Today’s Word from Pastor Jim
We are all experiencing loss in this time of isolation. I remember quite vividly January of 1997. My best friend, mentor, golf partner, and father, Harold Lindus, was dying of cancer. I had made plans to be with him later in the month but he had taken a sudden turn for the worse. Felicia would board a plane for Chicago with three little girls in tow. They arrived in DeKalb, Illinois and shared parting words of love with my Dad. I had a funeral scheduled at Trinity and planned to join them the next day. The next day never came. The lost opportunity, on top of the grief, was almost unbearable.
In the 1800s, death stories were a critical part of American life and culture. The final words of the dying would be recorded. The family would gather around a bedside and together they would write the closing chapter in the life story of a dear loved one. That all changed with the Civil War. Young men who had never traveled more than a few miles from home were now off fighting and dying in epic battles. When the letters quit coming home from the war, the family knew something was wrong. In time they would find out that their son, father, or husband had been killed. But often the body was not coming home, they would not gather at graveside, there were no last words, the circumstances surrounding the death were uncertain, there was no death story to be told. This loss, on top of suffocating grief, was almost unbearable.
I was talking to a family in our church who was headed up to Careage to visit with Mom. Mom was in isolation. They would have to visit through a window. No touching, no tender embraces, no holding hands to pray. In hospitals across our country, people are dying alone. That reality, on top of grief, is almost unbearable.
We are all experiencing loss in this time of isolation. Paul Magnusson, our dear brother and longtime TLC member, died last weekend. Paul was a respected pillar of our South Whidbey community, a loving father and a faithful husband to Naomi for some 67 years. Paul died in his own home surrounded by those who loved him and secure in his faith in Jesus Christ. Death will not have the last word, but death visited us and our grief is real. In this time of isolation, funerals are not allowed. At this time, we cannot gather to celebrate his life. That loss, on top of our grief, is almost unbearable.
We are all experiencing loss in this time of isolation. Shaleen and Jerry Camery-Hoggatt are leaving our staff and our congregation to move to Bellingham. How we would have loved to send them off with a party and a prayer. Certainly, that would have made this transition easier. That party will not be happening at this time. Baptisms have been postponed, weddings are not allowed, 12-step groups are not meeting. My Emily, born and baptized at TLC, is about to have a first baby of her own. We cannot see her, her Mom cannot come to the hospital to hold her hand, we are not sure when we will be able to see this newest grandchild or when we will be able to again hug our youngest daughter.
We are experiencing a lot of loss these days. Now of course, we have it better than almost any community in the world, but that reality does not diminish the loss that we feel. The loss is real and we need to allow ourselves to grieve.
Be gentle with yourself, be gentle with others; we have no idea what grief and loss others are carrying.
“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me.”
The Bible does not promise us easy or carefree days. We all have to walk through the valley of the shadow of death, but we are not alone. Even in isolation we are not alone.
I cry with you.
Much love,
Pastor Jim
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