Herman B. Wells Funeral

We now interrupt our scheduled programming for a WTI you special presentation the funeral of Herman B wells at the First Methodist Church in Bloomington Indiana. My friends we gathered together here

today to praise God and to give witness to our faith as we celebrate the life of Herman B wells. We come together in grief acknowledging our human loss. We asked that God would now search our hearts that in pain we would find comfort in sorrow hope and in the face of death. May we find a new the gift of resurrection. As I begin today I should like for you to know that Dr Wells left explicit instructions as to his desires on this occasion. I know that it's hard to believe that Herman would ever have detailed expectations. But those of you who knew him will not be surprised that as ever he was way ahead of us in his planning.

He wanted a short service or as he wrote a brief Methodist version of an a pisky service. I. He wanted us to take the place of any secular memorial service. No eulogies. Only a few flowers brief comments and prayers. We were instructed that the service should begin at 11 o'clock a.m.. And so we followed his wishes Berman's instructions concluded with these words. I want to emphasize the fact that I wish my funeral to be very simple. How typical of our understated humble and beloved Herman B wells and so we will follow his

wishes as fully as possible with only a few Methodists flourishes. On his proscribed desires. Let us then turn to the liturgy specified and I would ask you to hear these scriptures sentences as words of grace. Jesus said I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me yet shall he live and whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. And the Saul must writes. Blessed be the Lord for he has heard the voice of my supplications. The Lord is my strength and my shield in him my heart trusts. And finally these words from the Apostle Paul for we know that if the earthly we live in is destroyed we have a building from God

a house not made with hands eternal in the heavens. Would you please stand as we sing together Hymn number seven hundred and eleven. Wow.

Wow. Wow. Wow. These are. A lot of strolling together in a moment of prayer.

Almighty God author and creator of life. From whom we come and unto whom our spirits return. You have been our dwelling place in all generations. You are our refuge and strength a very present help in time of need. Grant us your blessing in this hour and enable us to put our trust in the way that our spirits may grow calm and our hearts be comforted. Give to us your Grace that as we shrink before the mystery of death. We may see the light of eternity. Help us to live as those who are prepared to die. And when our time comes we die as those who go forth to live so that living or dying our life may be in you and that nothing in life or in that will be able to separate us from your great love. In Christ Jesus our Lord Amen.

Please join me as we pray together. Twenty three but I show. You light. Green. House. Me beside the still waters. Story. Right. Right. Right. Here you know. Yeah. Oh. Boy. Yes. It is.

From Psalm 90. Lord you have been our place in all generations before the mountains were brought forth. Or ever you had formed the earth and the world. From everlasting to everlasting. You are God. You turn us back to us and say turn back you mortals. For a thousand years and your sight are like yesterday. When it is past stored like a watch in the night. You sweep them away. They are like a dream like grass that is renewed in the morning. In the morning it flourishes and is renewed in the evening. It fades and withers or we are consumed by your anger by your breath. We are overwhelmed.

You have set our iniquity before you. Our secret sins and the light of your continence for all our days pass away under your wrath. Our years come to an end like us. The days of our lives are 70 years perhaps 80. If we were strong and even then their span is only toil and trouble they are soon gone and we fly away. Who considers the power of your anger your wrath is as great as the fear that is due to you. So teach us to count our days that we may gain a wise heart.

Turn along. Have compassion on your servants. Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love so that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. Make us glad as many days as you have afflicted us and as many years as we have seen evil. Let your work. Be manifest to your servants and your power to their children. Let the favor of God be upon us and prosper for us. The work of our hands. Prosper the work of our hands.

I'm a lawyer. Paul's letter to the Church at Rome. We read these familiar words that will separate us from the love of Christ will hardship or distress or persecution. Or famine. Or nakedness or peril or sword as it is written for your sake we are being killed all day long. We are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered. Knowing all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life. Nor angels nor rulers nor things present nor things to come. Nor powers nor height nor depth nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord Amen.

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Here then the words of Jesus. Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God believe also in me. In my Father's house are many abiding places. If it were not so would I have told you that I go and prepare a place for you and when I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and I will take you to myself that where I am there you may be also. I am the way. And the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but me. If you had known Me you would have known My Father also. Henceforth you know him and you would have seen him. If you love me keep my commandments and I will pray the Father and He will give you another Counselor to be with you forever even the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because

it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know Him for He dwells with you and shall be in you there for peace. I leave with you My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives give I unto you let not your heart be troubled neither let them be afraid. This is the gospel of the risen Christ. To the family and staff and to all of the friends of Dr. Wells to the dignitaries that are gathered we welcome you. I would invite you now to join me for a moment of prayer.

For God we pray that the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts will be accepted acceptable in your sight for you are our rock and our redeemer. Amen. And so we find ourselves on our own. Suddenly left to our own devices. We did not think it possible. But the standard bearer has left the scene. The constant the template the archetype the exemplar. A measure and personification of our highest aspirations has finished his earthly life.

