Kenneth Vincent Schwartz II
Deacon Emeritus, Saint Luke's Church, Sedona AZ

Our dear Deacon, the Rev. Kenneth Vincent Schwartz, died on Ash Wednesday following a lingering illness.

His Requiem Mass was celebrated at Saint Luke's on Saturday, February 28, 2009, with the Rt. Rev. David McMannes as Celebrant and preacher.

The following is the sermon preached at the service...

 

"It’s Not Too Late!"

(Sermon preached at the Requiem Mass for the Reverend Mister Kenneth Vincent Schwartz II, on February 28,2009, at Saint Luke’s Episcopal Church, Sedona, AZ, by the Right Reverend David McMannes, Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Arizona and Rector of Saint Luke’s Church.)

We walk through life - from the cradle to the grave - and oh, what a journey for us all. Saint Francis de Sales (1567-1622) put it this way: Walk joyously as far as you can, and if you do not walk joyously, at least walk courageously and faithfully.

Today we thank God for a courageous, faithful man.

If you could describe him in one or two words, what would they be? What would you call him?

I first met him in 1984. A watershed year in many respects. It was the year I came here from Montana, and if you remember, it’s the year the cement plant, where Kenneth worked at the time, was on strike. It was a tough strike, also, if I remember correctly.

I was the newly elected Rector of a two point ministry - a yoked parish - a church here in Sedona and one in Clarkdale - Saint Thomas Church. Kenneth had been there for years - 1957? - serving as a Lay Reader, and had actually been licensed to do services by the “missionary” bishop to Arizona, Bishop Kinsolving. Even then - in the year that I met him, in ‘84 - he was a man with a history in the community. He started doing Santa Claus in the 1960s, all the while being a faithful layreader and member of his church. You know those stories, and others, I am sure. That’s why you’re here today, because you came to know him and love him. The quiet, courageous faithfulness that we all can see in a person, but oftentimes, sadly, neglect to do or say anything about until it’s too late. Or so we think, anyway.

Today I speak of the essence of Kenneth Vincent Schwartz. How did he live his life? How did he do all those things? What made him bring smiles to the faces of people who didn’t even know who he was? What was that - or those - special characteristic(s) that made him stand out in a crowd?

Well, it has an awful lot to do with what we read at the Sunday mass last week.

1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.
4 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
6 Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
7 Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
8 Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
10 But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.
11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

Kenneth had what we all yearn not only to possess, but to also become - love.

If you liked/loved Ken, the basic core of who He was was his Faith and hope in Christ, and his love of God.

That’s why he kept on doing the ministry in the church in Clarkdale, through thick and thin.

That’s why he’d knock on the doors of your homes during December to light up the hearts of your children.

That’s why he stepped up to the plate and set out on the daunting task to start a new church in town, with a bunch of peculiar people.

That’s why he stayed faithful through some very lean and terrible times through the years… His love of God first, and therefore also his love of his fellow man.

That’s why, no matter what others said about him, he kept on walking through this life courageously, faithfully - doing the best he could and then doing a little bit more - because he knew it was the right thing to do. And so he did them, no matter what!

II

He teaches us much, even to this day.

You see, it’s not too late! And although he is gone from us now, we can carry him into our lives by learning those love-filled lessons from him, and, as we will pray in a few minutes, asking God to “give us grace so to follow his good examples,” that with him we may be partakers of God’s heavenly kingdom.

God’s heavenly kingdom! “For now we see through a glass darkly,” but Kenneth doesn’t any more.

God’s heavenly kingdom! Where no grudges silence our communications with others, where there is no pride, envy, anger, lies or manipulations, or abandonments of our duties to others, no gossip, no fear, no running away from obligations, no cowardice when times are tough.

God’s heavenly kingdom! Where there is only the greatest of the greatest… you know what that is: Kenneth had it, and we can, too! it’s love!

Love? God!

We give thee thanks this day, O Lord, for Kenneth Vincent Schwartz...a sheep of thine own fold, a lamb of thine own flock, a sinner of thine own redeeming. Receive him into the arms of thy mercy, into the blessed rest of everlasting peace, and into the glorious company of the saints in light.

Rest eternal grant unto him, O Lord
And may light perpetual shine upon him.

+ In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.