But we speak God’s wisdom, secret and hidden, which God
decreed before the ages for our glory.
Life is mystery. It is not just that life contains mystery, nor
that there are so many unsolved questions. It is that life
itself is mystery, secret and hidden, as Paul says. It has
often been said that the great puzzles we never quite solve
are the puzzles of our past, our present, and our future:
where did we come from, why are we here, and where are
we going? I submit to you that, while sages and
philosophers, scientists and pundits in every age have come
up with answers, no human answer is completely satisfying.
Every answer to those questions leaves much to be desired.
And if you struggle honestly with those issues, you are left
with one unsettling truth: that life is mystery. Where we
came from, why we are here, and where we are going
remain unclear for most of us.
And that is why it is so remarkable to be able to celebrate the
life of one who did have answers to those questions, one
who was comfortable with her responses to the great issues
of life. Few of us arrive at the kind of quiet certainty that
marked Ruth Gossage. Few of us achieve the kind of
blessed assurance she had. Ruth Gossage was comfortable
in her own skin. She knew where she had come from; she
knew who she was and what she was doing here; and,
praise God, up to and including the very end of more than
ninety-seven years of life, she was confident of where she
was going. She had found the answer to the secret.
Part of the lore about Mrs. Gossage’s is that she was among
the very first women to be an agent in the United States
Secret Service. By some accounts, in fact, she was the very
first woman to qualify to carry firearms. She served her
nation, protecting the president, some sixty years ago, in the
White House. And so, though there are many other facets to
Ruth Gossage’s life, I want to pick up on this item, and, with
a nod to the James Bond genre, I want to think with you
about what it means to be “On His Majesty’s Secret Service.”
For just as Agent 007 served the Queen of Great Britain, “on
her majesty’s secret service”, in the 1963 Ian Fleming novel,
so also agent Ruth Gossage served the King of High
Heaven, on His majesty’s secret service. She found and
served the secret of life’s great mystery.
I
First, consider with me that Ruth Gossage served our Lord
with the simplicity of her witness. She did not attempt to
overwhelm, to argue, or to bowl you over. But you felt the
power of her convictions and the strength of her
commitments, as she shared them lovingly and beautifully.
Paul tells the church at Corinth that when he came to preach
among them, he did not come with lofty words or wisdom, but
came with simplicity of speech and with the determination to
let his life speak as his witness. Paul knew that he could
have dazzled the Corinthians with his logic and could have
overpowered them with his rhetoric. But, says the apostle,
he knew that if he were truly to be successful, it would not be
because he had argued them down, but because he had
lifted them up by the Spirit of God.
Ruth Gossage had an active, alert mind. Almost until the
very end, if she could hear you, she could comment with
intelligence and insight. I learned a long time ago that she
did not accept everything that you said without examining it.
I received a few inquiries here and there about some of the
more outrageous statements I made in my sermons! But
when Ruth came questioning, it was not to be critical, and
not even to seek new information, but rather to exert a
witness, to share what she knew. And to do it not with lofty
words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s
power.
Read her poems, and you will see. Listen to the directness
and the simplicity of her language, and you will know. She
writes of love and friendship and family. Even when she
writes of complex issues, like racism or intolerance, she
writes as one who brings straightforward values and a clear-
eyed insight. There are sweet touches of humor and
poignant observations that open a window through which we
can see. Like the psalmist before her who said that he did
not trouble himself with things too high, Ruth Gossage
unraveled some of the secrets of human life with direct and
simple wisdom, with pure and lovely logic.
Oh, she was on His majesty’s secret service. She served
the secrets of life and of the Kingdom with the power of a
simple witness.
II
But Ruth Gossage’s secret service for His majesty goes
even deeper. It goes beyond the directness of her words
and the life of her mind. It also is demonstrated in her ability
to reach out to others, others who were different, who came
from other perspectives. She recognized, I think, that while
others may not share all that she was committed to, this by
no means put them beyond the pale, nor did it create a
distance that she could not bridge. It meant, for her, that she
would seek to understand and to include.
