Church with no pastor

Easter with Jonathan, Leslie, Leila & Nora & the McArthurs (from Casa)

This spring our pastor, Karen Smith, has been gone. Her mother died last fall and she and her family wanted/needed to be close to family for this semester.

That left two of us families here in charge. Leslie, with some theology classes under her belt, was chosen to be the substitute pastor. Her husband, Jonathan, is very musical so he and Gerald kept the music going. We had several other faculty and staff attend and the usual rotation of American exchange students. The services were shorter and more simple and most of the time we just had Bible readings, music, communion and testimonies.

I have really enjoyed this time because I believe strongly that ‘normal’ people should regularly be at the front of the church talking about what God has been doing in their lives. We need to walk together through life, sharing as we go – to get a more complete picture of the body of Christ. We get so placid in our pews, expecting to be fed and watered by only one person without having to do any of the feeding and watering ourselves. But to hear from the not-so-eloquent, the shy, those bursting with something to say, etc. was truly a blessing. It also helped me a great deal to be asked to share. I had to sit down and think through things and put them into words when I may have never done this. Gerald collected his thoughts on his friend Craig’s death, and hopefully I’ll share those on here too.

And every-so-often, Karen would send a sermon. I commented to an exchange student how weird it must be to have someone read the sermon of someone we often talked about but whom he had never met. “Actually, I really like it . . .” he replied – “I think it’s like the early church. They would have heard all about Paul but never met him. Instead, he sent letters and they were read to the whole group.” What a neat perspective.

It did make Lent and Easter a rather crazy time. All the planning, cooking, hosting and services left us rather exhausted. Being without a pastor is certainly not something I would want to do all the time. But through this experience and another time when we had an interim pastor in Topeka, I have learned that it actually is a chance to be pushed to lead and grow.

Mothers

I know, I know - these ladies do not look like my mother! But they are mothers of the most amazing variety. They were housemothers at my boarding school in Pakistan. Eunice (on the left) was the housemother for (mostly) the little boys for 40 years. Did you hear that, ladies & gentlemen? Deb was my own housemother for the high school girls whom she cared for over 30 years! Can you imagine? Most sane people would not chose to mother little boys (God bless them) or high school girls (whose dramas of love sickness and escaping and night to raid the boys would make normal people run for cover) for any longer than they have to! But these ladies chose to do that. And they did it with love, energy, patience and of course, help from God (who, I'm sure, will give them a special room in heaven with beds that have NOT been shortsheeted)! It was only years later that I realized how little time off these ladies got and how many hours of intense time with children they had. They are true heroes. Now they go around visiting their 'kids' and encouraging them. How wonderful it was to spend a few precious days together!

Visiting Ron's crew. Ron did not have Deb or Eunice as housemothers, but of course, we were all part of the same tight-knit community.

And here we are after a lovely hike on Mother's Day. The girls decided to give me a gift (almost) every day of May until Mother's Day. Boy, it was hard to be a deserving mother that long! I received drawings, flowers and home-made picture frames. But the most promiment gift was clay. The girls and another little girl who spends a lot of time here made me 5 clay creations - painted and all - I need a museum simply to display what I've received this month! Now I really have to behave for at least a few weeks! How blessed I am :)

And the girls mother too - they found a kitten whose neck had been badly damaged by her immature mother who was trying to carry her (this mother does not deserve a museum-full of clay creations). The girls tenderly cared for this kitten for several hours, praying for its healing - and - when it was obvious it was dead - for its resurrection. Here is the room they made for "Stormy" who is in the back left corner wrapped up in love, lying on a heart-shaped "I love you" pillow and cared for with utmost kindness in her dying hours.

My dear mother who started all this off - in her college days. When I was in college, someone who had been looking at old yearbooks asked me, "You look just like someone in the yearbook in the 50s - are you related to a Viola Wiebe, by any chance?" I replied that although that was my grandma's name, I knew no one from the 50s with that name related to me. Then I realized - "That's my mother!" I have always known her as Ruth (her middle name) Friesen!

Raising 5 children literally all over the world Mom always provided a loving home in the midst of it all - wow. She made the effort to make each of the MANY houses we lived in feel like home as soon as possible. I think of this here because people move so frequently and often do not bother to do this. That's just one little tidbit!

What a wonderful and amazing lady! I can only hope to be like her!