Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

1 Peter 5:7

Sunday afternoon’s funeral/memorial service for my mum was a beautiful celebration of life and faith and love and family, and the power of living in community (click here for link).

Everyone played their part with eloquence and care. The words were pitch perfect and the music – Abide with Me and Love Divine, All Loves Excelling struck a positive note and offered a strong message.

Those who spoke: Hannah, Naomi, Rebekah, and Pastor John, were strong and inspirational. Worship leaders Pastor Maguerite, Bob Beichner, and Karen Reardon hit just the right tone.

I ended up having a little trouble at the end of the words I shared. So here they are, absent the hesitations and tears. I pray they do my mother justice:

My reflections on mum’s life:

It is tough to know where to begin. 92 years; such deep faith; such a life of faithfulness and hospitality and generosity and grace…

There’s a 1989 song, The Heart of the Matter, in which Don Henley laments: “How can love survive in such a graceless age?” Well it’s still an unfortunate and timely commentary on today’s world. And we don’t want to live in a world with any deficit of grace, do we, and we especially don’t want to see the end of 92 years of this kind of Grace.

So I will begin in the way distant past. Mum’s grandparents – the Kemp and Watts families, both worked on large country manor estates in rural Essex (think “Downton Abbey”). They cared for and worked the horses before moving to London where they were employed to take care of the massive Clydesdale work horses at factories along the River Thames. They were members of The Peculiar People church, and that is where my grandad Arthur Kemp met my grandma Lilly Watts.

Feisty from the get-go!

My mother – their youngest – was born in 1931, and I will start her story with this from 1937. Over in Germany Adolph Hitler was already deep into his program of division and hate and intimidation and xenophobia and “alternative truths”.

Meanwhile, in a small house in East London, six-year-old Grace Kemp was upset with her parents; really upset. So she packed her little suitcase, she went to the front door and she announced that, “I am taking the train to Germany to tell Mr. Hitler to come drop a bomb on this house!” Off she went, down the sidewalk and toward the station. Her dad followed from a discreet distance, only intervening to bring her home when she was at the ticket window emptying her purse.

It’s the kind of story that echoes all the way through her 92 years. Always speaking her mind. Always quick to act. Always pushing the envelope. Never content to sit still.

“I don’t care what the bylaws say about women, I’m a member of this church and I have something to say.” (Standing up at a church meeting at Folkestone Baptist Church).

“Of course women can be called to preach. Are you telling God who he’s allowed to speak through?” At the conservative Charismatic church – with a Southern Baptist preacher – she and dad attended in Sarasota.

When she wasn’t pushing back against sexism and misogyny, and – her biggest pet peeves – complacency and mediocrity, mum was applying her gifts in hospitality and generosity and leadership. She started new ministries, she taught Bible classes for young parents, and she encouraged so very many people in their faith.

And not just in church. My mum was involved in community marriage support, hunger programs, education, and social justice on many levels.

After moving to Sarasota in 1991, Grace Maul continued to mentor and lead and offer light and grace and mercy to countless people – mostly other women – who looked up to her and were lifted up by her wisdom and care.

It was not easy for mum to move away from England. She came to Florida – of course – for the grandchildren (Hannah, Andrew, and Naomi) but leaving the strong network of community she had helped to create absolutely took its toll. She loved her nieces (Marion, Liz, and Christine) too, and I believe there was always some yearning for, as the hymn says, “England’s green and pleasant lands.”

This is the point when I either deep dive for another 20 minutes or skip to the end.

Full Circle:

So let’s finish just about back where we started, with Grace Maul speaking her mind and doing exactly what she wanted regardless of the rules.

Most of you know she rejected to idea of assisted living, and that she was determined to prove her point. So she channelled the spirit of that little girl in 1937 who packed her suitcase and took off for the train station to enlist the help of Mr. Hitler. Only this time she didn’t make it more than a few steps before she fell and broke her hip.

Mum never recovered, and last Friday evening, on her 92nd birthday, she skipped the train altogether and finally made her way home.

It’s the home all of our hearts seek, the place where she could finally set aside “All her anxiety, all her care…”

All your anxiety, all your care,
Bring to the mercy seat, leave it there,
Never a burden He cannot bear,
Never a friend like Jesus!

Edward Joy (1920)