When Paul speaks to the Corinthians about who they are
and what they are to be in the midst of a culture that was
anything but Christian, he does not mince words. He speaks
forcefully about that pagan world. And yet, at the same time,
there is a charity about what he says. There is a depth of
understanding in his assessment of the world. He does not
shy away from reminding his listeners that the world out
there is doomed to perish and that sin was responsible for
the cruel death of the Lord Jesus. Yet, at the same time, he
does not condemn, for he says that the rulers of this world
just did not understand. They didn’t get it. They didn’t have
access to the larger picture of God’s truth. And so, says
Paul, “we can speak of God’s wisdom, secret and hidden” –
but others just have not understood.
Ruth Gossage saw that others do not understand. She
recognized that the world is full of people of different races
and cultures, religions and backgrounds, values and
perspectives, many of them quite different from her own.
Ruth’s way of dealing with that was to engage it – to come
up close and personal – to seek to know others and to live
where they live, to be where they are, and yet not lose
herself.
How else do you explain a pool-playing great-grandmother
who made headlines in the newspapers and earned herself a
spot on television, showing off her passion for the game? It
seems so unlikely – so out of line with what we define for
little old ladies. But I think Ruth did this not just for her own
entertainment, and not just to gain a new skill, and certainly
not to grab publicity. I think she got into that senior center
and played its pool tables and wrote for its newsletter and
brought Dan Lamar to sing for its musicals .. I think she did
all this to understand, to cross the boundaries that separate
people, to be spiritual without being stuffy. Most of all, I think
she did it to show love even to those never understood her
Christian commitment. She grew her understanding and her
compassion because she was “on His Majesty’s Secret
Service.”
III
I am certain that there have been many along the way who
have not understood Ruth Gossage, though she spoke in
simplicity and demonstrated the power of her faith. I am sure
that there have been many in her various pursuits who have
not grasped Ruth Gossage’s commitments, though she went
out of her way to cross over into their lives and to
understand. The world simply does not know the secret that
she knew.
After all, Paul says that unspiritual people think what spiritual
people are about is foolishness. But that didn’t matter to
Ruth. I say again that she was comfortable in her own skin,
she knew her own mind and heart, she was confident without
being arrogant, she was spiritual without being stuffy. I
cannot do any better than to use the phrase with which Paul
ends this passage of Scripture: she had the mind of Christ.
She knew the mind of Christ.
Why else would she, having spent sixty-two years married to
your father and grandfather, tell me at his death some years
ago that losing him was exactly like tearing away a part of
her own flesh? The world does not appreciate that; it is
given to throwaway relationships. But Ruth Gossage knew
the secret of the mind of Christ, that when two are brought
together in covenant, they become one flesh, under God.
On His Majesty’s secret service, she knew the mind of
Christ.
Why else would she give away a car to a church family that
needed one? The world does not understand that. It says
keep, hold on. But Ruth knew the secret of the mind of
Christ, that it is more blessed to give than to receive. On His
Majesty’s secret service, she knew the mind of Christ.
Why else would she call on her pastor to come and counsel
with her about how she might resolve an issue that had
infected some of the people she loved? The world does not
understand that. The world thinks that is meddling,
interference. But Ruth knew the secret of the mind of Christ,
that whoever knows what to do, and does not do it, is guilty
of sin. On His Majesty’s secret service, she knew the mind
of Christ.
Why else would Ruth Gossage spend long hours in Bible
study, in prayer, in reflection on the great issues of life? The
world says you cannot know where you have come from, nor
why you are here, nor where you are going. The world says
poring over this ancient book is a waste of time. The world
says prayer is nothing but talking to yourself. But she knew
that we came from a loving Creator, that we live to honor and
bless His name, and that when our last hour comes, He has
promised that if we trust Him and love Him and serve Him,
He will take us unto Himself. We need no other answers
than these. We need nothing more than, as Paul says, to
know Jesus Christ and Him crucified and risen. On His
Majesty’s secret service, at last we will know the secrets she
knew.
Agent Gossage, we who remain behind salute you. You
have been On His Majesty’s Secret Service. You have
served long and well. Now enter before the Great White
Throne and hear the blessing of the King of Kings and Lord
of Lords – “Well done, good and faithful servant; well done.
Enter into the place prepared for you from before the
foundations of the world.”
For what no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human
heart conceived, what God has prepared for whose who love
Him – this is given to those who are “On His Majesty’s Secret
Service.”
