When a life is a statement of who God is.

How does one make a tribute to person like Rhoda Kennel?

Rhoda was a teacher as long as I can remember. She loved teaching. She could not teach enough. She looked forward to teaching Sunday school after teaching all week long. Even when her mind was injured with some minni strokes she struggled to keep learning. A couple of weeks ago we got new Sunday school books….as usual she took home the teacher’s copy and said on the way home….she can’t wait to read it….Reading the Sunday School lesson was her “Favorite thing.” A couple of weeks ago we were visiting her and we caught her reading a classic novel 2 inches thick. She just loved to learn and loved to teach. In fact she came to this church when she returned from Somalia in the sixties to teach and she taught ever since.

I loved to listen to her teach because she was knew what she was talking about. She prepared intensely. When I would say something I would always look to Rhoda wondering if I said it right…..probably she would qualify something I said but I never felt intimated. You just knew that she got it right.

She had this adventuresome streak…she loved the world and the people of the world. She lived in the Muslim world and the Chinese world and loved it. I think she was completely comfortable and secure with who she was. She didn’t mind being a stripe of a different color. Being so secure about herself made her free to respect and love people wherever. She wasn’t threatened by people being different probably because she felt that way about herself. You just didn’t feel this judgmental spirit from Rhoda. She loved and respected the culture, music, literature from all people even as she loved her own people and music. We all know how she loved traditional music of the church. I remember one time her standing up and saying to the young people, I love the music of the young people. Of course she did….she loved it all.

When she could not travel herself she would travel by reading….she read all sorts of things. For a person who didn’t watch TV, She understood the world in a way few of us do. I remember before Iraq was invaded she said in Sunday school that she believed our country was going to invade Iraq. She said Sadaam would be removed…there would be a power vacuum and Sunni and Shites would erupt into a civil war. Most of us didn’t even know who Sunni and Shites were at that time. Maybe Rhoda should have been President.

She loved Natural world. She loved her garden. She loved flowers. You probably are wondering about this flower. Just three weeks ago we were taking Rhoda home from church and she said sort of matter of factly….There is something really beautiful in my house today. We asked what it was and she said a flower. So we asked if we could see it. She said yes….so we did. Then we learned the story of the flower. Her mother raised this cactus for years…who knows how long but the cactus is older then 20 years. It never bloomed until a few years ago. Now it has bloomed several times in the past 5 years or so but very rarely. The flower only blooms for 1 day. Tomorrow it will be gone. Wow…..I said I must take a photo….so I went home and got my camera and took a photo. I printed it the next day and gave her the picture….I went to look at the flower to see if it was still there but it was already brown. All we have is a wonderful memory of something beautiful….and a picture. So it’s very symbolic. It’s symbolic of Rhoda love for the natural world. It’s symbolic our lives which are here but for a brief time….but a vapor as the Psalm writer says….but we can bloom if even for a day. The flower was also a Gift God gave to Rhoda, who nursed this plant for years, giving her great delight even as she struggled to live with the support of oxygen just before God took her home.

Rhoda loved her family. A most precious memory was Rhoda holding the hands of her father as we gave her a sending blessing to go to China. She cared deeply about her brothers and sisters and nieces and nephews even as a mother. When we sang the song together, “Great is thy faithfulness” Friday, the day before she died, we watched Rhoda with tears as she struggled to sing every last word , “Strength for today and Hope for tomorrow” Great is thy faithfulness”. Afterward with all the energy she had she said, “That’s good song, that’s a good song!” Then immediately she looked at her niece and nephew and asked…Can you sing this song? They nodded in affirmation and she responded as the school teacher she always was; “Wonderful!”. She cared deeply for her family.

Rhoda loved her church. Worship for her was Loving God and Loving the people of God. Being with the people of God was the highest priority in relationship with God. Her Mother was in Church the Sunday before she died. Her Father missed two Sundays while in the hospital and Rhoda came every Sunday before she died. Taking her home from church she always would say it was so good to be at church today.

Rhoda loved Life. She did not satisfy all the goals she had in life. It was really hard for her to return from China because of illness. She hoped to spend years in China but it was not possible. It was not easy to accept being ill. But none of us ever heard Rhoda complain in her suffering. In fact in church we would feel guilty because Rhoda would never ask to be prayed for and sometimes we would forget. Only once did I hear her say she is not afraid of dying but she doesn’t like to be sick. No one can blame her for that. What was impressive were the constant statements of appreciation for all the things she loved around her. In your death Rhoda, you once again were teaching, teaching your most important lesson in life. You taught us how to release life full of gratitude, faith, and Love. You taught us how to die. Thank you for being God’s Gift to Us.