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Murph K.'s avatar

For the last year, my father, a retired Lutheran pastor, has been locked down in skilled nursing several states away. Early in the pandemic, we got him a Facebook Portal, and I'd have near daily visits with him. He has a rapid-onset dementia, and it's been increasingly difficult for him to form words.

A few months ago, he hummed a few notes--and I discerned the hymn "Beautiful Savior." I asked if he'd like to sing that, and he nodded his head. While he can't speak hardly at all, he can yet sing--and he sang like an angel. Now, a few times a week, I will sing a hymn with him. And while our relationship has been fractured and broken most of my life, singing with my dad, whose memory and speech are shot, has given me the grace to forgive him and see him as a child of God.

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Kelly Bowers's avatar

"Why Christian"...Durham NC...March 2018...the Eucharist on Sunday...and that cathedral full of people singing in simple beautiful harmony...and we *were* the Church and we *were* the Faithful and singing in the midst of that was transcendent. I would give much, so much, to experience that simple joy again.

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