Supposing him to be the gardener

One of my most favourite things about Diana was her presence on Facebook. At 89 years old, Diana was active on social media. She commented on everything from vacation photos to debates about international politics. She wrote in a combination of English and Flemish, which us non-Flemish speakers  could just about work out if we sounded out the words one by one. 

Occasionally, Wilna Parry, who is a member here, and a friend of Diana’s from the Altar Guild, occasionally Wilna would comment on something Diana had written on Facebook. Wilna would write in Afrikaans and Diana in Flemish, and watching the two of them chat back and forth, finding words in common where they could, was just so much fun and also just deeply emblematic of who Diana was. 

As Maureen Malcolm mentioned in her remembrance, English was Diana’s second language but she persevered in building friendships during her time in Canada, from passing along news of the family to Peggy on their Sunday morning ride into church, to bringing prayer requests to her weekly bible study with the Grahams. 

Diana wasn’t shy about getting involved in many and varied volunteer activities at the church. Nor was she shy about dressing up for whatever occasion those activities called for. Every year on the day of the annual Altar Guild lunch, Diana would go and get her curls “set.” When it came time for the more casual Summer Camp Sunday, there was Diana in Levi’s, a plaid shirt with a puffy vest over top, and a flat-brim baseball cap her grandson had lent her. You’d think she'd just walked out of a magazine for North Face!

I was and am very fond of Diana. When Diana’s children asked me to recommend a scripture reading for today’s service, I thought straight away of this passage from John’s gospel. The part with Mary when she mistakes the risen Jesus for the gardener and they proceed to have this conversation where Jesus is speaking on one level and Mary on another? This is just so something Diana would do! Like, if it were Diana in that garden, which knowing her love for gardening that's a likely place for her to be, if it were Diana talking to Jesus and Jesus said something to her as he did to Mary and it wasn’t familiar to Diana right away, of course Diana would proceed to talk right back not letting a simple miscommunication get in the way! 

Diana's faith was a lot like that encounter between Mary and Jesus in the garden. There were many things she didn't understand and I think like many of us many things she had a hard time reconciling with her faith. Civilians killed in warzones; First Nations communities in Canada recovering hundreds of unmarked graves from the residential school era; families dealing with pregnancy loss; these were just a few of the things that weighed heavily on Diana’s heart and her faith seemed to just ride right alongside them like two people who speak different languages but choose to talk to each other anyway. 

That's the first reason this gospel passage reminds me of Diana. The second is that when I read about the disciples arriving at Jesus's tomb and finding it empty, I'm always struck by the level of detail the author includes about the linens, the cloths that had been wrapped around Jesus's body when he was laid there. Three times the linen wrappings are mentioned; I'm sure the author of John's gospel was a member of the Altar Guild! 

It's the detail about the linen cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus's head that really gets me, how it had been rolled up in a place by itself. I imagine in the ancient world that it wouldn't have been uncommon for the women who were caring for the dead, tending to their bodies with perfumes and oils so that family members could come and pay their respects, I imagine that those same women finding that day that Jesus's body was gone, that of course they would have taken care to fold and dignify in whatever way they could the linen that had been wrapped around  their Lord’s head.

For at least as long as I've been here, Diana has been responsible for the linens at the church, the cloths which in the Christian tradition hold bread and wine considered to be the body and blood of our Lord. These linens catch the crumbs that fall from the bread when it's broken; they soak up droplets of wine that collect at the rim of the cup when it's being poured out for others to drink. In order to preserve the linens, they have to be soaked, hand-washed, air-dried, ironed from the centre out to protect any embroidery and then kept in proper storage to maintain the fabric. Soaking, washing, drying, starching and pressing sacred linens, rolling them up and putting them in a place by themselves: this was Diana's ministry. She walked closely with her Lord as she did it.

Amen. 

Photo credit: Jason Rajan