Sept 27, 2019              Deb Matthews                                     

             Deb Matthews passed away on Sept 21, 2019 

         The picture I have up on the screen is from a photo I took some 14 years ago. In the church at that time, we had a sculptor who had read Leo Buscaglia book “Love”. In the book, Leo describes a student in one of his classes, who suddenly stopped coming to class. This disturbed Leo, so that he went out in search of the student, only to find she had passed away. Along the way, he found that she had left a hole in the world, people who knew and loved her had experienced a loss that they did not know how to fill.

         The sculptor, took this idea to heart, and came up with this idea for a cross with a hole in it, a Jesus shaped hole, describing the loss the disciples must have felt when Jesus died upon the cross. Interestingly enough, on the day we put the cross up, I noticed the church steeple in the background, and took this picture, of the church filling the hole that Jesus left behind.

         Now I know that Deb wasn’t Jesus, and neither am I for that matter. But Deb’s sudden loss has indeed left a hole in our lives, and a significant one at that. If you read her obituary, you will see quite a list of accomplishments, 30 years playing organ and piano for Union Congregationgregational, 11 years teaching music at Somonauk School District, 30 years working for the Somonauk Post Office, coaching T-ball, softball, and soccer. She was a girl scout leader for 10 years, member of the Sunshine band, active in the Indian Valley Theatre, active in the American Pool players, pianist and director for the Somonauk community choir, State Chaplain for her union for 25 years, Secretary-Treasurer for the DeKalb county RLCA, and a National Delegate for her state.

         And it is more than just a list of accomplishments that we will miss about her, it will be about who she was. In my two year and a half years that I knew her, she could be thoughtful, patient, kind and gave of herself to others. She cared not only about people she knew, but people she didn’t know who were suffering. She attended a number of church association meetings as our church moderator with me, and was engaged and involved in them. She was very patriotic and very Christian in the way she looked at the world.

         Our church members will miss her leadership, serving as moderator, on the trustees, collecting cans for the angel fund, starting the chime choir, faithfully serving as our organist and choir director, playing for any number of funerals and weddings, both here and at the nursing home. We will miss her laugh, and sense of humor, her gathering us for meals on Wednesdays at Rambo’s, her faithfulness to friends and family, and companionship, shown even to new comers. In fact, one couple that has joined us recently as they sort out their mother’s estate, told me the reason they kept coming back was Deb, who got their number, called them regularly, and made them feel welcome here.

         Now I realize that Deb had her other moments, we all do, but in this time of mourning her loss, we as Christians choose to focus on the blessings that God has given us in the life of Deb Matthews, because it is these blessing that lead us to life. In fact, that is the truth of our human existence, that set of behaviors that give life to ourselves and to one another, that set of behaviors that have been revealed us in Jesus Christ!

         And so, back to my picture, as I noted above, I noticed the church steeple in the background, filling in the hole left by Jesus. Jesus left us the church, as a place for us to not only hear about the good news, but to practice it with one another. After being a minister for 30 years, I know there are some troublesome people in churches, but they are far outweighed by the truly wonderful people you will meet. People who will be a blessing to you, people who will give you life, people who will fill in the hole left by lost loved ones. Deb was one of those people, a disciple of Jesus Christ, and while we feel a sense of loss at her passing, the angels in heaven are rejoicing at her presence among them, and one day too, as Jesus says, we will rejoice as well in the blessing God gave us in Deb Matthews.