“I Thank God Everytime I Remember
You…” Unadilla 200th
Anniversary
[Ring, Ring! Pick up telephone.]
Hello—Thanksgiving Department—Thanks for calling! Angel 1st Class Butterball speaking.
[pause to listen]
Well, hello Perkins! It has been a long time
[pause]
Yes, I was Angel 4th Class the first time you called. Can you believe that was 45 years ago? So to what do I owe the pleasure of hearing the voice of my favorite harp-plucker in the Communications department?
[pause]
I see, the Unadilla Presbyterian
Church is celebrating its 200th Anniversary and they asked Thyren to
share three minutes of memories. Like that could ever happen! His six plus years only amount to three
percent of the church’s history, but he couldn’t finish one of his stories in
three minutes.
[pause]
Let me get this right. You’re
asking me to help organize his memories so he doesn’t blather on too long. Once again you have presented me with a
challenge. But you know, The Unadilla Presbyterian Church is often among his
last thoughts at night and his first in the morning.
[pause]
What’s that about? Well, once
upon a time when the basement below the choir loft was being cleaned out, he
came away with some pieces of old pine pews, and, long story short, he made of
them a headboard for their king-size bed.
[pause]
Yes, he likes to say “church people slept in those pews for a hundred years, now it’s my turn!”
[pause]
Follow that up with some of the
personal memories he’s thankful for.
[pause] Yes, the surprise of a full refrigerator and stocked kitchen cabinets on the day he and Jan pulled the U-Haul truck into town. Building a cradle with Jim Ludwig’s tools and patient guidance; bringing two baby girls home from The Hospital* to sleep in it. A hot summer afternoon stacking hay bales with the Chambers brothers. Shooting the breeze and feeding the grain in Dave Johnson’s milking parlor. Afternoons sailing across Buckhorn Lake on a Sailfish. Plowing snow in Alton Clark’s rattletrap International Scout with the doors flying open on every pass. Better stop there.
[pause]
Yes, move on to his gratitude
tied to ministry. All the firsts: first wedding, first baptism, first funeral,
first confirmation class, first fundraising supper, first computer, first encounters with
someone needing food or shelter or a Salvation Army bus ticket. First
criticism: The scolding note from a church lady offended by the sermon title,
“Keep it Light and Salty.”
[pause]
That’s right, you can’t please everybody!
Perkins, be sure he tells some of the memories he cherishes: Sitting with Ezra
Judd and listening to stories from his time in the trenches in France during
World War I. Heating up a can of soup
for an elderly widower who was not feeling well before taking him to The Hospital. Listening to Nancy Jones
remind Sunday School teachers “we are teaching children, not curriculum.”
Howard Russell singing “Thy will be done, Lord.”
[pause]
Yes, Perkins, he has often said
what a blessing it was to be in Unadilla and East Guilford, and how much he
learned as a young pastor. In addition
to the lessons taught by the congregation, he benefited from the insights of
two retired pastors who lived in town, colleagues in the Presbytery, and two local
funeral directors also named Jim.
[pause]
Yes, he appreciated the church’s
patience with sermons presented as an athletic coach, or all three characters
of the Prodigal Son story, or an angel on the telephone of all things.
[pause]
Good idea, Perkins…end with the
Apostle Paul’s opening words to the Philippians:
“I thank my God every time I remember you…” And I do!
*The hospital in Sidney, New York was literally named The Hospital!
.JPG)
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