Meditation on Luke 20:27-38

The Presbyterian Church of Coshocton

Nov. 10, 2019

²⁷ Some Sadducees, those who say there is no resurrection, came to him ²⁸ and asked him a question, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no children, the man shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother. ²⁹ Now there were seven brothers; the first married, and died childless; ³⁰ then the second ³¹ and the third married her, and so in the same way all seven died childless. ³² Finally the woman also died. ³³ In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had married her.”

³⁴ Jesus said to them, “Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage; ³⁵ but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. ³⁶ Indeed they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection. ³⁷ And the fact that the dead are raised Moses himself showed, in the story about the bush, where he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. ³⁸ Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive.”

     I was already thinking that I was too busy. As our Mary and Martha study group would well understand, I was thinking I may have too many rocks in my wagon–and that maybe some of the rocks in my wagon weren’t rocks that the Lord had given me to carry for him. So when Tina texted me that the funeral home wanted me to do a memorial service for someone who wasn’t a member of our faith community, I called the funeral home with every intention of saying no.

You know what’s coming, right? The funeral director, a hardworking young lady with a gentle heart, told me that after meeting with the family, she thought that I would be a good fit for them. Something in her voice stirred me to say that I would talk with the family and see what I could do. As I waited for the phone to ring, I prayed, “Lord, if this is your will for me, show me how I can do this. Give me your compassion and joy.” Immediately, I remembered how my father didn’t have a church, either, or a pastor, when he died. And how we didn’t want just anyone to do his service.

When Linda called and told me about her mother, Joyce Selders, I knew this was, indeed, God’s plan. Especially when she said how she wanted her family to know that Joyce wasn’t suffering anymore–and that she was in a better place. What I heard in her plea was that she wanted me to bear witness to the resurrection, to comfort them with the hope that we have in Jesus Christ, who says to Martha after her brother Lazarus dies in John 11:25-26, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

Joyce, who had lived at Windsorwood for the past 5 years or so, died on Halloween at the age of 89. A widow since 2001, she had lived independently at her home on Adams Street until she was seriously injured while planting a rose bush in her yard. She suffered a massive stroke six months later.

She was born in Dresden in 1930, and while she had grown up in the Depression years, she would tell stories of a happy childhood, making do and learning to appreciate what they had. Money was scarce. They had stamps for sugar and flour. New shoes and clothes were luxury items. And the new shoes usually went to her younger brother, Bunk, first, and when he got new shoes, Joyce said, he would try them out by kicking her with his new shoes. For fun, their sister, Reva, would stop at the gas station and ask for “50 cents’ worth of Ethel” to drive them around town.

Joyce borrowed a dress to marry Dale Selders of Coshocton in early 1946, when she wasn’t quite 16. The young man had served in the U.S. Army in WWII. He borrowed a car, and they set out on an adventure that lasted 55 years together.

“I always knew that I was loved,” Linda says. She never questioned her mother’s love, for it revealed itself in acts of kindness and sacrifice, with all the little things that she did and the extra effort to make things special. Whether it was cooking noodles from scratch or making filled raisin cookies that was an all day process, her motto was, “If it is worth doing, then it’s worth doing right.”

She taught herself to do many things. She loved gardening, cooking, baking, sewing, quilting, ceramics, music and dancing. And she took time to play with her children, teaching Linda to roller skate and ice skate and joining in when the kids competed to see who could eat corn on the cob the fastest.

Linda used to wonder why her mother paid so much attention to the laundry, always ironing, cleaning house, and making sure dinner was ready every day at 5:30. Later, she understood that her mother had been on a mission her whole life to please her family in every way she could.

Linda’s stories of her mother reminded me of our Good Shepherd in John 10, who knows his sheep intimately and calls us each by name. “My sheep hear my voice,” Jesus says, “and they follow me.” In the greatest act of love, our Good Shepherd lay down his life for the sheep. We never have to question our Good Shepherd’s love.

***

Studying this scripture in the gospel of Luke this week, after celebrating the life of an amazing woman and bearing witness to the resurrection, I couldn’t help but be disturbed by the Sadducees’ question. So what about the childless woman who dies after becoming a widow 7 times, marrying the brothers of her first husband? This is according to the practice of Levirate marriage in Deuteronomy 25:5-6. A childless widow would have been poor, marginalized, and vulnerable, if there were no male relative to protect, provide and care for her. I found myself wishing that we knew more about this woman, if she did, indeed exist. What a sad thing to lose so many loved ones and to remain childless in a time when a woman’s value was tied to her children.

The question of the Sadducees is not innocent. They are determined to make a fool of this country rabbi called Jesus, who is a threat to them, though he lacks a formal education, money, prestige and political power. As Jesus is teaching in the temple in Luke 19:47-48, some people are “spellbound by what they heard”; others want to kill him. Others, in Luke 20:20, come asking questions to “trap him by what he said.”

The Sadducees, who may have taken their name from Israel’s high priest, Zadok, during the reigns of David and Solomon, control the temple, which is the center of religious and community life. They oversee formal affairs of the state; participate in Israel’s court called the Sanhedrin; they collect taxes; equip and lead the army; regulate relations with the Romans; and mediate domestic disputes. Not only do they not believe in the resurrection, they reject the notion of spirits or angels or an afterlife of any kind.

With their question, the Sadducees imagine that the resurrection of which Christ speaks must be merely an extension of the life we have today. But we know that’s not true! It will be a completely new existence, and we will be changed. Marriage, family, children–these characterize life in our age. We will be “like angels,” “children of God,”  “children of the resurrection,” says Christ about the future that we can hardly imagine, but one day will see.

The Sadducees profess belief in the 5 books of Moses–the first 5 books in the Bible, but not the remainder of the Scriptures. This is why Jesus, when he answers the Sadducees’ ridiculous question, mentions the story of the burning bush. This is God’s first encounter with Moses, when the Lord reveals himself to be the “God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.”

“Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living,” Christ declares, “for to him, all of them are alive.”

