It Never Gets Old

Just a quick blog on the Gators and then . . . back to work.

If you're a college basketball fan then you know the Gators were fortunate enough to garner a number one seed in the NCAA tournament. While that's gratifying, I don't want it to overshadow the fact that the Gators just did something very special.

Earlier this year the University of Florida became the first school ever to hold the national championships in football and basketball at the same time. Yesterday the University of Florida became the first school to hold the SEC Championships in football, regular season basketball, and the SEC tournament at the same time.
My friend Sanjay despises Billy Donovan. He thinks Donovan is cocky. But I remember when we Gator fans (I among them) questioned whether he could coach the Gators to an SEC tournament win. For the longest time it seemed like his teams were just worn down by the regular season. I was wrong. Dononvan has now coached the Gators to three straight SEC tourney wins (oh . . . and the NCAA tournament championship is in there as well). If you talk to Sanjay he will hate on Billy, but then Sanjay is a fan of Texas and Tennessee and he won't call me unless Texas or Tennessee wins a championship over the Gators . . . so I don't hear from Sanjay much anymore.Speaking of hate from opposing fans . . . I don't doubt that non-Gators despise Joakim Noah for his antics. The guy comes across as half-crazy. If he weren't a Gator he would probably bother me too. But there's more to the story than that.
Noah is the heart and soul of this team. I suspect Horford is a better all-around player, but without Noah this team wouldn't be having this kind of fun. He takes the heat from opposing fans, he's fearless in the ring, and he's fun. When you look at a picture of this team you almost always see Noah in the center, making the other guys laugh.

But he isn't the court clown that he pretends to be. He plays with all the passion and pride you would ever want from your favorite player on your favorite team. Congratulations, Gators!
2007 SEC Champs.

a bitter honor

The funeral is over and I'm reflecting on the events of the week. I am reminded that it is an honor to be allowed into peoples' lives during such traumatic times.

On the drive back to Wilmore I realized why I like sad books. Cindy finds my list of favorite books a bit too tilted toward suffering. The Brothers Karamazov, The Living, Diary of a Country Priest, The Idiot--none of these books give the reader much to cheer about. I think I like them because they are stories about the redemption, grace, and hope to be found in the midst of suffering. They are able to point to that hope without pollyannish optimism. They are models for ministry when times get tough.

Times are, as you would guess, tough. Once the services are over most of the world goes back to what they were doing before the tragedy. Meanwhile, the family has to find a new life together while dealing with the weight of the loss.

In the midst of all this, a moment of grace. During the service I was sitting up on chancel while one of Charles' co-workers shared stories from the pulpit. He commented on work ethic, competency, and other such things--but he focused on the practical jokes (Charles was a prankster). While he recounted some of Charles' exploits I looked to the front row and saw the face of a son who was surprised by the depth of his father's rascally-ness (if you have a better word for it, leave it in the comment box). He just looked up at the speaker and shook his head in sweet disbelief and admiration.

Thanks to all of you who prayed for the family and for me. God is faithful. Please continue to remember the family.

a brief update

The viewing is tonight (Thursday). The funeral is tomorrow.

You may have noticed that I didn't include names in the previous post, that's simply because if you're a part of Grandview you know who it is--beyond that it isn't my place to take the family from the real world into the blogosphere.

The big question people have is, "How is the family?"

We ask that question even though we know there's no good answer. I remember being dumbfounded by the question after my mother died. I didn't want to lie and say, "Hey, I'm doing just fine." I also didn't want to back the truck up and dump everything I was feeling on the person who was asking. I knew their intentions were gold.

When I'm thinking straight I try to ask more specific questions. I want to know things like how they are sleeping, eating, and whether or not they've had any chance to be alone (if they're covered by people), or with somebody (if they're alone).

And so, please offer up prayers today for sleeping, eating, and space to process the cataclysmic shift of life. Pray for a 4-year-old to retain some memories of her father and be thankful to God for the people who invented photography and video. Pray for an 8-year-old who has a beautiful and bubbly presence. Pray for a 10-year-old who feels the weight of it all along with his mother.

