"LOVE'S LONG REACH"

NOVEMBER, 7, 2008

To All the KING'S Men...

I write this on the occasion of what would be my parents 56th wedding anniversary. On the afternoon of November 7, 1952, Howard Gigee and Doris Hall made promises to each other to love each other and stand by each other through thick or thin 'til death they would part in front of God's altar and in the presence of their families and friends as well as The Rev. Dr. William F. Schmidt at good old St. Paul's Lutheran Church at the corner of Fifth & Caroline Streets in Youngstown, OH. What a grand occasion it was. I have pictures to prove it! But, like all of life, those promises were kept as long as promises can be kept and despite almost 35 years of marriage it was only death that did their marriage in. My father died in 1987. My mother died this past February but not a year goes by that I don't sense love's long reach from both of them when this day shows up on my calendar. Happy anniversary "Bud" and Doris! And try not to cause a commotion for the saints that stand near you even now...

This is not the first time I've written about my parents; but it is the first time that I've written about them in the context of their being part of the "saints in light" we remember on a Sunday as we did this past week. Some took time to "remember" on Saturday, November 1st while others waited a day and gathered with others in the holy places of God to honor those who have lived in faith, died in faith and made sure that this gift of faith was passed on to a next generation. And while I brag a bit about the faith of my parents, I suspect there are like persons in your faith life that you can point to as well as those who made certain that the Word of God and sacraments were placed before you...

My mother's faith had the German Lutheran imprint on it. She got it from her mom even though my grandmother's life was snuffed out by a drunk driver when my mother was 8 years old. Turns out things have changed since then as that drunk driver had four road kills before the law did anything about it. Her Uncle and Aunts took over when her mother's voice could no longer be heard each day. Faith in God was deeply rooted in the Schultz home; so it wasn't a difficult choice for Uncle Fritz and the others to step up and step in...

My father's faith was a cross between Methodism and a Scottish Presbyterian ethic. My paternal grandmother was a kind and quiet woman but showed a certain sense of boldness when she divorced by grandfather when my father was 14 (circa 1944 and no doubt a war ravaged culture played a role in her anxiety and sense of fear for the future!). Seems my dad's father loved "strong drink" more than he did his wife and children and especially more than he loved Jesus....In fact, I have many memories of my father searching the streets for his wayward father who by the time I was growing up in the 1950's and 1960's had pretty much become a street rogue and died a drunken and violent death. A child's love of parents is irrational and seemingly never-ending and I can only say that perhaps my father's love and concern for his father was a reflection of the growing faith in him that implicated God himself as the one who never stops loving, scouring the horizon and reaching out for us...

I need to tell you that I miss my parents. Obviously, my father much longer now than my mother. I miss calling them up on the phone and telling them about my day and about their grandchildren. I miss hearing stories from them and sitting in a restaurant and having a cup of coffee (my mom's favorite drink) or a plate of deep sea scallops and a piece of pie (how my NY farm-raised father ever discovered scallops remains a mystery but his mother could cook a tantalizing pie!) I miss sitting in the back yard of the only house they ever owned in the cool of the summer watching the 4th of July fireworks or waiting for them to arrive for a visit to Texas...I miss my father's determined hugs and my mother's lectures despite my adult opinions that often described "another way." I miss them both, but I sense that their love continues to reach out to me and through me because part of what was them is part of who I am now. It's a gift of God that reflects the mystery of God and a gift that must be acknowledged joyfully from time to time...

My parents weren't famous. They weren't notorious. I never saw their faces on the magazines at the check-out counter at Kroger's or H.E.B. They didn't seek to be famous or live with such abandon to risk notoriety; but they were known in their neighborhood. They were appreciated in their community. They gave themselves to God and Christ's Church without any sense of getting anything back as they both realized how Jesus had provided so well for them already...

So, as we move to a time where people are getting a bit more thankful about life, I'm grateful for the faith of my parents, for their modelling of a life that was filled with struggle and accompanied by heart-ache and yet overflowing with joy and satisfaction. They were not the poster children for being simul justus et peccator, but they certainly qualified. They didn't ask for much and gave away so much more...they are the saints of God that I want to aspire to and the kind of saintly lives I pray my children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren and their children and grandchildren will aspire to as well...

In Paul's Letter to Titus, we recall what he wrote about Jesus...

"He gave us a good bath, and we came out of it new people, washed inside and out by the Holy Spirit. 6 Our Savior Jesus poured out new life so generously. 7 God's gift has restored our relationship with him and given us back our lives. And there's more life to come - an eternity of life! 8 You can count on this." Titus 3: 5b-8

This new life that Jesus gives is the love that reaches out to us all from way way back and has the power to reach out to those who come after us...as the new song goes...

"Rejoice in God's saints...today and all days...a world without saints forgets how to praise..."

But, that's not all...

"Their faith in acquiring the habit of prayer; their depth of adoring, Lord help us to share!"

And so we do; and so we are...and may LOVE's long reach grab ahold of your heart and mind this day and each day to come...

Brian