For ninety seven years he lived fully and well. My what a glorious trail his comet leaves behind as it stretches across the sky. Herman B wells left us physically on Saturday evening March 18 shortly after 9 pm. His timing as always is amazing. We meet here for his role 62 years to the day that he was inaugurated as president of Indiana University and in the midst of the renovation on this church facility we meet here the very first week the sanctuary is open and available for public use again. Herman left us quietly after living among us so robustly bigger than life.

His days nearly spanned the century. He was associated with the university for 79 years and for all of those years he was considered the son of this congregation as well. Interestingly enough. This is the same number of years that President William Ryan was related to Indiana University Dr. Brian lived to be 95 and Dr. Wells lived to be 97. I wish you well Miles. Herman left specific instructions as to how we were to honor him. He knew all too well our desire to play out the familiar and comforting past time of now let's come to praise famous people.

That is not what Hermann wanted. He refused to have his role turned into a parade of eulogies. What is Herman signaling by his request to keep it simple and make it a time of worship. If you have to ask you don't understand. Most of you get it. It is quintessential HP w humble yet proper not puffed up but clear about the meaning of things. It is his faith in something beyond himself and not his biography that marks his greatness. It was his faith and not his countless citations which caused his. I used to dance in his countenance to shine.

It is faith in the good people of Indiana faith in human intellect. But more. It is faith in his creator. It was this faith which would help him through the last chapter of life and beyond. He desired no other witnesses apart from the memory of his own generous spirit his trust in others and his faith in God. When word came of the death of Chancellor Wells I was putting the final touches on a sermon for the next day. The news was not surprising. And yet. It was totally shocking that you have the same experience.

Could it be that we lovingly refer at that as we lovingly refer to this one as the Eveready Bunny because he just kept going and going and going. Was an owl really gone. What words might be adequate. There are not. They all sound pale and puny in the face of the great loss to our common life. Any words about this good and great man seem hyperbolic but they are not. Words simply are not sufficient to grasp the whole or to celebrate the gift which is Herman B wells his passing is an extraordinary loss to us. It's a loss to our nation and state of course to Indiana University to our community but most profoundly it is a loss to each of us personally.

So let me come to the point quickly I can hear Herman asking for that. Herman was great because he was good. Yes. De Tocqueville had it right about the essence of American civil virtue. But there is something more basic here something Dr. Wells signals by choosing a memorial service in his church and by focusing our attention in prayer Herman it was good because he understood himself to be a beloved child of God. The words from Mark's Gospel divinely given at the baptism of Jesus were you my son the beloved. With you I am well. Please this is the message of faith what shaped Herman B wells. He was a child of God. Living his life being reconciled to God's purposes because of this he would not

accept finite disappointment nor give up on infinite hope. Jesus comes as the beloved one to teach each of us that we are to our beloved children of God. Herman learned of this beloved ness at his parents table. It was reinforced in Methodist Sunday school classes and in the talk of events he attended each summer during his youth. And because he was comfortable knowing his identity as a child of God he had little difficulty seeing the family resemblance in each one of us. We too were to be seen as beloved. We too were members of God's family. What then was the mark of Herman's greatness. Well it was many things as you know. Of course it was his incessant curiosity is genuine humility his steadfast generosity his practice sense of

humor and his Sure hospitality. But more here was a man who saw the world comprehensively who entertained paradox naturally and who would never be too full of his own self-importance to recognize his family connection with every other human being. For Herman the secular never negated the spiritual. He was proud of his Sigma Nu fraternity and yet he valued each person no matter their affiliation or place whether we like the designation or not. Herman looked at us and saw in each one of us the image of the child of God. Well I was proud to be an Indiana Methodist but his faith was not exclusionary. One of the last public ceremonies he participated in was the honoring of the Dalai Lama.

It is significant that his vision for the Bloomington campus included placing that chapel near its center. You remember of course that it was none other than Thomas Jefferson who decided the library and not the chapel should be at the center of the campus and so he built the University of Virginia Herman's vision was more comprehensive and lacked imagination spirit. They were all to be honored as central. It was an easy paradox for him to handle yet so difficult for many of us. And so at the center of Indiana University there is a place for libraries and laboratories. The performing and visual arts and yes also a chapel this comprehensive way of living was evidenced in his wonderful sense of humor. He loved the rigorous interaction of the

democracy but he also knew the importance of making decisions efficiently on one occasion. Our personnel committee here at the congregation was interviewing a candidate a wonderfully qualified young man for a position that we had the committee discuss the candidate's virtues for over an hour. I mistakenly thought Herman was sleeping. At long last he leaned forward and looked at the chair person and said he is of this much democracy really necessary. Well I've been charged not to recount his accomplishments. I can talk with as he leaves behind through the commitments he made and the causes he espoused.

