Perhaps 600 people shoehorned themselves into St Peter’s Onehunga yesterday to pay their final respects to The Rev Jenny Harrison, who died last week.

Every seat in the church was taken, with latecomers standing two and three deep around the walls, and an overflow crowd of around 100 watching the proceedings on closed circuit TV in the hall.

They were a splendidly diverse crew: babies, toddlers (heaps of those – Jenny was passionate about Mainly Music) through to oldies; lay and clergy from up and down the country; people from many cultures, and the differently-abled as well: a woman translated the funeral service into sign language for deaf mourners, for example.

That richness of humanity, all wanting to pay their respects to a priest who had craved for the church to live out genuine welcome to all, would have made Jenny glad. That was her son James’ conviction, anyway. “This is church as it should be,” he said.

He paid eloquent tribute to his mum, and spoke of how Jenny’s love for all people and hospitality had been a constant feature of his life. Even when he was a young boy his mates had been drawn by her sense of fun and her interest in them – back then, he said, that had been a source of embarrassment, as well as pride.

He was, he said, a better man – a better husband, father and son, for having Jenny as his mum.

Later James sang a moving rendition of Ombra mai fu, from Handel’s Xerxes, a song he’d sung at Jenny and John McAlpine’s marriage in 1999.

John, Jenny’s co-vicar at St Peter’s, led the funeral, and he introduced five speakers who each paid tribute to a facet of Jenny’s ministry.

Bridget Graham, who is the Chairperson of the Maungakiekie Community Board, spoke of the depth of Jenny’s engagement with the wider civic life of Onehunga – she said Jenny didn’t miss a beat where issues of concern to the wider community were concerned.

Sandy Robertson, who is the Assistant Chaplain at Auckland’s Diocesan School for Girls, spoke of Jenny’s rare gifts as an educator and pastor.

Sandy had been a student at St John’s College when Jenny was the Director of Field Education there – and she told how Jenny had so skilfully and carefully guided the first supervision session she'd had with Sandy that it had opened new horizons for her, and laid the basis for an enduring friendship between the two women.

Michael Wood, the Vicar’s Warden at St Peters, spoke of how Jenny and John had helped the people of St Peter’s create a community that is both inclusive and redeeming, and new life had flowed because of that.

Michael, who is the father of two-year-old Jacob, also spoke of how St Peters was intent on welcoming young children into its community – and of how the children and their families had responded to that welcome.

He shared how he and Jacob had prayed regularly for Jenny in recent months, and his two-year-old son had begun to pray on his own: “Dear God, Happy be with Jenny. Amen.”

Bishop Ross Bay concluded the tributes by speaking of his admiration for the way Jenny and John had led St Peter’s into becoming a “redeeming community”. He shared again the story of how the people of St Peter’s had reacted when Jenny and John had told them of her terminal illness.

Jenny had said she would work as long as she possibly could – but inevitably, a time would come when she was no longer able to carry out her duties, so Jenny and John had asked the church to weigh up whether their resignation would be best for St Peter’s.

Aghast, as one they’d responded: “You’ve lived among us. Why wouldn’t you die among us?”

The funeral service concluded with a prayer of farewell, which had been written by Jenny: “We have shared so much, and have together become both more human and more divine.”

After the service, people shared memories of Jenny. According to one mourner, she’d modelled “the very best of being a priest at grassroots level – both to her own faith community, and to the wider local community.”

Perhaps the final word should go to Bridget Graham: She'd reminded the mourners that as a building, St Peter’s stands where it’s stood for the last 160 years – on Onehunga's main street, smack bang at the centre of the township.

And according to Bridget, it’s now back there in spirit, too.

“St Peter’s is back in the heart of Onehunga,” she said, “where it stood 150 years ago.”

Footnote: There’s a feature on Jenny, John and the flourishing of St Peter’s in the latest edition of Taonga magazine.