Pray for parents who are burying their son, for a sister who just lost her big brother.

The next two days are two of the hardest. They require energy and strength on the part of a people who have just been devestated. I'm confident you will be praying along with me. You can say a quick one right now.

Thanks.

tragedy

I was talking with classmate Jim Martin yesterday when I got the call that one of our members at Grandview died unexpectedly. He was my age. He had three kids and a lovely wife. He seemed to be in good health, just a little sick for a couple of weeks. He was just a fine, fine man. Gracious. Patient. Kind.

It was the kind of news that feels like a blunt-force blow to the head, to the soul--and I'm just a friend and a minister.

May God comfort the family and give the church the grace to be the church in these days.

So I'm in Johnson City this morning and will be until the funeral. When you think about it, pray for the family.

O For A Thousand Tongues

Sometimes I underestimate the power of song. Let me change that. I usually underestimate the power of song, but there are times when even I can't miss the Transcendent breaking into the Now while voices are joining together to sing.

A week ago Ireland played in a match against England. That may not sound like a big deal, but it was played at Croke Park--which may not sound like a big deal either, but Croke Park is the site of the infamous Bloody Sunday on November 21, 1920. That was when an auxiliary division of the British police marched into the Dublin-Tipperary Gaelic football match and began shooting indiscriminately into the crowd. They killed 13 spectators and 1 player. It was in retaliation for the assassination of 14 British Intelligence officers by a Michael Collins led gang.

Since that day the English national anthem had not been sung in that stadium--until last week. There was much discussion leading up to this match. Many felt it would be inappropriate and would dishonor the dead.


Here is a video of the Rugby players singing:



The lesson is clear. These songs were powerful to the people singing them, not because of their style (which is out-dated), but because of the context. The singers were singing about the living and the dead. They were singing about righteousness, justice, and hope for something better in the future.

I need to add, at this point, the words of my cousin, Richard. He said that, for him, the occasion wasn't about the killings so much,, and that it had more to do with national belonging (which strictly speaking is a bad thing), but was a hard won fight at that. And now the Irish have allowed the people who once dominated to play in their national stadium and to sing the anthem of the dominators. In his view, this is akin to turning the other cheek.

Also, the reason there are three anthems in the video is that, of course, the first is England's, the second is "The Soldier's Song" for Ireland, and the third is a song that both the north and the south can sing.

For too long the church has blamed "flat" worship services on the songs. That's a little like the chef blaming the parsley sprig for a bad meal. This is not, by the way, an anti-new song comment. It's just a call to remember what is at stake when we worship. We're singing about thousands of years of defeats and victories. We're singing in the context of God's kingdom, God's will being done on earth as in heaven. We're singing about the living and the dead, about righteousness, justice, and hope for something better in the future.

If that's not enough to inspire some fire once in a while, then we need to be recalled to what is happening when we worship.

By the way, Ireland won, 43-13. Congratulations to cousin Richard!

Stuff I Wasn't At

You were probably wondering when you would get another picture of Pierson. Well, today is the day! The Beeson women put together a blanket making party in honor of next year's Beeson students and their families. Ginny and Claire sewing away.

Alicia, Pierson, and Ian make a good team.

Kate was there.

Earlier this week Cindy took the girls to Disney on Ice.

Rupp Arena never looked so good.

I think Meghan and Anna enjoyed themselves.I'm pretty sure Cora enjoyed herself.Nothing like a crown and a bag of popcorn to cheer a girl up.

Nothing like spending an evening with your daughters to cheer a girl up.

Disasters in Alabama, Peace in Wilmore

While my Beeson brothers are in Mongtomery, Alabama braving tornados and Dr. Dale Galloway, I remain in Wilmore tinkering away on my dissertation. If you want a first hand report, I refer you to Scott Layer's blog.

Having this week to focus on my project has been invaluable. I've tried to redeem the time. On Tuesday I met with Dr. Stacey Minger. She's the dissertation guru here. Any information you get from Stacey moves you along in the process. Very helpful.