***

I am grateful that I was given the opportunity to share about the hope of the resurrection with the family of Joyce Selders–and to be inspired by her story. The Spirit of the Living God interrupts our plans and redirects us, continually, as we seek to be faithful to obey God’s will and have the Lord prepare us, more and more, for the Kingdom of Heaven. This is what I realized as we said the traditional Lord’s Prayer at the memorial service–that this is our welcoming our Father in Heaven to reign in our hearts and over our lives now and always–for “thine,” we say, or “yours” “is the Kingdom, the power and the glory forever. Amen.”

We can trust the Lord to be in every future we can imagine, with the help of the NT. “For if we have been united with him in a death like his,” says Romans 6:5, “we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.” “For God so loved the world,” says John 3:16,  “that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” “We will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, when the dead will be raised,” says Paul in 1 Cor. 15:51-52. And when “he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is,” says 1 John 3:2.

Friends, we don’t have to wait till we die to live resurrected lives in Him. Today is the day Christ will make all things new. We will have a glimpse of the Kingdom as God’s people gather in faith to experience Christ’s presence and partake of the bread and cup. And the Holy Spirit will do its work, uniting us in Christ’s Body with all the saints, in every time and place. We who are broken and feel empty, will be strengthened, filled, and made whole. We who remember Christ’s body given and blood shed for the forgiveness of sins will be re-membered and sent out for the world, to comfort and share the hope we have in Jesus, who says to us in His Word, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

Let us pray.

Holy One, we believe in you! Thank you for our faith. Help us when we struggle with unbelief. We trust that even though we will die someday, we will live forever with you. We know that you live in our hearts now and will never abandon us. We seek your help that we may be strengthened, filled and made whole. Comfort those grieving the loss of loved ones. Give us the hope of your resurrection and remind us, every day, of the promise of our resurrection with you. Give us patience and grace as your Spirit interrupts our plans and you provide ministry opportunities. Lead us to be faithful to share our stories with our community and to live new, resurrected lives, as we seek to be in your will. For thine is the Kingdom, the power and the glory forever. Amen.

Meditation on John 10:7-15

In Memory of Joyce (Bice) Selders

Nov. 4, 2019

Given-Dawson-Paisley Funeral Home,

Coshocton, OH

So again Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture.  The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

      “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away—and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. 

***

When Linda shared with me about her mom, the day after Joyce had gone home to be with the Lord at the age of 89, she told me how she always felt loved. And I thought to myself, what a wonderful way to be remembered—by our love! I can’t think of a nicer thing to say about a parent. She never questioned her mother’s love. In a day and age when so many homes are filled with strife, her family’s home was brimming with love. She knew her mother loved her not just because of what she said, but how she lived her life.

Linda saw love in the things her mother did—all the extra effort she would put into making things for friends and family. As Linda talked, I could almost smell the filled raisin cookies that her mother made that took her all day to make. I imagined her mixing the batter, rolling out the dough, cutting out circles, and then alternating circles of dough, with cooked raisin filling, before baking in the oven till golden brown. Nowadays, when drive-through fast food and carry out pizzas are all too frequent fare for today’s busy families, her mother prepared hot meals that her family ate gathered around the table at home. In addition to gardening, baking, and cooking, her mother enjoyed sewing and quilting, walking and line dancing, music, and making ceramics.

Born in Dresden in 1930 and growing up with three sisters and two brothers, Joyce married young. She and Dale Selders of Coshocton, a WWII veteran, tied the knot on Feb. 28, 1946. He was creative, too, and enjoyed hobbies, such as working on old cars, even rebuilding a 1930 Model T Ford. He learned how to lay brick, and together they built five homes. He retired from GE after working 39 years.

Family always came first for Joyce—caring for her husband; daughter, Linda; and son, Allen; though she did work for Pretty Products in Coshocton for a time. She continued to live independently at their home on Adams Street after Dale died in 2001, until about five years ago. A serious injury while gardening and a stroke six months later led her to move to the assisted living community Windsorwood Place.  Though her gardening and baking days were over, she continued to enjoy her friends and neighbors and, most of all, family gatherings, especially when they involved spending time with grandchildren and great grandchildren. I suspect, like Linda, all the rest of the family didn’t question Joyce’s love.

It is that way with Jesus, our Savior. We never have to question his love. He proves his love to us not just by words, but by acts of kindness and self-sacrifice. In the 10th chapter of the gospel of John, we learn that he isn’t just our Shepherd; he is the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd would stay to defend and protect the sheep from wolves, while the hired hand would run if he saw the wolves coming and leave the sheep to be snatched and scattered. “The hired hand,” Jesus says, “runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep.” The Good Shepherd calls us each by name; he claims us in our baptism; we belong to Him. And listen to this promise in John 10:27-28. “My sheep hear my voice,” he says. “and I know them, and they follow me: And I give them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall anyone pluck them out of my hand.” Not only will the Good Shepherd stay with us, defend and protect us, he offers us abundant life through the sacrifice of his own.  “I lay down my life,” he says, “for the sheep.”

And when we love, like Joyce loved, then we bear witness to the love of our Good Shepherd, poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit. When we love one another, we reveal to whom we belong, the one who claims us in baptism. He is the one who knows us better than we know ourselves as he knew us before we were born. He wants to give us life—so that we live abundantly. It is His voice that we hear and know. He calls us by name. He draws us nearer to Him, even now, gently whispering, “Come. Follow me.”

Let us pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for your Son, Jesus Christ, our Good Shepherd, who claims us in baptism. Thank you for your Spirit that has poured your love in our hearts and offers strength and comfort to us every day. Lead us, Lord, to bear witness to you by living abundantly, revealing to whom we belong by our love for one another. In Christ we pray. Amen.

Meditation on Luke 19:1-10

The Presbyterian Church of Coshocton, OH

Nov. 3, 2019

All Saints’ Sunday

He entered Jericho and was passing through it. ² A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich. ³ He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. ⁴ So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way. ⁵ When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.” ⁶ So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. ⁷ All who saw it began to grumble and said, “He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner.” ⁸ Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.” ⁹ Then Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. ¹⁰ For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.”

