Winsor

"Suffering produces endurance." I met Winsor several years ago. I was summoned to his bedside in the hospital; his son and daughter-in-law didn't think he'd make it that time. After I prayed with him, his response was that had nobody had ever prayed over him. But next thing that came out of his mouth was this: "If I get through this surgery, I'll be in church on Sunday." Well, he did, he was, and he never left. Third pew from the back on the south side of the sanctuary, aisle seat, was where he and his wife Joan hung out to worship. I had the honor of baptizing Winsor, age 74, this past Mother's Day along with his wife Joan and son Sam. I used plenty of water--I wanted to make sure that Winsor never forgot it! "Winsor, child of God," I said as I made the sign of the cross on his forehead. "Suffering produces endurance."

"Endurance produces character. Winsor was a fighter. After his last surgery, he wound up in the ICU. He was there for a week or so; each time I went to see him I thought it was the last. But one day, I stopped at the information desk only to be told that he had been transferred out of the ICU to the orthopedic wing. When I walked into his room, he was sitting up eating chocolate ice cream with a smirk on his face. "Endurance produces character."

Winsor liked to tease me. As he was leaving church one Sunday, he towered over me and looked down at the top of my head. "Pastor Nancy, you'se gettin awful gray!" he exclaimed! But I was particularly touched the time after my foot surgery that he limped forward to where I was sitting to greet me during the worship surface, even after the congregation was seated and the music had begun. He ordinarily didn't leave us pew--indeed, I was touched. Winsor took his church membership seriously, attending all the church events, even the women's Sewing Bee. But most of all, Winsor's pew never got cold even though it was a twenty mile drive for him to get to church!

"Character produces hope." The last time I saw Winsor, I walked over to his bed and invited him to hold my hand. He struggled to pull it out from under the covers and then he squeezed it as hard as he could. When he couldn't squeeze anymore, I put my hand on his head and blessed him. He heard me say "amen," and responded softly "amen." Winsor died peacefully the next day surrounded by his family. It happened to be All Saints' Day. "Character produces hope."

"Hope does not disappoint us." And so we can live with the assurance that death cannot take us from life with God. For that's what eternal life is all about. And it starts here and now with the promise of the resurrection. "Hope does not disappoint us."

It's hard for me to say goodbye to Winsor. He touched my heart in a very special way, but now it is time to commend Winsor to God's grace-filled care, in the faith of Christ our Lord who died and rose again to save us, and who now lives and reigns with us and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
(Scripture quotations from Romans 5:3-5)