On Wednesday I met with Dr. Michael Pasquarello, who is my second reader. It was my first chance to sit down with him and give him a sense of where I'm going with things. He recommended a book for it. I've only just started reading it, but it is insightful so far. The book is titled, Live to Tell , by Brad J. Kallenberg.

It was a good thing to bring him on board. He and my dissertation mentor, Dr. Lowe, are very different when it comes to how they view the church. Pasquarello is in the Duke (Hauerwas and Willimon) mode while Lowe is partial to the Willow Creek models (I've simplified their views too much, but hopefully you get the idea). Between the two of them I'll be challenged from opposite ends of the spectrum.

On Thurdsay I met with Dr. Joel Green. This had nothing to do with my dissertation. I just wanted to get to know him before leaving Asbury. I knew I would regret it if I didn't try. The guy is a genius. Also, we have a common appreciation for Dr. Loren Stuckenbruck at the University of Durham (in the UK). Green spent a sabbatical over there.

Cindy and the girls went to Disney on Ice last night (Thursday night--I'll try to post a few pictures later), so I had all evening to focus on the dissertation as well.

So . . . that's my week. I'm thankful for it.

Bones of Contention

The Talpiot Tomb

James Cameron, director of the movie Titanic, has teamed up with Simcha Jacobovici to "unearth" the tomb of Jesus of Nazareth. They will air the documentary on March 4th on the Discovery Channel. I think you should watch it. If I had the Discovery Channel I would watch it--I just hope that Leonardo DiCaprio doesn't die this time.

I don't know what Cameron's religious beliefs are, though one can guess. I have no idea who Simcha Jacobovici is, but my suspicion is that he is not a devout Primitive Baptist.

Do you know the worst part about this special? I fear that it will crank up the church machinery again. You know the one. It's the machine where we get angry and denounce Cameron, call into question Jacobovici for his anti-Christian bias, develop curricula on the archaeology of the ancient near east, and then launch a thousand sermon series on why Jesus is the real "King of the Woooooooorld!"

In fact, if you listen really closely, you can hear some preacher/publisher, somewhere whispering in the church's ear, "This may be the evangelistic opportunity of a lifetime. Buy my video refutation of Cameron or people will die in ignorance."

Or we can state the case once, for those who care to listen, and move on. We're grown up Christians now, right? We know that there is an endless supply of DaVinci Code, Gospel of Thomas, and Jesus-wasn't-real propaganda.

We're partly to blame. There is a huge wing of the church that refuses to give any credence to archaeological finds that challenge our understanding of scripture. In the face of that kind of evidence the church has sometimes embraced some convoluted arguments. We sometimes become irrational. So now, when a movie director makes the same fantastic leaps we do (but in the opposite direction) we invoke the scientific principle.

Anybody who thinks that we live in an age of reason doesn't pay enough attention to pop culture. People believe all sorts of silly things. Exhibit A? Read what Cameron said in a recent interview:

“We now know more about [Jesus] than we''ve known for literally thousands of years. I think that’s pretty amazing,” he said. “I think that’s the power of film.” link

Are you kidding me? We know more than Peter or Mary or John or Paul knew about Jesus? We know more about Jesus than the gospel writers knew? We know more about Jesus than the martyrs of the early church knew? And what would the power of film have to do with it? Did Cameron find my hidden stash of the Dead Sea 8mm Videos?

This type of thing will continue. Let the church's witness to the life of Jesus be authentic and the Cameron Crazies will be wasting their breath.

Peace to you.

By the way, if you want something more researched than my ramblings on the question, check out these resources:

Tales from the Crypt

Ben Witherington's Blog (NT professor at Asbury)

The "Good" Beeson Students

Here's a report from the front line Beeson students who went to Montgomery, Alabama this week: link.

Thanks, Scott, for keeping us posted.

When No One's Around

Dean Jesson did us a massive favor this week. He made the trip to Montgomery optional. I opted to stay in Wilmore to work on my dissertation. With everybody gone (I still have Nolan, Alicia, and Bryan to keep me company) there won't be much to blog this week. I'll just be in my carrel typing and reading away.