It was a beautiful day. I was traveling to First Presbyterian Church in Cambridge on Wednesday for a special gathering of pastors in our presbytery, when I remembered the words of my husband, Jim. He said, “Don’t use the GPS.” And I said, “I won’t.” And then I did, anyway. I didn’t trust myself to find my way to Cambridge, a place I had never been before. Pretty soon, I realized that I was being led to take Route 541 all the way to I-77 South. And, in the famous words of Yogi Berra, it was “déjà vu all over again.” This was the same narrow, windy, hilly route the GPS had led us when Jim and I and Jacob, our cat Melvyn and dog Mabel, exhausted from 2 days of driving and weeks of packing and saying goodbyes, arrived in a 3-car caravan in the dark of night, cold of winter, deer peering at us from both sides of the road. But it wasn’t night, this time. Wasn’t cold. And I wasn’t tired or feeling rushed.

And I thought to myself, “If people in my church can drive this road all the time, I can learn to drive this road, too.” Of course, I didn’t meet but a couple of vehicles the entire way. One was a slow-moving tractor that I cautiously passed. Another was a large pickup truck that passed me going about 80 in a 45. Funny thing was that Elton John’s “Rocket Man!” was playing on the radio. God has a sense of humor! Amen?

As I drove this windy, hilly way, instead of the better road that Jim would have me take—and that I would choose on my way home, I thought of other journeys taken by saints who lived and loved among us. And I gave thanks to God for all the saints, the cloud of witnesses that surrounds us, still, and whose stories continue to inspire us to keep on running the race of faith.

I thought of Ivy Catrow, whose life we celebrated in October. She was a former Land Girl in England who labored to grow food to feed her country during WWII. She left home and all that was familiar and traveled on the ocean liner RMS Queen Elizabeth in November 1946. In New York City, she was directed to a train that took her to Pittsburgh. That’s where her fiance, George Catrow, who hadn’t laid eyes on her in a year, but had written love letters to her every other day, picked her up in his car and brought her to Coshocton. The Reverend Kiskaddon married them 10 days later in the parsonage. And she lived 73 more years of adventures and joy, loving the Lord, her family and her church, persevering in times of suffering. Then, four days after her 96^th birthday, she traveled yet another journey, entering into the joy that Christ has prepared, hearing the words she longed to hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Well done!”

I got to thinking, what if she hadn’t risked leaving kin and country? Her life would have been different. We would be different, too! We are better because of all the saints—all of you!—who continue to gather to worship and grow in faith and friendship, welcoming one another, loving one another, demonstrating the hospitality of our Lord.

I thought of Ivy and all the saints—the Body of Christ in every age, living courageously, led and fed by the Spirit, choosing to follow Christ on the narrow, less traveled path of humble servanthood, laboring with love and compassion, kindness and generosity, building relationships rather than accumulating wealth and things on the wider, more traveled path of this world.

As I drove on, taking my very own fall foliage tour, I remembered Robert Frost’s poem, “The Road Not Taken.”

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

***

Zaccheaus has choices to make the day that Jesus is passing through Jericho on his way to Jerusalem. The rich tax collector, described as short in stature, in Luke 19 decides to risk making a spectacle of himself by running and climbing a tree because he wants to see Jesus. Scholars say that his stature may have more to do with his profession than his actual height. The crowd may have shunned or barricaded him because of what he did for a living. Jesus could have chosen anyone that day to single out and bless with his presence in their home. He chose no one in the crowd of decent, religious people. He chooses, instead, the one who is marginalized and despised by the crowd of decent, religious people. The tax collector is, like the one in the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector in Luke 18:9-14, the example of faith and humility—having the right attitude before God. Zacchaeus’ wealth doesn’t prevent him from pursuing Jesus and entering the kingdom of God. He has a change of heart and obeys the Lord. Compare this to the account of the rich ruler in Luke 18:18-25, who is moved to sadness but doesn’t obey when Jesus tells him the way to inherit eternal life is to sell all that he has and give the money to the poor, building his treasure in heaven. Then, “Come,” he says. “Follow me.”

Jesus doesn’t wait for an invitation from Zacchaeus, for he knows his heart’s desire is to be with him. The Lord knows our hearts, too! And he calls us by name to leave our places of comfort and privacy to profess and demonstrate our faith. “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.”

The tax collector immediately obeys and bears spiritual fruit; he welcomes Christ eagerly, ready to give up a life of wealth and accumulation. He is filled with joy, “happy” to give half of his possessions to the poor—not the tithe of 10 percent of the increase. He is anxious to right the wrongs that he has done. “If I have defrauded anyone of anything,” he vows, “I will pay back four times as much.”

Salvation has come to the house of one who lives as a son of Abraham and doesn’t just claim God’s favor because of his family tree.

***

Has salvation visited your home? Have you allowed Christ to stay, dwell in your heart, and change your life? Today is the day to choose the narrow, less traveled path. A road you may not have taken before. We won’t find peace in the pursuit of wealth, accumulation and self-gratification. Only knowing Christ and laboring with him in ministries of compassion will satisfy the longing in our hearts and relieve us from the heavy burdens we try to carry on our own. Our Lord offers hope and healing for the wounded and brokenhearted, order and calm amidst your chaos, help and strength in times of sorrow, sickness, loneliness, and loss.

Don’t be tempted to follow the crowd of seemingly religious people, who want to exclude, rather than embrace, all people as God’s beloved children.  That’s what the crowd did to Zacchaeus that day our Lord passed through Jericho on his way to Jerusalem. May we all be freed to show the radical hospitality of Christ to all people. Let us join with the Son of Man in His labor of love—to seek and save the lost. May we faithfully serve the one whose choice of friends stirred the crowd to grumble, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”

Some of you are wondering how you will live without your loved one. Your grief is fresh. Some of you have been grieving a long time, feeling broken and longing to be healed and made whole. God knows your pain! God loves you! Christ is with you in your suffering. I am missing my dad, wondering how we will get through our first Thanksgiving and Christmas without him. It will be hard.

