason we are all here today is because we know that Marie lived her life by just these words. She followed the law not just in word, but also in deed. She knew the words of scripture; she knew that she was saved by grace though faith. She knew for sure that a vibrant faith in the living God is about receiving and sharing God’s steadfast love, God’s good grace with those around her.
Jesus responded to the lawyer’s answer saying, “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.” By the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ, in God’s love Marie lived the answer to this question and continues eternal life still today.
She loved God and her neighbor. And we who are here today bear witness; her life has borne glorious fruit. By those she has loved and by those who love her, the fruit of her life continues to thrive and will continue to thrive far, far into the future.
The 121st Psalm is a psalm of trust and confidence in God; assuring pilgrims on the way to and from Zion of God’s constant protection. The question raised in the first verse “I lift up my eyes to the hills; from where is my help to come?” is answered beginning with “My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.”
She knew and lived the words of the Psalmist through her life and her acts. She knew the Lord kept her and keeps us all. The Lord keeps our lives from this time and forevermore. And she responded to the gracious love and protection of the Lord our God in acts of boldness, love, and mercy. She knew that it was up to her to share God’s love with the world. She knew this was God’s call in her life. She knew it was as important to share as it was to receive God’s grace, peace, and love.
By grace through faith in our risen Lord Jesus Christ, she rests with Him today in glory.
No comments:
Post a Comment