Herman valued freedom of inquiry as he said freedom is indivisible. You either have it or you don't. And Herman believe there should be freedom in the classroom in the press. Well most of the time. And freedom in the pulpit Hermann's actions on the part of human rights were seminal. He did more than speak against racial injustice he acted with quiet calm and moral clarity to see that African-Americans and others were treated with dignity and given opportunity. Long before most Americans were waking to the importance of civil rights. Herman was an environmentalist long before it was popular to be green. This was in part due to his natural frugality. Nothing should be wasted and especially nothing in God's

creation. He sought to see that education was available to all. As his support for the G.I. Bill and the establishment of campuses across the state in the case he worked until he was bone tired seeking to establish international institutions of peace in our world. He opened his heart and his doors to persons from every part of the globe. He valued the arts treasure the humanities rebeled and great literature. Herman was reflecting the very best of his county roots. He saw the good in the people of Indiana and helped shape the culture of our state to work humanity and service. He encouraged us to dream large dreams. He always told me I needed to be planning and thinking 50 years out. And then he would laugh and

say of course for a person my age it's a little easier to think in 50 year blocks. Herman trusted us to do our best as he set up his faculty. You should praise them when they succeed and cover them when they fail. He was able to transform any self concern into other concerns. And that is why we so readily followed him. At least Stevenson wrote that every age needs a man who will redeem the time by living with a vision of things that are to be permanent redeemed of the time by helping us discover a vision of who we can be. His dreams were so large they shaped us

and in turn shaped the culture around us. We all need somebody who believes in us somebody who sees us as we are and yet also sees us as we can be. This was his genius. I am certain this wonderful man knew disappointment and pain. His life had its sorrows regrets and just like everyone else. It may even be that as public a man as he was he may have known loneliness more than most. Even so Herman's life reflected an understanding of the words of Saint Augusta. God loves each one of us as if there were none other in all of the world to love and God loves all as God loves each.

Moment attributed his success to simply being lucky. Well perhaps but the luck for Herman was seen in simply being born into this mysterious and complex world and having a shot at making sense of it all. His luck was that he took life seriously but never took himself too seriously. One evening not too many years ago Herman showed up as he often would at a little known event that was occurring on the campus it was not well publicized. A small crowd was gathered in a panel discussion was to occur on a rather esoteric topic. Before the meeting Herman was seated in the back of the room. When asked if he was a participant in the

program he scratched his chair and said No I'm just adding a little weight to the occasion. The weight he added to all of our lives was not robbing toss or self-importance or seriousness. I would suggest it was rather the sort of weight which is reflected in the Biblical Hebrew word a word for weight which is also translated glory. It is the Word Cup Bowl and it means having to wait for the glory of God's presence. It means having the weightiness of being beloved. And now he is gone. We find

ourselves alone left to our own devices. Or do we know my friends we still have the weight the glory. We will recognize it in the stories that we tell. And in the family we have gathered around us in the countenances of our neighbors. We must tell stories and tell them often to remind ourselves of this glory as Herman said. We should never let facts get in the way of a good story. Some people spend their lives and leave behind memories wonderful times with friends and families. Others are blessed enough to leave behind a legacy institutions or compositions or new systems of knowledge but only a very few come to walk

this human path and leave behind a culture which has been reshaped by our present US only of you marvel in the glory of who they are and who we all can become. Only a few encourage us to become our best because they know we are all love. And so my brothers and sisters we leave this place with the gift of knowing someone who added a little weight to the occasion. Or as her mate would say May you be lucky. I would invite you please to join in the Lord's Prayer the Our Father.

Our Father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come. Thy will be done On earth as it is and give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from me. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory for it. Eternal God who commit has committed us to us the swift and solemn trust of the lie. Since we know not what a day may bring forth but only to the hour for serving the is always present. May we wake to the instant claims of your holy will not waiting for tomorrow but yielding today consecrate it with I presence the way our feet may go and the humblest work

make it shine. And the roughest places may they be made light. Let us about righteous anger and mistrust move to faith and hope and love by a simple and steadfast reliance on your sure will in all things draw us to the mind of Christ that the last image may be traced again and to Damaeus own us at one with Christ and with thee. Eternal God you have shared with us the life of Herman B wells before Herman was ours. Is yours love for all that Herman has given us to make us what we are. For all of Herman which lives and grows in each of us and for all of Herman's life that in your love and

your love will never end and we give you things at all. And now we offer Herman B wells back into your arms. Lo we pray for comfort in our loneliness strength in our weakness and courage to face the future unafraid long drole those of us who remain in this life closer to one another to make us faithful to serve one another and give us to know that peace and joy and the glory which is eternal life. Lord Jesus Christ our Lord Lord only I invite you to stand and join in singing. And number five hundred and seventy seven. With.

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who. Remained standing through the coral and also to remain in place until they have taken the casket from the sanctuary. Would you also make some space for the family and the staff to follow the casket before you began the verse which you heard then. These words of benediction. And the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge of love of God and Jesus Christ our Lord and the blossoming fathers and the Holy Spirit. I'm with you always. Oh man. Oh. Ooh.

Ooh ooh ooh. Ooh ooh ooh. At. The end.

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It was the in the early 1800s. We now conclude our broadcast of the Herman B wells funeral from the First Methodist Church in Bloomington Indiana. This is been a WTI you special presentation. We now return to our scheduled programming.