I thought I should let you see how the carrel is looking these days.
Nothing too exciting. There is a little more Gator memorabilia than when I first set up house.

And a lot more books.

After my Beeson training video some of you were a little concerned that I had too much time on my hands. Which got me to wondering . . . were you hoping to come to the blog and see something like this? (trust me, you don't want to watch this video)




I warned you.

Oscar and the Grouch

I watched the opening of the Oscars last night. I'm not fascinated by the Oscars. My lack of fascination has nothing to do with somehow being above that sort of thing. On the contrary, I'm apathetic because I am so far below the Oscars. Every time I've switched on the television to watch one of those things it strikes me as the ultimate high school clique party. And I know that it's a party that would have no interest in inviting me--or anyone I have ever met (I'm sorry if you're reading this and have met me. I mean no disrespect!). Some of the greatest people I have known would not be welcome there, people who have given their entire lives to help others, people who have lived with a desire to bring peace and joy into the lives of those with whom they come into contact.

But, these "stars," my oh my, do they ever think highly of themselves!

The only reason I'm writing about it this morning is that the Oscar celebration boldly crossed a line last night that surprised me. Ellen DeGeneres opened with a pretty mundane routine. I've seen her be pretty funny, but we have to be patient with her because it's hard to be funny in front of the "cool kids." It's a lot of pressure. One wrong word and she will be banished to the little table in the back with Mel Gibson, Michael Richards, and every entertainer who has ever been on Hollywood Squares. She will be forced to hang around a bunch of people who are wondering why Michael Jackson and Woody Allen haven't been banished (Why haven't they?).

DeGeneres is smart, though. She must have decided that if she couldn't make them laugh, she would do herself one better. She just massively stroked their egos. She told the crowd that this year they weren't just celebrating the winners, they were celebrating all of the nominees as well. This triggered a gospel-style choir in white robes appearing on stage singing "Hallelujah!" to the nominees as they passed through the crowd and out the back.

"Hallelujah," of course, means "God Save Us!" Which is exactly how celebrities view themselves--and exactly how a lot of people view them. That's why so many people are clamoring to be famous. It's their chance to share in the divine. It's the modern equivalent of Adam and Eve's forbidden fruit.

I enjoy a good movie every now and again. I certainly watch too much television. But I haven't seen anything on a screen lately that compares with the quiet dedication to God and service to God's kingdom of a Bill Norris, or a Howard Shaffer, or a Robert Fife, or my Mom.

I'm not sure what these Hollywood gods would save us from. Seeing pointless and countless murders on screen? The cheapening of relationships? Growing old gracefully?

I think their salvific answer would be something like "we're saving you from narrowness." DeGeneres even said so last night. She said that "without Jews, African-Americans, and gays there would be no Oscars." But if their gospel of inclusion is really true then try this little experiment on for size: try showing up at their party. You will quickly discover that if they are gods, you are the one who has been thrown out into the darkness.

After that, go visit a Christian service of worship on Sunday morning. Not only will you be let in, you might be fawned over. I know the Church isn't perfect . . . but it is way more diverse and welcoming than Hollywood.

Is this sour grapes on my part? I suppose it could be, but at least when I shaved my head nobody put pictures of me on the national news. There are some advantages to not being a god!

A Wymer Weekend

I was able to work on my dissertation on Saturday morning while my brother and his family made their way to Wilmore. They arrived mid-afternoon and we all went to church on Saturday night at Crossroads Christian Church in Lexington.

On Sunday morning we had breakfast at the house and they took off. It was great to see them. I took pictures, of course.

After church we watched a video...it was standing room only.

Lily likes the swings.She also likes her cousin, Meg.

Katherine loves her cousin, Anna.

Lily in the park.

Mrs. Wymer (times two).

We ate at Sonny's--of course!

Nobody climbs like Marcus and Ethan.

Ethan.Marcus.

Katherine.

Lily.

Ethan.

