Letters

Thanks for a Great Finale!

A warm and heartfelt thanks to the many of you who took the time to write and e-mail personal notes of appreciation for the past twenty years of RW; I’ll add them to the delightful memory book I received from the staff at Faith Alive. And what great fun to open RW 80 and see pp. 7-9—three pages the RW staff had not let me see until they were in print. I loved the cartoon and picture!

Common Threads

I was charged with coordinating the construction of the Common Threads banner for Southminster Presbyterian Church, Tulsa, Oklahoma (see “Come and See,” RW 61, back cover). It was a church-wide event and went very well. We dedicated the banner on World Communion Sunday, 2005.

Our pastor, Dr. C. Sam Haun, had also suggested to our worship committee that a liturgical stole be created for the liturgist to wear each Sunday. We decided to make a stole using the same basic pattern as the Common Threads banner. It took a little work, but I am very pleased with the outcome. 

Communion in a Nursing Home

I had never experienced communion in a nursing home before, but an experience with my mother was so meaningful I hope others think of ministering to their shut-in members this way and become, as I did, newly thankful for the loving ways God’s people have found to minister to one another.

My mother, Ruth Hoekema, 91, is in hospice care in a nursing home in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She has not been able to attend church services for months. But on Maundy Thursday, 2006, she experienced a beautiful and unusual pastoral visit. One of her pastors, Ruth Boven, had asked if she and a few elders could bring communion to her room. Of course mom agreed, and that afternoon, Ruth Boven and seven (yes, seven) elders from Neland Avenue Christian Reformed Church held a communion service in her room. They had a special bulletin printed with mom’s name, including Scripture readings, hymns, and prayer. A particularly moving moment was singing “My Jesus, I Love Thee.” Stanza 2 really took on new meaning (“I love thee in life, I will love thee in death, and praise thee as long as thou lendest me breath . . .”). It was a beautiful, short, but deeply meaningful service. Mom was deeply grateful for it and found it profoundly rich and personal. This is one Lenten communion service I will never forget.