Valentine's day of this year, a friend of mine passed. Over the course of his life he was a child, a Catholic priest, a software engineer, a husband, a father and an Anglican priest.
I attend a memorial for him yesterday that is a bit of a traveling road show. His life touched so many that his family had a memorial in the town where he "completed his residence" (I will not use "live" in the past tense - to do so is always a lie), also here in San Jose and with another to follow in Los Angeles.
It's kind of a long story but all 66 years of it are about Eric (my friend) seeking Christ. I'm not talking at all about a constant walking with Jesus, or mode of behavior, or doing things, or any of the things we usually associate with the phrase "a life seeking Chirst." This life was written by someone who over the course of his passage here walked in many different directions but never the less was able to hear the voice of God in important moments.
I will only tell a small bit of this story today. Eric entered the priesthood as a young man. In his late 30's he gradually became convinced that he'd given up large portions of his life to the false pretenses of organized religion. For him, this was occasionally but never completely confused with God.
When three years ago he was first diagnosed with ALS, Eric was afraid and depressed. He and his wife Ruth (a wonderful woman), began going to church again. Soon after they started visiting churches, Eric received communion after being absent from the table for a quarter of century. If you take the heart of communion seriously, this is a big deal.
To be absolutely clear, Eric's response to a death sentence was to cry out to a God he'd ignored and even been at odds with for 25 years. God answered immediately and enthusiastically, "Kill the fatted calf. My son has come home." For the next 3 years Eric ministered to others out of his own infirmities. I will copy some of his message to this space in the coming days.
His life will remain forever a living monument to the beauty, patience and loving faithfulness of our redemptive God. He is the kind of life the organization of church desperately wants to point to.
God bless you my friend. I will see you again. I plan to find you by looking toward the middle of a laughing crowd of loving people.
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