The Indiana Wymers getting ready to head north. It was great to see everybody.

Father Cantalamessa (The Preacher to the Pope)

Here are the promised pictures of Raniero Cantalamessa's visit to Asbury along with a digital short to give you a taste of the events.

Our first interaction with Cantalamessa was in a thirty minute Question and Answer session that Dr. Baucum set up for the Beeson students and a few other guests.

The picture shows how genuine this man is. He was a joy to hear.

I admit that I wanted him to talk more about what it's like to have papal preaching duties, but that wasn't the purpose of his visit. He didn't say much about that part of his vocation (he was appointed to this position, by the way, by the late Pope John Paul. He was retained by Pope Benedict). His purpose in coming to Asbury was to talk about preaching as it relates to our ministries . . . hence . . . no need to drag the Pope into things!

I asked him to talk about the use of allegory in sermons and how to recover it in approriate ways for preaching. He is a Patristics scholar by training (he taught at the University of Milan for a time). His answer was, essentially, that it just takes some wisdom and some common sense; that a preacher must always be careful not to abuse interpretation whether allegory was being used or not.

His understanding of what it takes to interpret scripture kept reminding me of my mother's use of scripture, even though she studied scripture very differently than Cantalamessa. She didn't bring a Ph.D. to the table, but she brought the same spirit to scripture as this man. Over and over I heard echos of my mother's understanding of how God blesses scripture and people and the interaction of the two.

In Bryan Bucher's blog he mentions how amazing it is that the papal pastor was asked to speak at a conservative Methodist seminary in the hinterlands of Kentucky. He's absolutely right. What's even more amazing is that Cantalamessa accepted. He has made it part of his mission to work for Christian unity . . . and that warms the cockles of my heart of Stone-Campbell.

If pictures are worth a thousand words, then this video might be worth seventeen or eighteen words. There is nothing funny in it. No trains will burst onto your screen. I just thought it might be nice to catch a snippet of the action with video. If you're two minutes ahead of schedule today, go ahead and check it out. I also included a little clip of the worship leader, Matt Maher.

A Tribute to Jack

Yesterday was a good day. Cantalamessa did not disappoint. Hopefully I will be able to give you a glimpse into his time on campus, but I'm putting that off until later today. For now I just want to give a blog (goodbye) wave to Jack Connell who will be returning to New York tomorrow.

We're all sorry to see him go, but we're glad we got to know him. May God bless you in your next ministry.

Here is your parting gift:



We'll see you in April.

The Pope's Preacher

I am, of course, working on my disseratation this week--but not much on Tuesday. On Tuesday I will have the opportunity to hear Raniero Cantalamessa lecture on preaching. Cantalamessa is the preacher to the papal household. You can find out a bit more about him by following this link: Papal Preacher.

We Beeson students get to hear two lectures from him. He will also preach in chapel. I'm looking forward to finding out more about him and from him. My understanding is that he is a charismatic Roman Catholic (which is quite different, I suspect, from a charismatic pentecostal). His emphasis on the Holy Spirit is obvious in his books, two of which we have read for classes here at Asbury. I've liked his books.
Also on tap for this week is my first opportunity to preach in Dr. Baucum's class. That will be on Thursday. I will, of course, try to get some pictures of all these things for the blog.

The dissertation is the main thing now. All of the papers, sermons, books and assignments for classes have to be scheduled in and around the dissertation work. Those assignments essentially provide a break from the unending searching through books that is dissertation work.

Right now I'm trying to define the "kingdom of God." Which is silly. Jesus didn't define it. He told us what the kingdom is like. He lived in a kingdom way so we could see how it works. But he never gave us the kind of list that we could use to look at a person and be sure of his or her citizenship in the kingdom.

Alexander Campbell (our John Wesley, for those of you who are Methodists...or even if you're a Christian church person!) seemed quite sure who was and who was not in the kingdom. He was much better at seeing things in black and white than I am. He lived in a different time, though. In his day he was making bold moves by including more Christians in the kingdom, not just a denomination or two.