But Christ tells us not to worry about tomorrow! And he’s not just talking about material blessings; he is talking about provision for heart, mind, body, and soul. The Lord offers new mercies every morning, daily manna in our wilderness, nourishment to eternal life. Christ has promised, in His Word, to come again and take us to Himself so that where He is, we will be also. He is preparing a place for us in our heavenly home—with all the saints! One day, when we finish the good works that God has ordained, labors of love in this age, Christ will say to us, “Well done, good and faithful servants. Well done.”

Let us pray.

Heavenly Father, thank you for all the saints, all of our loved ones—those with us now and those we mourn as they are no longer with us. Thank you for calling us each by name. Reassure us, Lord, of your love for all your children and your good plans for us. Lead us to acts of radical hospitality, walking in Christ’s loving ways. Thank you for the promise of salvation by faith in Christ’s work on the cross and for Your Son’s preparing a place for each one us, with all the saints. Help us to feel you with us now and always; grant us strength and courage, help and healing, as we seek to obey your will and serve with you in labors of love. In Christ we pray. Amen.

Meditation on John 8:31-36

Reformation Sunday

The Presbyterian Church of Coshocton

Oct. 27, 2019

He said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; ³² and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” ³³ They answered him, “We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, ‘You will be made free’?” ³⁴ Jesus answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. ³⁵ The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there forever. ³⁶ So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.                                                                                                     

***

We had a great time at our church picnic last Sunday! It was my first experience with a corn maze. For that matter, it was my whole family’s first experience with a corn maze. I was surprised they wanted to come with me when Courtney Snyder told us that we better bring cookies if we do the maze. It takes at least 2 hours, she said, and we would get lost. “I always do,” she said. So, we grabbed some cookies, and started the maze after watching the instructional video. Did any of you watch that? In the video, we were asked to repeat after the guide in reciting all the rules. The ones I recall went something like this: I will not run in the maze. I will not smoke. I will not damage the maze. I will stay on the path and not break through the ribbons. Jim, Jacob and I dutifully echoed all the rules. Mom, however, remained silent.

We split into pairs once we started the maze. Jacob and I had the map, with the questions and clues that I tried to fill in. Jim and my mom, who weren’t interested in completing the worksheet, went the shortest way they could possibly find. Pretty soon, we realized Courtney was right. It was going to take a while, and we were going to get lost. Several times. Good thing we ate cookies, first!

My mom pointed to where a ribbon was broken and an illegal path had been made. She was going to take a short cut. She was tired and had had enough of the maze.

And I said, “No. We can’t do that. We promised we wouldn’t break the rules.”

She said, “I didn’t promise.”

I said, “If we don’t follow the maze, they will throw us out.”

“Why didn’t you say so sooner?” she said. “I would have done it a long time ago.”

Have you ever noticed that rules only seem to work sometimes when there are unpleasant consequences, even when rules are made for the good of the people? There’s always someone who questions the rules and wants to do things a different way. But have you also noticed how hard it is to change the rules, even when people agree that they are unjust and need to be changed?

Sometimes, there’s a shortage of courage.

***

Today, we remember and honor those with the courage to study God’s Word and listen for God’s voice still speaking to Christ’s followers in every age. We give thanks for those who fearlessly walked by faith and were led by the Spirit to work to transform the Church and make it more faithful to Christ’s call.

On Reformation Sunday, Presbyterians are used to hearing about Calvin, Luther and maybe Knox or Zwingli. As my history professors at Princeton Seminary would say—dead white men. But in so doing, we leave out many important reformers—women who were faithful to work for reform in the Church long before John Calvin fled to Switzerland and wrote his Institutes of the Christian Religion in 1536.

John Calvin

And more than 100 years before Martin Luther hammered his 95 Theses to the door of The Wittenberg Church on October 31, 1517.

Martin Luther

I would like to share with you about a theologian and author from the 14^th century who was first an inspiration to me when I was in seminary in 2008. She is called “Julian of Norwich,” though we don’t know her real name. You see, she was an anchoress, a devout woman whose long life was lived in a small room attached to the church of St. Julian in Norwich, England.

Because she was a woman, she would not have been permitted to speak her views in church, but she was able to share them with folks who came to her window for godly counsel and prayer each day.

And she did the unthinkable. She wrote down what God had showed her through a series of visions on May 13, 1373 of Christ on the cross, when she was “30 and a half years old” and was so ill that a priest was brought to administer last rites. About 15 years later, she wrote a longer version of the book—86 chapters! Unlike Luther, it isn’t an academic treatise written in Latin for scholars and theologians to debate. Julian writes in English; her Showings or Revelation of Divine Love, is written “for all men,” she says, meaning all people. What a radical thing for a woman of the Middle Ages to say!

Her work is thought to have been the first book written in the English language. The teachings God has shown her are meant to be a comfort to all her fellow Christians or “even Christians,” as she says. She lives in a dark time and had witnessed great suffering as a child of 6 when the Black Death swept through England in 1349 and all of Europe, taking the lives of 20 million people–more than 1/3 of Europe’s population.

When you think about the time in which she writes—when the Church was wealthy, powerful and corrupt–you can appreciate her courage. She wrote in English before reformer John Wycliff and his followers translated the Bible from Latin into Middle English in 1382, two years before he died of a stroke. Wycliff, an Oxford professor and priest who attacked the wealth of the Church, the selling of indulgences, prayers to saints, and the teachings on purgatory, believed that the Bible was the only reliable guide to the truth about God. He would be declared a heretic and his bones dug up, burned and scattered in the River Swift in 1428.

While Julian insists repeatedly that she agrees with all the teachings of “Holy Church,” the reality is that her beliefs are in sharp contrast to Roman Catholic beliefs and practices of her day. The Church taught that a close relationship with the Lord wasn’t possible for an ordinary believer. The Church threatened the wrath of God and eternal punishment for those who disobeyed the Church’s teachings.

