Dear Caldwell,
My cousin Frank was, in many ways, the best of us 7 cousins who gathered at my grandparents’ farm on holidays and for long, summer weeks as we were all growing up. Charismatic, smart, kind, compassionate, faithful, mischievous, wickedly funny and well-loved, there seemed to be no limits on what he could do and how far he might go, as one of his high school buddies recalled at Frank’s memorial service yesterday.
On St. Patrick’s Day, 1982, when Frank was a first-year law student, he was in a terrible accident. After two months in a coma, he awoke with a damaged brain stem, greatly diminished in physical and mental capacities. Yet, thanks to the devotion of his family, he lived on, with irrepressible wit, charm and spirit that defied his impairments. As much in evidence every since then was Frank’s faith. He loved to recite scripture and sing hymns from memory in worship. Funny, how the sacred and memory work, isn’t it?
In some ways, Frank’s accident was a turning point. Yesterday in the memorial service, we all remembered Frank in his prime. But we also gave thanks for what wasn’t different about him – his indomitable spirit and personality. If anything, what Frank lost in the accident only magnified what he was left with, grace and dignity, patience, kindness and a loving way that called the same out in all who knew him.
Come Sunday, we will look at a passage in Luke (3:1-6) that marks a turning point for all of creation. It is John the Baptist’s prophecy of that moment when God turned toward us in Christ, whose birth we anticipate in this season of Advent. In turning to us, God also called out the best in us, a call for us to turn toward each other and our neighbors in the same kindness and loving patience God showed the world in Christ.
We will pick it up there come Sunday.
Don’t forget that all are involved to help decorate the church for Advent, Saturday from 9-noon.
Look for Caldwell This Week later this week.
In Christ,
John