In our day I've been won over, however, by the likes of Steve Chalke, Cornelius Plantinga, Jr., and Dallas Willard. If we follow their understanding of the kingdom then we have simply to do the things we think Jesus would do with anyone (of any stripe) who will join in. We become less concerned with who is in and who is out, and more concerned with sharing the knowledge of Christ while we share the labor of Christ. This fits best with some of the things we do at Grandview, things like the Interfaith Hospitality Network, where we wind up serving alongside people who might not call themselves Christians.

Besides "defining" the kingdom, I'm trying to uncover specific ways churches "reach out in relationships." The best person to read on that topic appears to be Steve Sjogren, who planted a church in Cincinnatti and who wrote the book, "Conspiracy of Kindness." His book "The Perfectly Imperfect Church" is good too. Simple . . . but good (or, maybe it's good because it's simple).

Need to Get Away?

I was sitting with my family in a little restaurant called bd's mongolian grill when it came time to make a pit stop. I did what we all do in that situation. I stood up and started glancing around a bit for the signs. I don't know if you've noticed, but the new trend in restaurant layout appears to be "don't let anyone walk in a straight line to anywhere."

After scanning the restaurant (again, it's laid out like a medieval village) I went in the direction that made sense to me. I went toward the bar/waiting-to-get-a-seat area, but that wasn't the place.

I did an about face and began snaking my way toward a back room called something like "The Warrior Room." I did a left at the salad bar, a right around a half-wall, a double helix around the last section of tables and then . . . nothing.

An astute waitress asked what I was looking for. I, of course, told her I was trying to find the restrooms. She said, "Oh, it's right over there, just around that corner."

She seemed honest enough so I went "over there", turned the corner toward which she had pointed, and voila! There it was.

While I was washing my hands I sensed something was wrong. This wasn't the normal kind of men's room. Suddenly I felt the blood rushing to my face. The main door from the hallway opened and standing there was a little girl--next to her mom. Her mom looked at me. Then she looked at the open door. Then she looked at me again.

"Ooooh noooo!" I said, looking again at the door, "Ooooh noooo! It says monGALS, not mongols! I am so sorry! This is awful!" And then a woman walked past me from the bathroom back into the restaurant--a woman who had been in there the whole time.

Sigh.

How does the cliche' go? Look before you leap? He who hesitates winds up in the correct room? I don't know. What I do know is that when I returned to the table the lady who breezed past me out of the bathroom was obviously telling the story to her table. Everyone at that table began to chuckle then turned to get a look at me.

All I could do was wave.

In my defense (and you knew I would try to defend myself here), the waitress did say "just around that corner." And the sign . . . the sign. . . well, let's just say it isn't designed for easy discernment in a time of need. I don't know what Mongolian women look like, but this trans-gender cartoon on the bathroom door communicated "boy" to me.

Oh well. Joke's on me.

Happy Birthday, Max and Max

The Buchers and the Layers had a double birthday party for their boys, Max and Max. They invited the whole Beeson gang.Here Max Bucher is making sure Max Layer knows there are TWO Maxes.

Meghan and Maggie continued the alliteration for the evening.

Even Ana was ready to party.

As you can see, the Beeson Townhouses don't easily lend themselves to large gatherings.

Every party has a pooper . . . but sometimes things start happening from the OTHER end (especially during flu season). Here Travis and Gordon spring into action after technicolor M&Ms "reappear".

Now we know why Scott was so happy--because the Buchers hosted the party!

Organizational Leadership

Just a little more about our Organizational Leadership with Dr. Jack. We've finished three days of class together covering fiscal, staffing, planning, strategies, and leadership issues. The class continued to be filled with helpful information and good discussion.We will meet again in April for two days after we students have had a chance to do our case studies. Each of us will be travelling to a church of our choosing to examine the organizational and leadership structures that are in place.
Jim is going to California. I am going to visit our friend, Ben Cachiaras, at Mountain Christian Church in Joppa, Maryland. I've been wanting to get up there for a long time now and this assignment turns out to be the perfect opportunity (the Beeson pays our way).
So here is Jack waving good-bye to us. Next week he'll be heading back to New York, returning Asbury in the Spring as adjunct faculty instead of as a Wilmore resident. We wish you well, Jack. See you in April.

