Remembering Milt Senior

On Saturday, we buried Milton Taylor Senior, 86, a faithful Christian and generous philanthropist.  He will be well remembered and deeply missed by all of us at St. John's and here in Lancaster.  With his family's permission, I post my homily on the day.  May God receive him into the arms of his mercy and comfort those he has left behind.

Milt Taylor Funeral

I first came to Lancaster in the mid 1970’s to visit my then girlfriend and now wife. It was snowing heavily, and as we came into town on route 33, My heart was thrilled to see a huge American flag flying at the local Chevrolet dealership. In those days, very few people flew the flag, but Milt Taylor did. Later, when I moved to Lancaster, I learned more about this man who flew the flag when so few others did. I learned about how he supported local charities and projects for the betterment of our community. As a Scout leader and later as a priest, I saw his extensive charity in action, and the people I served benefited directly from his generosity, which was always accompanied by instructions that he didn’t need his name all over everything. And Milt Taylor did another thing or two that I always respected immensely. He was a hard driving, “Type A” man of business, and at the end of the day he provided employment for a lot of my neighbors; and in one of the toughest and most competitive businesses around, He and his sons and their employees always made sure that I was treated fairly and honestly, even before I was a priest.

But it would be wrong to stand here and paint my friend Milt Taylor Senior as some sort of a plaster saint. He was tenaciously “type A”, and my guess is that he like most of us could be exasperating and frustrating to live with or work with on occasion, perhaps even more so from time to time. Milt was a human being, subject to the tempers and temptations that all of us know throughout our lives.

But I saw another side of Milt Taylor, one that few other people were privileged to see, because I was the one who served him Communion when he was here in Lancaster. I looked into his eyes and saw him as he came face to face with the living God on Wednesdays, just about two thirds of the way back on the inside aisle on this pulpit side of the church. You can tell a lot about a man when you serve him Holy Communion on a regular basis. His demeanor, the depth of his soulfulness, the temper of his eyes fill volumes about his view of the world and perception of his relationship to God the Father, through Jesus Christ the Son, and in the Power of the Holy Spirit. And I tell you today that Milton John Taylor had a deep and abiding faith in Jesus Christ. It informed who he was and what he did. He was no more perfect than you or I, but he acknowledged Jesus Christ and accepted him as Saviour and Lord. His personality, so aptly suited for the highly competitive business which was his life, was informed and moulded to a great degree by his faith. Where he succeeded in life, he gave God the glory and gave back to his community, and when he stumbled or fell, he sought the forgiveness and grace of his Lord.

And that is why on this day, as we gather to remember the life of Milt Senior and commend his soul to God, we can rest in the words of Jesus, who said, “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” You see, Isaiah knew whereof he spoke when he said, “He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the Lord hath spoken it.” You see, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble…The Lord of Hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.” Indeed, “The tabernacle of God is with men.” For Milton John Taylor “there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” And Jesus Christ, “he that sat upon the throne” says, “Behold, I make all things new…It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.”

Thank you Father, for receiving your son Milton into the arms of your mercy, for guiding him throughout life, for forgiving him, and for offering that same forgiveness to us all. Now send your Blessed Holy Spirit upon all those who mourn his passing. Grant unto them consolation and an abiding sense of your presence, and accomplish in all who seek to know you the saving and transforming work of God, through your Son Jesus Christ our Saviour and Lord, in whose Name we pray. AMEN.