Eric Shafer's blog

I had the privilege of attending "A Celebration of the Life of Robert Edward Alexander Lee" on Friday evening, March 6, 2009, at Bob's church, St. Peter's Lutheran Church in Baldwin, New York (Long Island). The evening began with a Hymn Festival (Bob loved hymns and singing) and ended with a Memorial Service. The Hymn Festival included hymns and reflections by family members. The Memorial Service included many remembrances. Only one of Bob's Lutheran communication colleagues spoke, Bill Jersey who was the director for "A Time for Burning." The other remembrances were all by family and friends and fellow members of St. Peter's Lutheran Church. I am deeply moved by all of the remembrances. Those by fellow church members were, perhaps, the most touching since they spoke of a man they knew from choir and Bible study who had treated them kindly. There was lots of Bob's favorite music from J. S. Bach.

One of Bob's daughters, Peg Harris, reflected that there were very few "Don'ts" in their family life. The only major "Don't" she remembered was "Don't get butter on the script!" which started as a real concern (Bob always seemed to have film scripts lying on the dining room table) but became a loving family code word.

More important were the family "Dos" - Do "Keep your air speed" (Bob was, after all, a WWII pilot), Do "Make the most it" and Do "Have an attitude of gratitude."

"Have an attitude of gratitude" was certainly the mood that pervaded the evening. On the cover of the bulletin was duplicated an original artwork piece that Bob commissioned for the North American Lutheran celebration of the 450th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation (1967), a piece by artist Ben Shahn that proclaims "Life New Life." This, affirmed again and again through the evening, summed up Bob's attitude on life - to live life fully and be grateful for all of life's many blessings.

For more on Bob, see the wonderful obituary that was in the "New York Times" newspaper on March 7, 2009 - http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/08/us/08lee.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=%22Robert%20E.%20A.%20Lee%22&st=cse and the March 3, 2009 ELCA news release - http://www.elca.org/Who-We-Are/Our-Three-Expressions/Churchwide-Organization/Communication-Services/News/Releases.aspx#&&a=4074 . I was honored to be quoted in the ELCA news release and more honored to have known Bob Lee.

There is more on Bob's books on his website http://www.realworldcomm.com/ and more on Bob's films on the Lutheran Film Associates website - http://www.lutheranfilm.org/ .

Bob's life can be summed up in one of his favorite J.S. Bach phrases - "Soli Deo Gloria" - "Only for the glory of God."

Much has been written these past days about author John Updike following his death of lung cancer on January 27th. Mention has often been made that he was born and grew up in and around Shillington, Pennsylvania. Mention has sometimes been made that he grew up a member of a Lutheran congregation. (Actually, I believe he was first a member of Grace Lutheran Church in Shillington and then spent most of his formative years as a member of Robeson Lutheran Church in nearby Plowville. He was an active Episcopalian at the time of his death).

My Wyomissing (Pennsylvania) Area High School Latin teacher, Mrs. Florence Schrack, a lifelong Luheran, taught me Latin but even more about English and history. Before teaching at Wyomissing, Mrs. Schrack taught at what is now Governor Mifflin High School (I believe it was the old Shillington High). One of her students was John Updike. Mrs. Schrack was very proud to say that she had encouraged young John in his writing. (Updike's retired teacher father was also a substitute teacher during my years at Wyomissing Area High School. He was as colorful as Updike had already described him in "The Centaur.")

I liked the January 30 "Rabbit at rest" posting on Updike on the website www.getreligion.org and this quote from a fine piece on him by the PBS television program, "Religion & Ethics Newsweekly:"

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"But for the best discussion of Updike’s religious views, head over to PBS’ Religion & Ethics Newsweekly. They provide an intimate look at Updike’s religious life, based on his public lectures and writing:

"While much of his earlier work contains traces of Updike’s furious immersion in Christian theology, he said he looked more to the congregation of his hometown Massachusetts church as the rock of his faith today.