Howard and Donald's Wild Ride

In an earlier post I lionized Howard Shaffer while wishing I had the picture of the time he rode the Montu roller coaster. Well, thanks to Grandview administrative assistant, Carla McKinney, I have the picture!

For those readers of the blog who don't know, Donald is on the left and 90-year-old Howard is on the right. This was when I realized Howard wanted to keep going. Magnificent. His face says it all.I wrote a blog entry on Howard a couple of weeks ago. It elicited more responses than any other post I've written. Though the replies tended to be complimentary to me or Cindy or Grandview, they were really commentaries on how loved Howard was. Not all of you read the comments that are attached to these posts so I will include some of them here. There are some beautiful memories in these comments:

Cindy Schade

Aaron, I cried as I read to Scott your comments. Scott and I, when we were first married and attending Grandview, sang in the choir. Mary and Howard picked us up each Sunday afternoon, and what a fun time. They, along with Donald, also showed up on our church doorstep in Selston, England. Thanks for putting into words our emotions.

Anonymous said...

He was such a fine example of true Christianity. He taught us love and faithfulness by example. He will always be remembered and loved by many. Pam

Scott Wakefield said...

Howard was exceedingly gracious, constantly smiling, and often teary with love and affection for people. He and Mary took in my parents and me as a young professor family at Great Lakes Bible College. They were part of a faithful generation of Christians who served without fanfare and didn't wait for a church program for the chance to hospitably love and mentor younger Christians to do kingdom work. He and Mary were parental in their care and affection for my parents. Thanks, Howard and Mary.

Melissa Noble said...

Years ago I began working at Milligan College. Since I have a great love of sports I attended several basketball games. Also in attendance was the sweetest couple I had ever observed. It was obvious both were late in years so getting in and out of those bleachers was not easy. But each time I watched as the (true) gentleman helped his wife to her seat. Taking care of her first. At one game I purposely sat close to them so I could strike up a conversation. Well, that didn't take long. :) I became well acquainted with Howard and Mary Shaffer. Then years later I was overjoyed to find out that they attended the church I had finally settled on. I have been blessed by several people in my life but two men stand out the most. My daddy and Howard Shaffer. Imagine how odd I felt being notified on January 31 that Howard had passed away. Because most of my day had been filled with memories of my own father who passed away on the same day 20 years ago. :) Thanks Howard, I love you!

Anonymous said...

We thank you Aaron for your words and message even from afar. Lisa and Amanda Norris, Florida

Jan Weaver said...

We read your comments and it seems you knew Howard well. I knew him in Lansing as director of the church choir where he and Mary sang many years ago. I have fond memories of the times we had together singing and just being friends. We have shared so much in the past- he is being missed - but I'll see him soon.

Marjorie "Deb" Shaffer Hoag said...

Thank you, Aaron, for this tribute to my dad, for your fine message at his memorial service, for your friendship with him both as his pastor and as his personal friend, and for the steadfast support you gave him as he struggled to carry on after Mother's death. Since I live so far from JC, I was always so grateful to you and Cindy, Donald, and the many special caring sisters and brothers at Grandview for the love shown my parents. The Grandview people are the most thoughtful and giving souls I have encountered. I am overwhelmed by their love and support. God is so good! He gave my dad a long and beautiful life and has now welcomed him into His heavenly fold. I rejoice in Dad's journey - he fought the good fight and has entered into Glory!

In the grip of His grace - Marjorie

Linda Lawson said...

I think Howard is what we all want to be when we are old -- loving, friendly, tender-hearted, forgiving, fun, engaged with life. It seems like it would be a rare thing for someone who enjoyed his life so much to be so prepared to part with it. It also occurs to me that Howard didn't get to be the Howard we knew and loved by waiting until he got old to be that person. There's a lesson in there. We sure will miss him.