11 a.m. Traditional Service

The sanctuary flowers are given today in loving memory of Diane M. Glass from Steve, Nancy, and Stefani Fotovich.

Dear Union Church Family,

Judging by the number of responses I received from last week’s email concerning loneliness, it seems the message struck a chord with many of you. Indeed, in a pandemic of loneliness we long for the joy and life-giving power of friendship. Wherever friendship is present and experienced, it is a beautiful thing. And conversely, the absence of friendship is always sad and tragic. Shayne Wheeler, in his wonderful book “The Briarpatch Gospel,” writes these words about Jerry:

“Jerry was a freak. For most of us the saving grace that rescued us from the universal prejudice and cruelty of middle school was finding someone to look down on, someone who was more awkward, more uncoordinated, more shunned by the opposite sex than we were. In my school that was Jerry. He was the unchallenged low man on the totem pole, the pubescent pariah. And everyone knew it. Even Jerry knew it. I wasn’t popular, cool or athletic. But at least I wasn’t Jerry. One of Jerry’s legs was significantly shorter than the other one. So he didn’t walk. He waddled. He wore one of those shoes with a four inch soul. Kids joked that it made him look like Frankenstein. But the worst part about Jerry was the smell. In all my twelve years on the planet I’d never whiffed anything like it, and I was convinced that prolonged exposure would destroy my internal organs. Others shared my concern because when Jerry passed us in the halls, it was as if he was surrounded by a repellant magnetic field. Nobody would get within six feet. He was like Moses parting the Read Sea, only this sea was cruel, mocking and unforgiving. One day I was in the restroom when Jerry came in. The other boys quickly made for the exit. I wasn’t so lucky. I was unable to retreat. In desperation I drew in all the fresh oxygen left in the room. Would the air in my lungs be enough to sustain me until I could flee? I wasn’t sure. I had to try. And that’s when I saw it. I noticed that Jerry hadn’t approached the urinal in the customary way. He was standing a little sideways and had unbuttoned his shirt from the bottom. What’s he doing? In my mind I was screaming don’t look. But curiosity got the best of me, and I violated lavatory protocol. Glancing quickly in Jerry’s direction in an effort to figure out his odd posture. Jerry had a catheter bag. Of course, I didn’t know what that was at the time. All I knew is that he had a bag full of urine attached to his waist and hidden under his ill-fitting clothing. And he was dumping it. That explained the smell. The sad part was that it wasn’t even his fault. It’s the unfortunate and unavoidable aroma that made Jerry the outcast in an already alien, callous and unrelenting middle school universe. Still holding my breath as if my life depended on it, I wondered for the first time how it must feel to be him, to have literally no friends. To sit alone at lunch every day, to have no one get within six feet of him at any time. It must be horrible.”

Again, the presence of friendship is beautiful. But the absence of friendship is incredibly painful. True friendship in this world is rare. Few value friendship. Few really experience it. We have made friendship a verb in our culture. You “friend” people. Social media provides us the illusion of having just scores and scores of friends. But we don’t have friendship. We don’t know how to be a friend and we don’t even know what it looks like. These days we pay therapists, or even hairdressers, to do what friends used to do. To be attentive, sympathetic, engaged listeners.

The Bible says in Proverbs 18:24 that “A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” Well, this coming Sunday we interrupt our series in Ephesians to talk about that very friendship that you and I (and our broken, lonely world) so desperately needs. The sermon is taken from several, assorted texts and is entitled “What a Friend We Have in Jesus!” In addition, we will gather around his table for the family meal. So join us in person or on-line at 11:00am. Nursery care is once again available for infants thru 3 years old.

See ya in church,

Billy

P.S. Please consider joining in with other Union families to help create a Lenten devotional to share together in this important season. All you need to do is make a ten minute video reflecting on the scripture for the selected day. Click the sign up link to select a date and complete your reflection of the scripture that corresponds. Completed Devotionals should be returned to Kellyn von Arx. (uym@unionpresbychurch.org) More details are available on the MyChurch App.