Julian disagrees. The Lord shows her that God is all love and wants to be intimate with us, for we are his “bliss.” The woman who lives during the Hundred Years’ War between England and France says that the wrath is all on the side of human beings. It is through the Trinity and the perfect humanity of Christ and not the Church that she reaches God. “Julian sees man as a sinner,” writes one Medieval scholar. “Sin is an historical reality, a personal and a collective as well as a universal phenomenon, embracing everyone. Yet this sinner is forgiven and saved because God shared in his human condition – in his pain and in his joy.”

Julian isn’t shy about questioning the Lord. She wonders, in chapter 27, in the great wisdom of God that “the beginning of sin was not prevented. For then it seemed to me,” she says, “that all would be well.” Jesus answers, saying, “Sin is necessary, but all will be well, and all will be well, and every kind of thing will be well…. These words were revealed most tenderly,” she goes on, “showing no kind of blame to me or to anyone who will be saved. So it would be most unkind of me to blame God or marvel at him on account of my sins, since he does not blame me for sin. And in these same words, I saw hidden in God an exalted and wonderful mystery, which he will make plain and we shall know in heaven. In this knowledge, we shall truly see the cause why he allowed sin to come, and in this sight, we shall rejoice forever.”

Julian longs for greater intimacy with the Lord and calls God, at times, “Mother,” in the tradition of Christianity in the Middle Ages. “For God gave her life, his life, in his Incarnation and in his death,” explains a Medieval historian. “(She believes that) he nourishes us through the preaching of the Church; he makes us grow through his grace, adapting himself to each of us in his infinite love.”

In her 86 years of life, Julian never sees her book published. I am sure that she never imagines it would be! It isn’t until 1670 that her book would be published, but not widely read by Julian’s fellow “even Christians” until modern English versions are published beginning in the mid to late 20^th century. I think she would be most pleased that the ordinary people for whom she originally wrote in the 14^th century would finally have the opportunity to read her writings and find comfort in the assurance of God’s love.

Today, many Presbyterians may meet Julian of Norwich through a hymn attributed to her. “Mothering God, Who Gave Me Birth,” has been published in 13 hymnals, including our 1990 blue Presbyterian hymnal and the most recent Presbyterian Hymnal, Glory to God. (Listen to a beautiful version of this song at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFac46KYThc)

Sisters and brothers, because the reformers courageously fought against the abuses of the Church of the Middle Ages, we have the freedom to organize, worship and live out our faith according to our convictions. We can read the Bible in our own language and hear the truth that makes us free! But we in the Reformed tradition believe that the Reformation isn’t over! The Spirit continues to change us, as we draw nearer to God and God draws nearer to us. Let us embrace the Spirit’s transforming work in our lives and our Church!

We know that it’s not through any righteousness of our own or any human works that we are saved, but by accepting God’s love and grace shown by His Son, our Lord and Savior, and pursuing an intimate relationship with him.

I urge you now to live courageously, as a forgiven people, walking by faith, desiring God and seeking God’s face, offering love and comfort to our fellow Christians, as Julian of Norwich did, and to those who don’t yet know the hope we have in Him.

Let your life shine for all to see… the truth that makes us free!

Let us pray.

Holy God, we thank you for your Spirit that illumines your Word for us and allows us to understand what you have done for us through the sacrifice of your Son on a cross. Thank you for the reformers, the men and women of every generation, who have worked to transform the Church, so that we would become, more and more, the people you desire us to be. Thank you that your Spirit continues to do its work of transformation in us. Forgive us, Lord, when we are reluctant to change because it is uncomfortable or we are afraid that others may be unhappy or it feels like too much work to try new things. Open our eyes, Lord, to what we cannot see—how the Church may be turning a blind eye to our neediest members and our neighbors in need and not doing enough to change the unjust structures in our society. Stir a longing in us for you, Lord, to be closer to you and dig more deeply into your Word. Empower us to share with others today and every day the truth that makes us free—salvation is a gift from God, received by faith. In Christ we pray. Amen.

Meditation on Hebrews 12:1-2

Shared at First Presbyterian Church of Uhrichsville

Thank-You Gathering for Retired Pastors

Karen Crawford, The Presbyterian Church of Coshocton

Oct. 24, 2019

Hello, dear friends!

I am honored to be here with you today at this special gathering of pastors. My name is Karen Crawford and I serve the Presbyterian Church in Coshocton. I am here to say on behalf of the Muskingum Valley Presbytery, “Thank you for your ministry.”

I look forward to meeting you all and getting to know you better. I want to hear your stories. I have a few to tell you, too. I am new to this presbytery and to Ohio. In fact, this is my first time at this church. I am not even sure that I am pronouncing the name of the town correctly. I used my GPS to get here. And that can be pretty scary in Ohio to trust GPS, as you well know, where the shortest way to get somewhere may be straight up a dirt hill, in a forest, with fog and darkness rolling in and deer leaping across the road. Did I mention that I know this from experience?

This is what happened when Jim and I and our son, Jacob, moved here from Melbourne, Florida, in January, for me to accept the call to the Coshocton church. We were a caravan of three cars, three adults, and a dog and a cat, and had been on the road for 2 long days. We took the 541 exit from 77 north, instead of continuing on up to the Newcomerstown exit. Next thing I knew we were heading straight up a hill on a dirt road. I was driving my mini-cooper and was pretty sure that I was going to get stuck. My first experience with my new church was going to be calling a member of the PNC with a tractor to come tow me out. Well, we went up a hill, down, up again, wound around, and came to kind of a clearing. And there was this adorable little white chapel in the woods. Don’t ask me the name of the church. And I still have no idea where we were. Jim, in the first car, paused in front of the chapel, and I wondered why we were stopping. Later he told me that he was tempted to get out of the car, then, and announce to Jacob, “We’re here! This is your mother’s new church!”

Our adventures continue.

When Matt Sklonik told me that our presbytery was planning a lunch for retired pastors, I had two initial thoughts. One was, “Isn’t that nice?” What a wonderful presbytery to show its appreciation for those who have touched hearts and changed lives in ways they could never know.  My other thought, when Matt asked me to come and speak today was, “I didn’t know pastors retired.” Every retired pastor I know continues to be faithful to God’s call to the ministry of word and sacrament long past what others might say was retirement age.

