Sharing where the Holy Spirit has been at work this week or who you are you remembering or celebrating on this All Saint’s Day.
Sally – Yesterday I had a wonderful walk with our son’s girlfriend. We walked through Laurelhurst Park and somehow we started talking about parents and grandparents. Just to be able to share stories with her about my mom and grandmother who lived with us. I shared poems that I’ve learned from them. She looked at me at one point and said – Does Dobb know all this? That’s my son. Does Christopher know everything that you just told me? I think sometimes we forget to even tell our own children about their ancestors who they never knew but, they only know them through your stories. So, it just made me realize how important it is for us to keep our grandparents & great grandparents alive in their world because, that’s their only connection to them... And me because of them. So, it was really wonderful.
Gerry – I am in Leadville, CO, remembering my wife, Sandy, with our daughter, Sarah. Sandy passed away 3 years ago last week.
Pastor Brett – Looking at her bench in the front yard of the church, Gerry. Lifting up a prayer for you and your family.
Martha – So glad you are with your daughter, Sara…thinking of you this month. Sandy was a wonderful woman…and she is dancing on the clouds with Mom.
Like Gerry, October is a hard month for us. We lost 2 Saints – Mom in 2017 and Dobb, my brother Don, in 2018. And in July of this year we lost my step sister. So, within 3 years we have lost 3 family members. So, All Saint’s Day really makes you value those that are still in your family. Because, we have lost 3. We still have a big family but, still not as big as it started out to be.
We did have a blessing our granddaughter, 3 year old Ada, came yesterday dressed as a beautiful witch. She came inside and was waving her arms just like Mom used to do. It was a remembrance that the Irish-Canadian-Scottish heritage is continuing on. You find laughter in grief and that’s important.
Kari – Remembering Joe’s Aunt, Sister Sharon, who passed last October and our friend, Kathie, who died about 2 weeks ago.
Remembering Sandy with you and Sara, Gerry! She was a Saint! And she is a Saint!
Carol – Celebrating the life of my Mom, Wilma Hamilton, who passed away 11/4/2015 at the age of 95. She was an excellent example of how to spread the love of Christ.
Wendy F. – My father in law, Bob Fedderly, turns 70 today, on the very All Hallows’ Day. And it makes me think about how it is very true when you marry someone, you marry their whole family and how blessed I am for the whole Fedderly family. I did not know what I was getting into and I just couldn’t be more thrilled 25-30 years later since I met them. It’s just a joy. I am broken hearted that I can’t be with him today but, just thrilled and blessed to be grounded in the gratefulness to have him in my life.
Our church gives me hope! No matter what happens this week, I know that church will happen on Sunday with all of you. I love this church, filled with kind people who are my extended family! Knowing that I will “see” you on Sunday gives me comfort and something wonderful that I can count on, no matter what else happens this week.
Stephanie – Remembering my sister, Haley, who went into the hospital 4 years ago on Thanksgiving Day and never came home.
I sat on Sandy’s bench this week…soaked up the warm sun and held Haley’s memory close. Such a special place.
Jan – I woke up this morning and that song, Bless The Lord O my soul…And the 1st verse of that says – The sun comes up, there’s a new day dawning…
And isn’t it a beautiful Sunday morning? God has given us such a beautiful sunny day to have communion and to remember Him! He’s so Good!