"“When I haven’t been to church in a couple of Sundays I begin to hunger for it and need to be there,” he said, standing at a podium in front of the altar, against a backdrop of Byzantine-style mosaics and dressed in a gray suit befitting one of America’s elder statesmen of letters. “It’s not just the words, the sacraments. It’s the company of other people, who show up and pledge themselves to an invisible entity.”

"As a young man studying at Oxford in the mid-1950s, Updike said he devoured new translations of Soren Kierkegaard at Blackwell’s bookstore, discovering him “so positive and fierce and strikingly intelligent, like finding an older brother I didn’t know I had.” He pointed to his classic character Harry Angstrom, of the Rabbit tetralogy, as an example of the Danish philosopher’s influence. The Swiss neo-orthodox theologian Karl Barth informed another character in the first book of the series, the Lutheran minister Fritz Kruppenbach, who faces off with an Episcopal priest in a scene Updike chose to read. Upon going to Kruppenbach’s house to discuss Rabbit’s desertion of his family, Rev. Eccles is treated to a diatribe against meddling in others’ affairs. Kruppenbach sounds like a stand-in for Barth himself.

"“When on Sunday morning then, when we go before their faces, we must walk up not worn out with misery but full of Christ,” he tells a disconcerted Eccles. “Make no mistake. There is nothing but Christ for us. All the rest, all this decency and busyness, is nothing.....”

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There is nothing but Christ for us. Amen.

The folks in Berks County, Pennsylvania are writing a history of Boy Scouting there. One of the pieces of that history that they are using in this book is my 1967 participation in the Scouting "Report to the Nation" recognition. The Sunday, January 25, 2009 "Reading Eagle/Times" newspaper used a photo of my time with US President Johnson in 1967 and a 2008 photo (young guy/old guy) to talk about the coming book (and solicit other stories for it). The article is online at http://www.readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=122773 .

My wife, Kris, and I are hosting a trip to Jordan, Israel and Palestine. The dates are February 8 - 18, 2010. The pdf of our trip brochure is online at www.trinitylansdale.com/pdfs/holyland.pdf . While many of those on the trip will be from my congreation, others are welcome to join us.

Two of my most recent sermons at Trinity Lutheran Church in Lansdale give a "window into my soul:"

On the weekend of July 26/27, I preached a sermon called "God is Good, All the Time; All the Time, God is Good" and spoke about my journey from Chicago to Lansdale in 2005 & 2006. You can read that sermon online at www.trinitylansdale.com/sermons/20080726-27ecs.pdf .

More recently, on Holy Cross Day weekend, September 13/14, I preached on "John 3:16 and John 3:17" and reflected on my experiences on and immediately after September 11, 2001. You can read that sermon online at www.trinitylansdale.com/sermons/20080913-14ecs.pdf .

My sermons are also available on video on our website, www.trinitylansdale.com, although these are not saved beyond several weeks.

This past weekend Trinity celebrated marriage recognition for those member couples who are marking one year or less of marriage and those marking 50 years or more in 2008.

We added honoring those married one year or less last year and this year had a separate dinner for them at the parsonage on Saturday evening after worship. 30 couples were invited and three were able to attend. It was a very nice evening.

A longer Trinity tradition is honoring those couples married for 50 years or more with a dinner following the 11:00 a.m. worship service. Trinity has 113 such couples in 2008 including 15 celebrating 50 years of marriage this year and 6 celebrating 60. The longest married couple here has been married for 69 years. If you add all of the 113 couples years of marriage together the total married years is 6,337! About 135 attended this year's dinner.

Ten of the 15 couples celebrating 50 years of marriage were with us on Sunday as well as four of the 6 celebrating 60 years of marriage. The longest-married couple in attendance have been married for 65 years this year.

We honored all of the couples during the announcements before the 11:00 a.m. service with special mention of the 50/60 year couples. Then, all of those celebrating 50 or more years of marriage were invited to a dinner in Hyson Hall after worship. Those celebrating 50/60 years were invited to bring along family members and were photographed for our "Lansdale Lutheran" newsletter.