My husband, Jim, has been honorably retired for 10 years. When he told me that last night, I couldn’t believe it has been that long! But you wouldn’t know that he is retired. He is busy! He is sorry he couldn’t be here today. He is on his way to his high school class reunion in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.  In his “retirement,” Jim has served Presbyterian and a few UCC congregations in Minnesota, Florida, Pennsylvania, and Ohio as interim or supply. He has preached and led worship for at least 5 churches in our presbytery since we arrived in January. He has been an active supporter of my ministry, assuring me of my gifts and calling, before I saw those gifts in myself. I wouldn’t be a pastor if he hadn’t encouraged and supported me. He has served with me in Florida as an unpaid parish associate, played guitar in a praise band and for my preschool chapel, taught adult Sunday school and assisted with new member classes, served as a liturgist, cooked and washed dishes for potlucks and helped to host dinners in our home.  He remains active in presbytery and has worked on presbytery committees, such as CPM, Finance, and Council. In addition to supply preaching where we are now, he works 20 hours or more each week at the Coshocton library.

How fitting it is that we gather just a few days before Reformation Sunday, when some of us will read from John 8 and hear Christ’s reassurance that His followers will know the truth and the truth will make us free. This is the message I have to share with you today. We are still Christ’s beloved, you and I, saved by grace, through faith and not by our works, in case some of us might worry that if we are no longer working full time in a parish, then we are no longer valuable to the Lord and Christ’s Church. We are God’s handiwork and were created for good works that God has ordained. Those good works may be simple acts of kindness that the Spirit will lead us to do every day of our lives.

Yes, many churches are struggling today. We are not as big as we used to be, as a presbytery or denomination. We aren’t as wealthy as we used to be. The churches need us even more, but at the same time, have fewer resources to pay pastors and staff. Many of you have served smaller churches and have been willing to accept lower pay than you could have received leaving this area, because you love the Church and the Lord. This is a generous and gracious gift you have given and continue to give, those of you who serve, like my husband does, as interim or supply pastors, though you are technically “honorably retired.” But don’t small churches deserve excellent spiritual leadership, too? And doesn’t the call to follow Jesus as an ordained minister of word and sacrament last a lifetime?

We don’t know what tomorrow will hold. We don’t know the shape our ministry will take in years to come or the future of our small, but mighty country churches, ready to rescue new pastors driving minis, stuck on dirt roads in the forest, with fog and darkness rolling in. But we know that today, tomorrow and forever, we are a forgiven people, called to witness to the Kingdom of God by preaching justice, speaking up for the poor, hungry, marginalized, and oppressed, and sowing seeds of kindness and peace. Every day, we trust that our Savior has made his home in us and has a plan for us. We abide in him and he in us. And the Holy Spirit that is working to reform the Church of every age is still transforming each one of us, more and more.

My friends, God is not finished with you, yet!  And in this presbytery, you are wanted and needed for your wisdom and experience, knowledge and faith, humor and encouragement as colleagues in ministry, friends, storytellers, teachers and mentors, sisters and brothers, fellow laborers in the Lord.

I need you, because I am definitely out of my comfort zone! And I want to learn from you and hear your stories of perseverance through difficult times for the church—because more difficult times lay ahead.

You have made a difference! You are making a difference. Thank you for sharing your gifts and talents, nurturing hope, faith, love, and grace. Thank you for shepherding the Church of Jesus Christ in times of sorrow and joy, growth and loss, brokenness and unity, conflict and peace.

The Cloud of Witnesses that has surrounded us is still calling to us, cheering us on to keep running the race that has been set before us, following in the footsteps of the author and finisher of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame. And has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.

May you be blessed by today’s gathering of pastors. May you be embraced by new friendships and strengthened by renewed friendships. May you be refreshed by the Spirit and encouraged in your ministry for the Lord.

Let us pray. Holy One, thank you for gathering us together in your name to show our appreciation for those who have served you and continue to serve you faithfully. Thank you for your love and forgiveness for us sinners. Bless those who organized this luncheon and prepared our food. Help us to always honor your call on our lives and never forget the cost of our salvation—the price of the cross—and the promise of abundant and eternal life with you. May we continue to listen for your voice and gratefully obey, guided by Your Spirit to serve with joy for all of our days. In Christ we pray. Amen.

Meditation on Luke 18:9-14

The Presbyterian Church of Coshocton

Oct. 20, 2019

⁹ He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt: ¹⁰ “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. ¹¹ The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. ¹² I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.’ ¹³ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ ¹⁴ I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Did I tell you my mom is here? Her name is Elaine. She arrived Tuesday night, and I have been taking her around town, eating at the Warehouse, The Mill, and Bob Evans, getting Buckeye ice cream at Medberry Market–$1.50 for a kid’s cone and it’s a lot of ice cream! Checking out the shops of Roscoe Village. Buying chocolate and peanut butter fudge at the General Store. Stopping at Aldi’s and Buehler’s, taking an awesome tour of the library. Coming to choir practice and doing home visits and home communion with me. And today, we will get to experience our fall picnic, corn maize, hayride, and campfire for the first time. I have heard we are back in the low 70s this afternoon! That’s going to feel good after a chilly week. Living in Florida for almost 3 decades, if it is below 80, Mom feels cold.

Weather aside, she understands, why I like it here so much–why Coshocton is good for me and my family.

Thank you for your warm welcome for her. I don’t think she expected that you would treat her like you already know her, though she is an outsider, a stranger. She has received many hugs. You don’t treat her like a stranger, because you know me.

She can see that I love you and that you accept me as your pastor and friend. You accept that my care and concern for you, for the whole church, are real. We are learning from one another as we hear each other’s stories. We have different views and expectations at times, just because we have lived in different places, have had different experiences and because we have different callings.

You know that I want to be a blessing to you—to help you heal from your wounds, find peace and comfort amidst the chaos of life, to challenge you with God’s Word and help you grow in love and service, faith and confidence in who you are in Jesus Christ. I want to help you take some risks and step out of your comfort zone, for the sake of the Lord and Kingdom growth and for your well-being and the well-being of your community. And you know that I need your help and support, so that I may be faithful to God’s call. And that we both must trust the Lord to lead us to minister together with love.

