Celebration of Life

So let’s talk about this treehouse. Three years ago Sebastien and Steven decided they were going to build this treehouse. They didn’t really have a plan. They chose a spot where there were three big trees growing close together, a birch, a pine, and an oak. And then they just started throwing up boards. 

They would go and look and scratch their heads, and they would say, How about we put a ladder right here? That sounds good, let’s do that. Do you think it needs a second story? Yep, it definitely needs a second story. 

This treehouse just kept getting bigger and bigger. Sebastien and Steven would go to the lumber yard and pick up two by fours, and they would beg for scrap metal so the treehouse could have a roof. They put in windows. They decided to wire it for electricity, so now this thing has light switches. They insulated the walls with styrofoam packing peanuts. 

And at some point, Beth said, “You know, you can just be finished, right? You don’t have to keep going - you can choose an endpoint and call it good, and then you can actually relax and enjoy this thing that you have built.” But Sebastien and Steven would shake their heads and say, “You don’t understand. It’s not about finishing. It was never about finishing, the point was never to have a treehouse. The joy has always been in building the treehouse.”

And so now there is this treehouse, hanging unfinished between three trees. It’s still missing a couple of walls. The roof isn’t exactly attached-attached. It truly is the house that ADHD built, and I can’t think of a better image, a better symbol, a better metaphor of Sebastien’s life than that gloriously ramshackle, unfinished treehouse.

Sebastien was like that treehouse - he built his life in the space between three great trees. One of the most remarkable things about Sebastien was his deep spirituality. At a time when many of us struggle to find room in our lives for one religious faith, Sebastien somehow managed to embrace not one, not two, but three great faith traditions. 

Sebastien’s first religion, and his first love, was baseball. Sebastien was a twin and he was born in the land of the Minnesota Twins. Sebastien and Jae came home from the hospital in Twins onesies and Sebastien’s love of the game only grew from there. He would listen to the games on the radio. He would keep score and track statistics. He loved going to games, especially on those days when twins got to run the bases. He loved talking about baseball, sometimes more than people loved to listen to Sebastien talking about baseball. Sebastien had a generous and gentle spirit, but he was also happy to let you know that he had nothing but contempt for the Detroit Tigers, nothing but scorn for the San Diego Padres, and as far as he was concerned, the New York Yankees were the lowest of the low.

Sebastien also loved to play the game. He tried all of the positions. He tried the outfield, he tried the infield, but it was when he put on the catcher’s gear and settled behind the plate that something finally clicked. He loved that he could see the whole field from behind the plate. Sebastien believed there was no better vantage point from which to appreciate the beauty of the game. That’s what it was always about for Sebastien - it was never about winning or losing; it was always about finding joy in the beauty of the game. 

Sebastien came to love another faith tradition when he started tagging along with his archaeologist dad on work trips. Sebastien especially loved when they got to work among the Dakota tribal community. He was thrilled to learn that according to the Dakota people, there’s something special, something magical about being a twin. His Dakota friends made him feel special. Sebastien loved listening to the elders, and he absorbed everything they had to teach him about the world and his place in it. 

The elders he met taught Sebastien that everything that exists is a miracle; everything is sacred; everything is infused with the power and presence of the Creator. They taught Sebastien that there is more to the world than what we see. They taught Sebastien that the Creator is speaking to us, that the people love remain with us to guide us and speak to us, even the birds of the air and the deer in the fields are speaking to us, if only we knew how to listen. Among the Dakota people, Sebastien learned how to move through the world with reverence and awareness and wonder. 

And then there was Sebastien’s third faith. When the Blondos moved to Moose Lake in 2009, Sebastien and Jae were four years old. Steven and Beth decided it was time to find their way back to church. They found a home at Hope Lutheran - Sebastien especially found a home at Hope. 

The people of Hope, and especially Pastor Reggie, taught Sebastien that faith isn’t just something we have; it’s something we are meant to live out. He learned the power of kindness and service. He learned that we encounter God when we make sandwiches for hungry neighbors and sing Christmas carols at the nursing home. At Hope Sebastien learned about a God who loves us with a deep and unbreakable and all-inclusive love. Sebastien, as much as anyone you will ever meet, came to embody that all-inclusive love. He became the kind of person who constantly scans the margins, watching for people who are being left out. Sebastien was that person who made sure that everyone was included, that everyone had a place at the table. Sebastien became an ambassador of the God who makes a place for us. 

A few minutes ago, I shared some words that Jesus spoke to his disciples in a moment when their hearts were breaking. One night Jesus told his disciples that his ministry was coming to an end. He knew that his enemies were moving against him, that death was at hand. “In a little while,” he said, “I’m going to have to leave you. Where I am going, you cannot come with me.” The disciples were heartbroken and afraid. “Don’t leave us,” they said. “Wherever you are going, take us with you. We can’t bear the thought of being left in this world without you.”

And in that moment of grief and fear and pain, Jesus speaks these words of comfort to his disciples. “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many rooms (in the old King James Version, Jesus said, ‘In my Father’s house there are many mansions’), and I am going,” Jesus says, “I am going to add another one. I’m going with a hammer, and I’m going with nails. I’m going with two by fours, and I’m going with scrap metal, and I am going to make my Father’s house a bit bigger. I am going to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and I will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.”

There are so many things I wish I could tell you today. I wish I could tell you where Sebastien is right now. I wish I could tell you what Sebastien is experiencing, what that place is like, what you and I will experience when we follow him there some day. I wish I could tell you why all of this is happening, not in some trite and dismissive way, but in a way that feels deep and true and satisfying to the soul.

But I can’t. I don’t know what we experience when we die; God hasn’t given us those details. And I don’t know why this is happening. I’m not even sure that there is a why. Today I am heartbroken and grieving and angry and confused right alongside you. And all I can do, all any of us can do today, is hold on to the things we do know - the things Sebastien taught us. 

And this is what we know. We know that Sebastien’s life was worth living, not because of how long it lasted but because of beautiful way in which he lived. We know that there is more to the world than what we see, and Sebastien will always be a part of our lives. Sebastien will continue to speak to us and guide us, if only we know how to listen.

And we know that there is a God who loves us with a deep and unbreakable and all-inclusive love, a love that can wipe away every tear, a love that can heal every wound, a love that can bring life out of death itself. 

And we know that somewhere there is a gloriously ramshackle house with many mansions, an unfinished house that keeps on getting bigger and bigger so it can hold all of God’s children. Somewhere, somehow, we know that God’s love is building a treehouse. And maybe that’s enough to get us through today.