Church of the Incarnation July 6, 2021
I would like to begin by offering to the Stanton family and all those closest to Diane my condolences and those of this church for your loss.
I am conscious this afternoon that many of those worshipping with us this afternoon are in Uganda on livestream where it is ten o’clock at night.
So on behalf of Bishop Sumner, I bring greetings particularly to Bishop Dan Zoreka and his wife Mama Flora; to the people of the Diocese of Kinkisi; as well as to friends in Kampala; Glendale California; Cedar Falls Iowa, and beyond.
It is good to be together in one heart, if not in one place, to give thanks for Diane’s life.
The creation story of the Batwa goes this way:
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Later God—Nagasan—created the people of the earth.
Each tribe came to God and asked for gifts.
One by one God gave to each tribe particular gifts.
To some he gave good land.
To some he gave great rivers.
To some he gave great size and strength.
At the very end of the line, the Batwa people came.
But when they asked God their gifts, Nagasan paused. And then he said to them sadly, “I’m sorry: I had forgotten you. There is nothing left.” But then he remembered and said “I do have one thing left. I have a forest which I will give you. But because it is so hard to live in this forest, I will give you two additional gifts—the gift of understanding the animals and—on top of that—the gift of wisdom. “If you use these gifts” God said, “you will flourish.”
And flourish they did, for 30,000 years. But as we all know, in 1991 the Government of Uganda decided make a preserve for the Mountain Gorilla, and forced the Batwa, all three thousand of them, to leave their rain forest forever.
The forgotten people of Nagasan were now left homeless and destitute, with no land of their own, limited job skills, and few options for improving their lives. As Mama Diane would later put it, their “their souls were hurt.” In their exile they understandably wondered if God had again forgotten them, that there would be no more gifts.
But God had never forgotten the Batwa.
God had been planning for this moment for decades.
Twenty-eight years earlier a student in California had become entranced with Africa, and began studies in Anthropology, involving the book-study of an unreached people-group called the Batwa. As part of her course, she travelled to Africa and on her return told her parents that she would live her life there. It was her dream. This dream was short-lived, however, for she soon lost her heart to a young man headed for the ministry.
A quarter of a century later Diane found herself a Bishop’s wife, spending time in the company of bishops, one of whom was the late Archbishop of Uganda, the Most Reverend Livingston Nkoyoyo. The Archbishop told Diane about a unknown tribe called the Batwa. “I know of them.” She replied. Would she help resettle them? Diane knew immediately that this was a call of God.
Diane went in search of a doctor for the Batwa, and God called Scott Kellerman, a tropical disease specialist who travelled to assess the situation, returned to California, closed his practice, sold all that he had, and with his wife Carol went to live in Bwindi for fourteen years. “Diane rocked my world” he told me.
For Diane this was the beginning of 27 years of work marshaling resources to work with the Diocese of Kinkisi and the Kellermans to build schools, fund an economic development project, a nursing school, and one of the finest hospitals in Uganda. She talked to Scott Kellerman more or less every day for years, coordinating the work.
She was a formidable fundraiser for the simple reason that she was entirely genuine. She saw raising money for the Gospel ministry it was.
This mission became her greatest passion in ministry in a life full of passions and achievements.
· She organized the largest youth event in the history of the Episcopal Church.
· She played a critical role in founding Uganda Christian University.
· She created the Clergy Family Commission in this Diocese to combat the loneliness and isolation that clergy families sometimes experience.
· She led Bible studies and prayer groups.
· She would pray with whoever came her way.
Just as she knew no national borders, she knew no social borders. In the Stanton family, you never knew what down-on-his luck stranger would appear invited at Thanksgiving Dinner.
She knew no spiritual borders, either, and was fascinated by the world of the angels—about whom she loved to give talks. For a time, on local television, Diane was the media’s go-to angelologist. If you wanted your cherubim, seraphim, dominions, principalities, thrones, and powers parsed, Diane was your gal. Thomas Aquinas had no more enthusiastic exponent.
An evangelist to the tips of her fingers, Diane never wasted an opportunity to share Jesus or pray with others. When she sold real estate, she wouldn’t just find you a house to live in but a church to go to. When she was a travel agent, she would recommend not just a holiday destination but an eternal destination—and church to go to. One of her mottos was “Make a friend, be a friend, bring a friend to Christ.”
Friendship was important to her and that was partly what made her so successful in her ministries. She once asked some Batwa, by then Christians, what part of the Kellerman Foundation project mattered most to them—the clean water, the purchased land, the animal husbandry work, the hospital, the health care?
A Batwa replied, “just sitting.”
The Batwa reinforced in her something she had always known: that the gift of presence mattered more than anything. And that without the trust and the gift of relationships none of the projects would have happened. Hers is a great name in Southwest Uganda, not for what she did, but for who she was—Mama Diane, a treasured family member.
This emotional sensitivity and sense of adventure made her a terrific grandmother who created adventures for her grandchildren. When each of them turned ten, she would take them on a dream vacation. She believed that her children and grandchildren were her greatest achievement. Certainly, they were a wonderful consolation and blessing to her in the days and nights she lay dying.
Diane’s life and ministry was rooted and grounded in Christ but at the same time rooted and grounded in a remarkable marriage of over fifty-two years.
Bishop Jim always encouraged Diane to undertake ministries of her own, so neither would live in the shadow of the other.
Bishop Jim and Diane met each other when they were both working in that great American institution that styles itself the “happiest place on earth.” Theirs was an exceptionally happy marriage from which untold happiness flowed to others.
Jim, one of our mutual friends called your relationship with Diane “magical” and, having observed you together since we all met in that old lady’s[i] backyard nearly a quarter century ago, I can only concur.
There are many things in Diane’s life we can learn from but if I had to choose one, it would be this:
In retrospect, it is exceptionally easy to see the guiding hand of Christ in Diane’s life, but it’s worth noting that for long periods, even decades, God’s direction and purpose was far from clear. When Diane was asked to do something, hers was always a “holy yes.” She would pray, and if she felt the prompting of the Holy Spirit, she would throw herself into it, not knowing where God was taking her.
There is a lesson there for us all.
The Celtic tradition calls some sacred locations “thin places” where the next world can almost be felt. Diane has slipped away from us, through that veil, into the company of angels, whose willing ambassador she was. We commend her this afternoon to the hands of her creator and redeemer, whom she so whole-heartedly loved and served; and to the fellowship of the saints, who I imagine this afternoon have received her into that mansion—of God’s many mansions—where they sing the welcoming songs of Africa.
Now cracks a noble heart.
Good-night, Diane;
And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.
May her soul, and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercies of God, rest in peace, and may life perpetual shine upon her.
Anthony Burton
[i] H.M. the Queen.