I have found kindness here. I have felt the grace of God in this place. You could have treated me like an outsider. That would be the human temptation when we meet a stranger who doesn’t know all our history and traditions and all our relationships, joys and losses. But the love and grace of God for us lead us to think and behave differently than the world would have us live. The Spirit changes us, more and more, as we embrace the God who is with us, helping us every day.

Our lives are intimately intertwined—you, me and our community. We have a common ancestry of dust, breathed into life by the same God. We are all sinners, in the hands of a loving God, changed and changing, made new! Saved by grace.

***

Today’s passage in Luke 18, beginning at verse 9 is about the importance of humble prayer, realizing our need for God’s grace and how we could lose sight of that and become prideful of our own religious practices, forgetting our faith–everything we have– is a gift from the Lord. It follows a parable about our need to be persistent in our prayer and never give up. The widow keeps asking for justice from the unjust judge—who turns her down repeatedly, until finally he gives in, saying, “Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.” And the Lord says, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

Today’s passage, starting at verse 9, begins by Luke explaining the purpose and meaning of the parable. “He also told this parable,” Luke says, “to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt.” Notice that the parable is for “some,” and yet here it is in the New Testament, which means the lesson is NOT just for some; it’s for the whole Church, for all people who sincerely desire to follow Jesus and be more like Him.

The Pharisee comes to the Lord’s House, in Luke 18, to be reassured that he is wonderful—better than other people—and have everyone see him as wonderful. Yet, he is disconnected, uncaring, standing apart from others he considers unclean. He believes that God favors him because he isn’t a thief, a rogue, adulterer, or the person praying next to him, “this tax collector.”

“I thank you, God, that I am not like other men,” the Pharisee says, but the Greek word translated men refers to “the people of the land”—unrighteous commoners despised by those who strictly observe the law. The Pharisees, says NT scholar Kenneth Bailey, “thought of the law as a garden of flowers. To protect the garden and the flowers, they opted to build a fence around the law,” going beyond the requirements to ensure that no part was violated…The written law only required fasting on the annual day of Atonement. The Pharisees, however, chose to fast two days before and two days after each of the three major feasts (or 12 days a year!) But this pious man announces to God and to others (as he is praying aloud) that he puts a fence around the fence. He fasts two days every week!

Also, the faithful in the OT were commanded to tithe, or give 10 percent of the increase, from their grain, oil and wine. In NT times, the rule became that the faithful must give 10 percent of the increase of everything that “was used for food, watched over, and grows from the soil.” But this Pharisee beats all others in his show of devotion and generosity to God; he tithes from all that he possesses!

But the way the Pharisee is speaking to God is not prayer as Jesus taught us. How we pray reveals what we believe about the Lord and the condition of our hearts. It shows whom we serve, and how we feel about ourselves and others.

Prayer, even for those whose hearts are in the right place, is as challenging for us as it was for the disciples in Jesus’ time. In Matthew 6:9-13 (NRSV): Jesus says, when his disciples ask for help, “Pray then in this way, ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one.

And in Luke 11:1-4 NRSV, Jesus “was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.’ He said to them, ‘When you pray, say: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as in heaven. Give us each day our daily bread.  And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us. And do not bring us to the time of trial.’”

So, what of the tax collector, despised not just by this hypothetical Pharisee of a parable, but despised by many Jewish people? They are working for the enemy—supporting their families by collecting taxes from their neighbors for the oppressive Roman Empire. Many, in fact, are greedy and keep a large portion of what they collect for themselves. Luke’s earliest audience would have reacted with astonishment for a tax collector to be seen as a model of humility and made righteous because of his godly attitude and actions. Just as last week’s gospel featured an enemy of the Jewish people, a Samaritan, as the model of gratitude and humility as the only one of 10 lepers to return to Christ to offer his thanks and praise.

Sisters and brothers, Luke’s message is for all the Church and not just for some who might be tempted to trust in themselves, rather than trust in the Lord. We are not righteous because of what we do, our religious practices, which might lead us to arrogance. The love and grace of God for us lead us to think and behave differently than the world would have us live. The Spirit changes us, more and more, as we embrace the God who is with us, helping us every day to be gentle and merciful, as the Heavenly Father is gentle and merciful with us.

Our lives are intimately intertwined, connected—you, me and our community.

We are all sinners, in the hands of a loving God, changed and changing, made new! Saved by grace.

Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the holy mystery of your grace, for sending your Son to be our Savior, when we were perishing in our sins. And then, for sending your Spirit to empower us to live as your people, showing mercy and grace to others. Help us to be faithful to the end, to serve you with our tithes and our lives, and to pray as the humble tax collector prayed, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” In Christ we pray. Amen.

Meditation on John 14, Selected Verses

In Memory of Ivy Catrow

Oct. 7, 1923-Oct. 11, 2019

Custer Chapel, The Presbyterian Church of Coshocton

Oct. 15, 2019

Ivy Catrow, on the far right, sewing a baby blanket in the sewing circle at The Presbyterian Church.

14 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. ² In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? ³ And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. ⁴ And you know the way to the place where I am going.” ⁵ Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” ⁶ Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. ⁷ If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”…

¹⁵ “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. ¹⁶ And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. ¹⁷ This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.

¹⁸ “I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. ¹⁹ In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. ²⁰ On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 

²⁵ “I have said these things to you while I am still with you. ²⁶ But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. ²⁷ Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.

***

Soon after I arrived to serve The Presbyterian Church in January, Pat Miller said, “I have someone I want you to meet. Her name is Ivy.”  I think Pat may have driven me to her house the first time I visited, because Ivy’s house, which she and her carpenter husband built years ago, is on a country road. And if you have never been there, it might be difficult to find. You have to watch for it. Also, the house is kind of down in a holler, so don’t pull into the steep driveway. You won’t want to back out of that. Just park on top by the side of the road.

