Twenty One

 

In the past three years, the RiverWalk family has lost 21 members to death, if our count is correct.  I have been thinking for the past months that we have lost quite a few of our church family the last few years, and asked for a list.  Linda, our office manager, had that information and gave me the list that we have.  Twenty one.  Twenty one out of a congregation of about 200 or so.  Twenty one who are no longer with us, but are with their God.  Twenty one of our church family that we have mourned and are mourning; yet knowing of and celebrating their release from pain and suffering in this life and their entrance into eternity in the presence of their Lord.

The pandemic, of course, didn’t help matters.  Several of those we lost succumbed, we believe, to either the illness itself or to one or more of the outliers of two years of being cloistered…isolated away from other humans and unable to attend to basic needs.  Still others simply wore out.  Their bodies could no longer cope.  Hearts gave out.  Cancers invaded.  Dementia did its deadly deeds.

I’ve recently heard several comments from others in our church family asking for some respite from the all-too-frequent gatherings to mourn a death and celebrate life.  Even for those of us whose families have not been hit with a death, the strain is palpable.  The weariness is apparent.  The struggle is real.  I can’t imagine what it must be like to not only mourn for others in one’s church family, but then to have one’s own loved one be one of those we all come together for to mourn and celebrate a life well-lived.  The emotional toll must be incredible.

And I also think of those I don’t know in places like Uvalde, Texas, where at least 21 precious souls are no longer part of the Uvalde family.  And unlike here, those 21 were lost all at the same time in the most horrific of events.  Add to that the eyes and ears of the world as media captures every word, every movement, every facial expression and sends those around the world.  To top it off, the pundits, the politicians, and the public all weigh in with their own take on what happened, many with the goal of furthering their own agendas and lining their own pockets at the expense of a Uvalde people already suffering incredible pain and suffering.

The 21 mostly children who died in Uvalde are in our hearts this day, along with the inevitable nagging questions and thoughts that all zero in on the overriding question of why.  The second question that immediately follows is usually, “What can we do to prevent more occurrences of this?”  Neither question has a simple and plain answer, and depending on one’s world view, those questions can garner a wide range of thought and possible answers.

For the 21 of our RiverWalk church family who have died, the answers are more easily obtained.  Cancer, cardiac issues, COVID, old age, and other factors are the why.  And on the prevention question, that’s an ongoing process in the medical field.  The deaths are, however, real, unsettling, and another stark reminder of our own mortality.

Just as the twenty one Uvalde victims have been individually named in media reports in an effort to bring some dignity and acknowledgement to the unspeakable tragedy, I’d like to close by giving you the twenty one names of those of our church family who have passed from this life in the past three years.

 

 

Beverly Bolton (Oct. 2019)

Mariann Gamble (Nov. 2019)

Mickey Barber (Nov, 2019)

Clarence Daniels (March 2020)

Ron Bolton (June 2020)

Bill Hooten (Sept. 2020)

Nellie Scott (Sept. 2020)

Stella Schadegg (Dec. 2020)

Terry Schadegg (Jan. 2021)

Dena Badgett (April 2021)

Frank McAllister (May 2021)

Russ Sims (June 2021)

Joann Jeffery (Sept. 2021)

Denise Ward (Jan. 2022)

Bob Parnell (Jan. 2022)

Nick Wheeler (Feb. 2022)

Liz Burr (March 2022)

Kay Foster (March 2022)

Bobbie Carr (March 2022)

Mary Manlove (May 2022)

Regina Dunbar (May 2022)

Blessings…