“Now it is high time to
awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we
believed.” Romans 13:11
I walked down the street from the
hospital with my faith renewed, full of joy, grateful to be a priest. I had been called in a few hours earlier
because Gertrude Worrall, my oldest parishioner, had reached the end. She was 98, baptized at Christ Church when
William Howard Taft was president, a saintly woman, greatly loved by her
family. They had surrounded her in the
hospital room, four or five generations of them. We’d prayed and sang hymns together. There was laughter and tears, and she was
delighted by all of it until she slipped peacefully away. It may sound very odd if you haven’t seen
one, but there are beautiful deaths, and sometimes, as a priest, I’m invited to
be part of them.
I was walking a few inches above the
sidewalk as I made my way back to the church to put away my stole and the
communion kit. And I decided this would
be just the moment to expand the use of the passing bell at Christ Church.
