Eulogy for, my brother, a simple servant leader

Dick was a man of many cross currents. A self-declared, simple man, he cultivated a form of prayer without ceasing. In these recent years, he poured himself out and invited the holy spirit to fill him. When he allowed himself to rest you would be just as likely to find him fishing as well as hovering over a barbeque grill in the searing desert heat…shimmering waves of heat radiating all around him. Once when I asked him why he stood over the fire for so long he replied that it was a marvelous time to talk with God. Dick, (I always called him Rick, or Ricky when I was feeling like my youngest child self), was always nudged by the Holy Spirit to live into a call to love and serve. He worked hard, he loved new and shiny things but always, always he would return to our Universal Christ with ever-deepening commitment and devotion.

My brother’s passing on to dwell with the prophets, to cross over to the place where angels sing, was sudden and wrenching. As I sat, grief-stricken with this altered reality, this yawning gap in my life, a poem, A meditation for a Mourner's Kaddish, written by Merrit Malloy arrived from a friend. This beautifully portrays my sense of my brother in this ineffable and liminal time. I am sharing this with you all because I sense that Dick would find this to be truthful, and frankly, he would recommend this to you saying it was a neat poem!

When I die give what’s left of me away to children and old men that wait to die.

And if you need to cry,

Cry for your brother walking the street beside you.

And when you need me, put your arms around anyone and give them what you need to give me.

I want to leave you something., something better than words or sounds.

Look for me in in the people I’ve known and loved and if you cannot give me away, at least let me live in your eyes and not in your mind.

You can love me best by letting hands touch hands, and letting go of children that need to be free.

Love does not die, people do.

So when all that is left of me is love, give me away.