11/11/2011 was the day that my mom died. As our family gathered around her hospital bed holding hands I prayed that her broken body would stop breathing and that she would be at peace. And so it was.
Today on 11/11/2013 I remember her and give thanks for the love she shared in so many different ways. I also remember the women and men who have given their lives so that we can have the freedom we have today. Their broken bodies lie in quiet places around the world and down the street in the cemetery behind Edwards Church.
I think too of the men and women who have returned home with broken bodies…seeking healing and living with pain. I give thanks for the Vets who have a dog to bark and walk with them and for the families that have a love one to hug at home again. I liked watching the women vets playing golf in a rehab program for PTSD and hearing a new baby cry as her dad held her in his prosthetic arm gripping gently with mechanical fingers. It is good to know that love can be share in many different ways.
On 11/20/2013 we will share in a service filled with love as we honor Transgender Remembrance Day through a special service honoring the women and men who have been murdered simply for being who they are. More broken bodies and wounded souls…join us in presence and pray please.
I am grateful for the love that we share here at Edwards Church. Everyone is truly welcome, including a perky poodle, a crying baby, an artist with clay in her finger nails, teenagers who seem to grow bigger every minute and those of us who keep shrinking. We are welcome as we welcome each other…maybe that’s through a special service of remembering or through a delicious pie you will buy to support the church. Maybe it’s through a fuzzy pat with that gentle poodle or in a laugh shared with a teenage athlete. Maybe it is in a way I cannot imagine and that’s good. I like to be surprised when God breaks in in a new way! That’s the love that fills my heart with peace over and over again.