Yes, going to visit Ivy was an adventure, but surely not anything like the adventures dear Ivy experienced in her lifetime. I enjoyed many visits with Ivy after that first wonderful visit. I was welcomed into her home, offered a comfy chair and pop from the fridge. I loved hearing Ivy’s stories.  She had a way with words, and a musical, lilting voice. Having a British accent, though she had lived in Coshocton 73 years, made her stories of long ago and far away even more exotic.

Born in London in the 1920s, she loved her family, her Lord, her country and queen. Air raids became a way of life for her family during WWII; most families had underground shelters in their backyards. Ivy and her brother hated to go the shelter. “Sometimes we would hide under the kitchen table, instead,” Ivy said when she was interviewed for our church’s 195^th anniversary, “and our mom would get so upset.” Her daughter, Deb, remembers Ivy telling the story of the time when she was the only one to remain in a London movie theater after an air raid siren went off; she didn’t want to miss the 1939 American epic Gone With the Wind. I wouldn’t have wanted to miss that movie on the big screen, either. Angels watched over Ivy and her family when a bomb fell close to their home, causing their windows to blow out; no one was injured.

While Ivy’s father and brother fought in the war, Ivy served with the Women’s Land Army, a civilian organization more commonly known as Land Girls. The Land Girls were placed with farms that needed workers and farm machinery operators. The young women did all the labor that the men, called to serve in the war, would normally do. They kept the troops and the country fed.

Serving as a Land Girl, Ivy was able to stay close to her mother and younger sister, at first. As the war went on, Ivy’s mother and sister were evacuated from London to Cornwall, the westernmost part of the Southwest Peninsula of the island of Great Britain.

Ivy met George Catrow, a 1936 graduate of Coshocton High, when she was working as a Land Girl. The farm where she worked was near the airfield where he was stationed. He served as a sergeant in the US Army 29^th Air Disarmament Squadron. After they knew each other for 18 months, George wanted Ivy to marry him in England. Ivy said, “No,” because she had heard many horror stories of young girls marrying American soldiers and then the men would return to the States, and they wouldn’t see them again. She told him to go back home and write for her if he still wanted to get married.

George made it home to Coshocton for Christmas 1945, and George wrote her, she said, every other day. In October 1946, Ivy took a train from Paddington Station to a ship at Southampton. She was so excited when she saw the RMS Queen Elizabeth, which had served as a troop ship in Feb. 1940. This was her maiden voyage as an ocean liner. She was well stocked with food, which was a treat for Ivy, since food had long been rationed in England.

“There were four of us girls in my cabin,” she said, “all GI fiancees, and all of them were seasick, except for me.” She got up at 5 a.m. to see the Statue of Liberty, a memory she would treasure.

Ivy arrived in Coshocton on Nov. 12, 1946. The Rev. Kiskaddon married them 10 days later in the parsonage, which was later torn down to make room for the Christian Education addition and this chapel in 1959. Ivy had to get special permission from Judge Ross at the Courthouse for their marriage license because she wasn’t a citizen. Ivy would later join a Sunday school class in our church that Judge Ross and his wife, Margaret, also attended. George and Ivy joined the church Jan. 30, 1949. Both of their children, Greg and Deb, would be baptized and married here. As a new bride in Coshocton, Ivy felt warmly embraced by the women in our community of faith. “There’s an overall feeling of love at the Coshocton Presbyterian Church,” she said. “I have so many friends here. My heart is very close to this church.”

Over the years, Ivy, who loved to cook, sew, knit, and garden, was involved in our sewing group and the prayer fellowship group, and served on mission and fellowship committees. After being so impressed, she said, with the bereavement dinner when George died in 1995, she got involved helping with those dinners and enjoyed doing that for many years.

Just as Ivy was warmly embraced, Ivy warmly embraced me as the new pastor here. Every time I visited her–at home, in rehab or in the hospital–she would introduce me to whoever came into the room. And I would get some very surprised looks as she would say, with pride and joy in her voice, “This is my pastor at The Presbyterian Church. I want you to meet Pastor Karen.”

Ivy would share her stories and health struggles when asked, but she also wanted to hear my story. I felt comfortable sharing because she was a great listener. She was curious and caring; she was interested in what we were interested in. She was an encourager. She always asked me about my family.

She was a woman of faith, who appreciated home communion when she could no longer come to worship. She missed her church. When I saw Ivy on Thursday, Pat and I brought her communion, anointed her with oil, and said a prayer for healing and wholeness. She told me then that she was ready. She didn’t know why the Lord was taking so long, because she was ready to be with Him. She had been strong for so long, even sitting up in a chair, though it required a great effort, on her 96^th birthday on Monday, which she celebrated in the hospital.

Like the Lord talking with his dearest friends, before he went home to be with the Father, she had instructions and encouragement to her loved ones she was leaving behind. She chose the music and scripture for the service that would witness to her faith and comfort those who mourn.

She wanted us to hear a message of God’s love and presence with us always, though we will have trials and struggles. We pass through the waters and are not overwhelmed, walk through fire, unharmed. We are assured that the God who created us has called us by name. We are precious in His sight! We are redeemed. We are forgiven for all our sins.

Like the disciples, who didn’t know how they would continue on—or if they even could— if Jesus were to die, we needn’t be afraid when we lose our loved ones or when we ourselves are facing death. We have the promise of everlasting life with Him that begins in this world. Christ sent His Holy Spirit, the Advocate, so that He may abide in us and we abide in Him. Christ’s Spirit will continue to strengthen and teach us that we may live according to His will and love as He loved.

I saw Christ in Ivy. I saw His light and felt his love and peace, which he gives to all who open their hearts to receive them. The miracle of knowing Christ is that the nearer we draw to the Lord, the more we want others to draw nearer to Him and experience the same joy. We want others to know a peace that we struggle to explain. A peace that truly goes beyond human logic. A peace that stays with us when we walk through dark valleys, grieving the loss of our loved ones, when we don’t know how we can live without them tomorrow.

Christ speaks to his followers in every time and place when he tells us to let go of the burden of fear. Fear is not God’s will for you!

      “Peace I leave with you,” he says.“My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.”

Amen.