I am all for doing as the psalmist said, “Remember his marvelous works that he hath done.” Coinciding with the usual Church year cycle (beginning with Advent and ending with Last Sunday of the Church Year), here is the first portion of my Annual Recollection. Oh yes, and at times, it is both reflective and a little irreverent.

December
A tsunami half-way around the world instantly kills over 100,000 people, but we are most saddened by one death, the home-going of Faye Jarman, who worked to bring so much joy to others in this life, to her eternal joy in the presence of Jesus. An unlicensed, uninsured, non-owner car driver seeks to improve her skill at parking between obstacles by driving through the church fence. She succeeded, almost. Curtis Rigsby’s fiancé, Naoko, sings in Japanese during the service. And to think that all this time I didn’t even know Curtis could play the piano in Japanese! At the Korean Bible Conference, every time I said, “let the little children come unto me,” they ran and hid (like this was some game or something). When Sonia Hernandez was frightened because her daughter, Kathleen, was limp and unconscious, I learned that, unless you are Jesus, saying “little girl, arise” doesn’t work without oxygen supplied by the paramedics.

January
Hearing of the commotion caused by the year’s inaugural morning sermon, Pastor Rigsby hops a plane from Tucson and arrives just in time to quell the riots by preaching the evening service. Pastor Rigsby knows better than to let me preach. But, apparently the damage was done, because, for the first time in 25 years, the budget required a downward adjustment of 40% across the board. This was not quite the response I had in mind. Hoping to prevent further fallout, I guess, Pastor Rigsby chose (oh, excuse me, “was led of the Lord”) to preach through the book of Revelation. Do you really think I dream this stuff up? I’m not that creative, like Pastor Harry and Marianne Hobby who had a dream to go to Africa and plant “never ending gardens” in Swaziland. Just remember…dreams come true—their’s did (as well as the hundreds they were able to help)! Watch Disneyland steal this slogan from me and use it in their 50th Anniversary campaign. I have dreams like the Hobby’s, too, but they usually end up becoming nightmares.

February
Our hearts were encouraged when Carolyn Stewart returned to sing in the service. Then our hearts were broken repeatedly. Sometime, I don’t remember when, Talbot’s Biblical Island’s study tour was canceled. I don’t remember why, either. By month’s end, God had taken Darlene (Jepsen) Cooper from her family and friends on earth to her family and friends in heaven, and to Himself. And, if that wasn’t enough, Marie (Norris) McIlvain, whose parents were charter members of Bell Gardens Baptist, attended the church and later became a member herself, was also welcomed home to heaven.

March
There has to be some twisted irony that the Sunday School is studying Lamentations in a month of four more deaths. On the way to the cemetery, during Darlene Cooper’s funeral, Steve and Marie Prettyman receive a call that Marie’s brother-in-law, Kelly, just died. Little did we know then that his wouldn’t be the only “under 50″ funeral this year. Margaret Haase, a long time friend and co-worker with Alice Covington, dies. The funeral, officiated by yours truly, started Friday night and concluded Saturday morning. Maybe this is why Allen’s hasn’t called on me in nearly five months!?! After two weeks of intense media attention, congressional debate, and national protest; and receiving no nourishment via a feeding tube, Terry Schivo died on March 31st. I remember the day of her death, because it is the same day that, on the other coast, also in a nursing home and also under (wonderful) hospice care, our Romanian friend, Elizabeth Enciu dies—quietly, without attention, debate, or protest. I wondered if the real suffering began for one while the other’s came to an end? Or, did both enter into the warm embrace of their Saviour and Lord?

There is obviously more to come—next week. Remembering God’s work among us helps us in the present to do as the psalmist encouraged: “O give thanks unto the Lord.”

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