A dear friend from my first congregation is dying. She went to the ER with what she thought was a gall bladder attack, only to discover she has stage four pancreatic cancer, and has very little time. She was a strong and supportive Elder, a wonderful musician, ( her piano organ duet “Fairest Lord Jesus” was always my favorite!) the director of Hospice, where I served as Chaplain, and my very special friend in that season of my life. Being the daughter of a Presbyterian minister gave her great insights to help this fledgling pastor along the way!
We served on Presbyterian Pilgrimage teams together and loved and encouraged each other on life’s journey. I well remember the day I was visiting with her parents in their little apartment and they told me their daughter was moving to be near them. They hoped we would become friends. Little did I know how important that friendship would be in my life.
My prayer for her comes from John O’Donohue’s book, To Bless the Spaces Between Us.
For the Dying
May death come gently toward you,
Leaving you time to make your way
Through the cold embrace of fear
To the place of inner tranquility.
May death arrive only after a long life
To find you at home among your own
With every comfort and care you require
May your leave-taking be gracious,
Enabling you to hold dignity
Through awkwardness and illness.
May you see the reflection
Of your life’s kindness and beauty
In all the tears that fall for you.
As your eyes focus on each face,
May your soul take its imprint.
Drawing each image within
As companions for the journey.
May you find for each one you love
A different locket of jeweled words
To be worn around the heart
To warm your absence.
May someone who knows and loves
The complex village of your heart
Be there to echo you back to yourself
And create a sure word raft
To carry you to the further shore.
May your spirit feel
The surge of true delight
When the veil of the visible
Is raised, and you glimpse again
The living faces
Of departed family and friends.
May there be some beautiful surprise
Waiting for you inside death.
Something you never knew or felt,
Which with one simple touch
Absolves you of all loneliness and loss,
As you quicken within the embrace
For which your soul was eternally made.
May your heart be speechless
At the sight of the truth
Of all belief had hoped,
Your heart breathless
In the light and lightness
When earth and everything
Is at last its true self
Within that serene belonging
That dwells beside us
On the other side
Of what we are.
God bless you dear friend. So thankful our paths crossed on life’s journey.
“Pastor Elizabeth”
In a recent edition of The Presbyterian Outlook, I came across an article on “Faithfulness” by Leslie Scanion:
“The stories of churches serving in a pandemic year are full of faithfulness. Faithfulness not defined as unfettered success, but as ministry done at full sprint and in new ways – sometimes in desperation or wild hope. The hallmarks exhaustion, creativity, technological experimentation, phone calls and letters to the lonely and grieving, communion in coffee cups, arguments over masks, vaccinations, singing and what is safe …
Faithfulness is forged in confronting the pressure from parishioners who are vaccinated and who want the church to be open even before the pastor and staff were able to get vaccinated – or from people who refuse the COVID-19 vaccine and won’t wear masks, but want to sit in the front pew … Looking ahead, it’s calculating what comes next. How will and how should the church be different going forward? What does it mean to be faithful to innovation – knowing the church might not have been willing to make those changes without the hammer of a pandemic? What are the lessons of COVID-19?
… Sometimes grace appears on the new unmarked road…
Despite the separation despite the loneliness, despite the fear, despite all the illness, we could still remain faithful in the way we walked and carried ourselves in the world … It’s been very exciting to watch – not only churches using new technology, but to actually adopt a new way of being church, a new way of experiencing community … The pandemic has raised new possibilities for what community might look like going forward. In many ways, we are standing on the precipice of being a new church! We can’t go back, because doing that discounts everything we have been through.”
The phrase “sometimes grace appears on the new unmarked road” found a place in my heart, and I want to be faithful in recognizing the gifts of grace that come from these months of disruption, upheaval and change in all of life. I’ve heard it said again and again in recent months that “history is watching us.” As we look back on today from a new day, may we be found faithful.
Elizabeth
In this morning’s Daily News Briefings from the PC(USA) I read a timely article, written by Carl Horton, coordinator of the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program in the Presbyterian Mission Agency: “The World Needs Peace- But What Exactly Is This Peace We Say We Need? I believe these thoughts are helpful for the living of these days.
“If you ask a Presbyterian to define “peace,” you’ll get lots of answers, and they’re mostly all correct. Peace is tranquility and calm and quiet and respect and all those things that we ask of our children, at least for a few blessed moments every now and then. Peace is well-being, wholeness, health, safety, security, civility and all those things we expect from our communities. Peace is diplomatic treaties, international accords, global conventions, mutual aid, disaster relief and all those things that create understanding among nations. Peace finds its expression in many ways, takes on a variety of forms and is evident in both the most intimate and expansive parts of life. And as people of faith, we believe peace — in all its expressions and forms — is a gift from God.
For Presbyterians, peace is more than an idea or a declaration. It is the work we do, and it requires both compassion and justice. As peacemakers, we are both compassion-bearers and justice-seekers, meeting the needs of the world around us and righting the wrongs that, still today, impede justice for all.
Our formation as peacemakers is an essential part of our lifelong faith formation. And yet, sometimes the peace we seek as Presbyterians is not easy. Sometimes it demands change, sacrifice and a disruption of the status quo. Peace can often be countercultural and might even call into question the church’s own culture, systems and structures. It can speak truth to power and take on the principalities of the world. And while Jesus may have been able to say “peace” and the storms would subside, the prophet Jeremiah reminds us that many times people say, “‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace.” Indeed, peace is not peace if it is achieved for some and not for all.”
I’m grateful for Horton’s contribution to the journey my heart is making these days, and for those streams of mercy, never ceasing, carrying us through!
Elizabeth