Jason Please Fix

NOTES OF HOPE
HOLY WEEK 2016 

Genuine humility is one of the 4 Acts of Love Messiah Lutheran Church has been studying and implementing.  Humility is an odd quality.  Often the more one strives to exhibit genuine humility, the further one strays from it.  Often when we least expect it, humility overtakes us, overwhelms us, and overpowers us.  Today was another “first” in my life and genuine humility crashed upon the scene.  

Sunday afternoon I was invited over my dear friend Betty Ebel’s home.  Betty is 96, and I have been taking her communion, visiting with her and hearing her life stories for some time now.  Betty attended Messiah Lutheran Church, where I serve, when she could, for the past four years since she moved here from Ft. Wayne to be closer to her daughter Sue. It was wonderful to get to know this faithful woman of God.  We both have a Detroit connection and a strong Lutheran background.  

Betty starting failing so I went to visit more often.  Last week Betty was not in her recliner but lying in the bed she and her husband bought when they were married. Hospice was making her comfortable and said Betty only had hours or days left.   Her daughter Sue was lying on the bed next to her and her son Rick was sitting on the chair at her bedside.  A very loving picture.

Betty took my hand and opened her eyes - too weak to talk but definitely letting me know she knew I was there.  We prayed the Lord’s Prayer, and I spoke with her.  This time she could not speak the words aloud with us, but I knew she was still saying them.  She reached out and hugged me.  Holy moments.  

Sunday, Palm Sunday, I was invited over to do the Lutheran Commendation of the Dying. Her two granddaughters were on the bed with her and all around the bed were her daughter Sue, son-in-law Joe and son Rick.  I had never led this brief service before.  Firsts can be intimidating and a cause for genuine humility.  Yet firsts, as was this time, can be so powerful and meaningful.  

There is a responsive reading part in the Commendation of the Dying service where the family responds to the statements the leader says with the words: “Deliver your servant.”  I asked the family to add, after the word servant, the name by which they call Betty.  I heard the words “Grandma”, “Mom”, and “Betty.”  I saw tears.  I heard trembling voices.  I felt overwhelmed with humility to be with this family at this time.

Betty died the next morning and will be buried in Ft. Wayne this Good Friday. What a blessing it was to be a part of her life.  Thanks be to God for Betty!