This is not an easy day for our members who have lost a spouse either recently or long ago. Many of our widows and widowers stay away on this Sunday. I tried to address this in the announcements, as we were honoring those long-time married folks who were present, when I said, "As we honor these members we are fully aware that there are many in our congregation who have lost spouses who would be celebrating 50 years or more together if death had not parted them. With you, we remember our loved ones fondly today." This was especially important since our 11:00 a.m. service announcements are heard live on the radio by many who have lost a spouse, I'm sure.

After the dinner, Pastor Tiemeyer and I led an informal program and moved about Hyson Hall with a microphone asking questions. I asked the 65 year married couple for their advise on long-time marriage and they said "patience." A number of these folks (anyone married here more than 52 or 53 years ago) were married in the "old" Trinity church building on East Main Street. Two couples noted that, while they were married at the "new" Trinity church building on West Main Street, their reception was back in the basement of the "old" building on East Main Street. We asked for any "how we met" or "first date" stories and heard some cute stories including one, told by the husband, that his wife-to-be was so excited to be on a first date with him that she couldn't eat her hot dog meal. Pastor Tiemeyer asked how many grew up attending "Luther League" and about one-third of those present responded. When I asked how many had attended church camp, only three hands went up.

A wonderful day to celebrate marriage!

Our congregation was honored to host the funeral service for the Rev. Dr. John "Jack" H.P. Reumann last Thursday, June 12th. Dr. Reumann died on June 6th. His father, Paul, was the visionary pastor who brought Trinity from its "downtown" Lansdale East Main Street location to our current West Main Street location in the 1950's. Jack grew up in our congregation and he and his wife, Martha, were married here in 1958.

The service was wonderful, full of the Gospel, stories, music and singing. Jack & Martha's pastor, John Saraka (Christ-Ascension Chestnut Hill/Philadelphia) presided and Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod Bishop Claire S. Burkat preached. Mark Mummert from the Philadelphia Seminary staff was the guest organist and led a choir of pastors and spouses. There were probably nearly 500 people present, many of whom were Jack's former students.

Six colleagues/friends shared "selected reflections:" Phil Krey (Philadelphia Seminary president), Foster McCurley (former seminary faculty colleague), Wally Taylor (former student, now Trinity Seminary professor), Peter Pettit (former student, now director of Muhlenberg College's Institute for Jewish-Christian Understanding), Joe Fitzmyer (former professor, Catholic U of America and member of the Lutheran-Roman Catholic dialogue team), and Lowell Almen (former secretary, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America). Lowell also represented ELCA Presiding Bishop Mark S. Hanson. I saw five bishops in the congregation plus Muhlenberg College President Randy Helm, among many others.

The service was followed by a reception in our Hyson Hall. The reception was catered by Philadelphia Seminary. After the reception, Jack's ashes were committed into Trinity's columbarium.

My contact with Dr. Reumann goes back to my days as a student at Muhlenberg College where Jack served many years on the Board of Directors. As one of the first two student representatives to the Board (with Blake Marles) I was welcomed warmly by Dr. Reumann. As many know, he and his wife, Martha, were noted for their hospitality to all.

My favorite Jack Reumann story is not well known, but tells something important about this man: In the early 1960's (before my years at Muhlenberg) Muhlenberg students regularly hosted famous and sometimes controversial speakers for all-college assemblies. One of these speakers was the "beat" poet, LeRoy Jones, who was noted for his graphic language. At the end of his presentation, Jones gave the audience the finger and repeated the "f" word three times.

This action, reported in the Allentown "Morning Call" newspaper, resulted in many calls in the Lehigh Valley (including a "Morning Call" editorial) for a crack down on speakers on the Muhlenberg campus. Somehow, Dr. Reumann and the Rev. Dr. Paul Empie (who later served as chair the the Muhlenberg Board while I was a trustee) were assigned the task of writing a new student speaker policy. Instead of coming back with a new policy that limited speech on campus, Empie and Reumann produced a policy that guaranteed campus free speech. And, somehow, they got this policy approved by the Board! It stands as Muhlenberg's free speech policy today.

Dr. John "Jack" H.P. Reumann - pastor, professor, scholar, leader AND champion of free speech!

It was my privilege to know Dr. Reumann and now is my privilege to serve in his "home congregation."

Eric