Along the Graybeard Trail

This happened today:

Family members, friends from St. Andrew Presbyterian Church, Ghost Ranch, Rio Grande Food Project, the Presbytery of Santa Fe, and life its own self, gathered at St. Andrew to celebrate the life and faith and witness of the Rev. Carl Soderbergh today.

The streets around the church were parked full when I arrived, a few minutes late. I found a spot in the parking lot.

I stepped out of the car and, for no reason I could understand at the time,  a hymn came to my mind. “Eternal Father, Strong to Save“. Those first words need some work, but the overall theme of God’s protection is profound. One of many themes appropriate for a memorial service.

The words played in my mind as long as I could remember them. When memory failed, I hummed the tune.

Alex greeted me and observed that the sanctuary was full and the service had started. He showed me to a seat in the narthex.

The first thing I heard was the pastor, son Eric, telling the congregation that a team from the Coast Guard would present honors in recognition of Carl’s service. Neither I nor the people sitting with me, knew that Carl had served. The hymn I “heard and hummed” on my way into church seemed appropriate for this particular memorial service.

The closing hymn? “Eternal Father, Strong to Save. Straining to see the screen where the words were projected, I mumbled and hummed along.

On my way home, the hymn remained an earworm. I quickly went to the computer and pulled up the lyrics

And I rewrote the hymn’s fourth verse into a prayer for Iran, Israel, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Saudia Arabia, Iraq, the United States, and any other countries affected by the madness of this armed conflict – which may be most of the countries of the world.

O Trinity of love and pow’r,
All people shield in danger’s hour;
From bomb and missile, death and woe,
Protect all where-soe’er they go;
O hear us when we cry to Thee
For those in peril on land, in air, on sea.

Amen.