Transitions in life

This evening I had a very difficult telephone conversation with a friend. He shared that today, 26 March 2022, he was now in hospice care. There is a problem with his aorta and he feels at his age there will not be an extensive lengthening of his life or quality of his life. Carl Uhler and I have been friends and colleagues since 1975 when I was called to Advent Lutheran Church in Cleveland, OH. He was the priest/pastor at St. Henry Roman Catholic Church. Both were in the Lee-Harvard area of the city. We were installed in our respective congregations within a week of each other. We were both in the Lee-Harvard-Miles ministerium and the Harvard Community Service Board. We became good friends. When we both had the same day off, we would go to his family cottage on Lake Cardinal in Rome, OH.  He had gone there since he was a teen-ager with his family. Carl is 91years old so that site had been in his life a long time. My visits continued to Lake Cardinal when I moved to Gettysburg. I would spend a few days each summer. In fact, very often I worked on articles or my Payne book while there. In the summer and fall Carl would come to Gettysburg. We traveled the Gettysburg and other nearby Civil War sites, museums in DC, etc. During my first sabbatical when I was doing research at the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, Carl came over to visit for a week and we walked the Paris streets and visited a number of museums and tourist sites. During our conversation this evening we talked about all of our adventures. They are good memories.

I must also say that although we were good friends, we had our differences. We had very heated theological discussions or should I say arguments. These "discussion" ranged from social issues to pastoral authority. Even though we each held strong theological positions, they were not friendship dividing. Carl was helpful to me in developing contemplative/spiritual life. He took time to read and reflect. The Breviary was his companion.

In our conversation this evening, Carl reminded me that we don't know how long the hospice process will be. We'll continue to talk. I write this blog to help me adjust to Carl's news. 

 

Catching Up

 A lot has happened since my last blog almost two months ago.
During May, I was in France. This trip was pleasurable in that I didn't have to rush around. Although I worked on a research project at the Société d'Histoire du Protestantisme Français, I also had time to visit friends (Maryvonne and Christian) in Erquy. For the past few years, we have been able to visit important historical and cultural sites in Brittany. As usual, I attended Parissoirée on two Sunday evenings. There was a tour group from Philadelphia at the gathering and two people from the group knew Lee Wesley, retired ELCA pastor who was the executive director of Lutheran Social Services in New York at his retirement. It is small world and even smaller Lutheran world. in addition, I was able to see a number of films. Thanks to my friend Yves, I bought a discount card for the M2K movie theatres. While I try to immerse myself into French life while there, I did have two highlights which involved Americans. At the beginning of the trip, I caught up with John Grimes (spouse of Dr. Barbara Ballard) who was in Paris for 4 days. We worshipped together at Notre Dame Cathedral one evening.

I always enjoy worship while in France: Notre Dame, Saint Sulpice, and L'Eglise des Billettes always uplift me while traveling. I was able to use my iPhone to record some of the glorious organ music

At the end of my trip, my cousin Larry and his wife Debbie arrived on my last full day in Paris. They were celebrating their 10th wedding anniversary with a trip to the French Open and then on to Italy. We has a great time walking down the Champs Elysées in the morning and dinner at Le Café Rendez-Vous in the 14th arrondissement. Although they live outside of Philadelphia, we rarely see each other so it was great to spend time together. My return was different in that I few from Paris to Belgium and then Belgium to Dulles International. It was a great flight over the Atlantic. I returned to the States on May 30. I hope I can return in the fall or winter.

I should also add that I limited my purchase of books in Paris. I only bought two works: Tempête by Le Clézio and L'Elixir d'Amour by Eric Emmanuel Schmidt.

This past weekend, family and friends gathered to celebrate our Aunt Dot's birthday. Ricky grilled a lot of meat. We had a grand time. I couldn't help thinking that the Strobert family is really shrinking.

This past Monday, I met a former colleague Duane Larson and his wife Joen for lunch at Bloomingdales. Duane was in New York for a conference. The last time I was with them was at dinner in Helsinki, Finland two years ago. I was also able to meet the owner (Phillip Masson) of La Grenouille on E. 52 street in Manhattan. He lives between New York and Erquy, France. He knew Henri Reyntjes so I wanted to meet him. He is always in New York when I am in Erquy. It was nice to make the connection.

My return to Gettysburg today was uneventful in terms of traffic. I took my sister to work at Bergen Community College and continued on from there for Gettysburg. It is always  great to be in New York with family, however, it is an adjustment to return to G'burg.

More later.