His Daughter Said, part 1
Nobody around me checked the time, and neither did I.
[Note: Friend, colleague, and unappointed mentor, The Rev. Dr. R. Paul Sims, died Sunday, June 3rd. His service was Monday, June 11, and it was a powerful combination of liturgical correctness and, well, we had church. Several elements of from that time bear repeating here. For example:]
We’d all sung.
The choir and the pipe organ had moved the back wall of the sanctuary a bit with their power.
Traditional United Methodist liturgy had been employed to say what we couldn’t otherwise formulate.
Two preachers and a Rotary Club President had all three already spoken.
Then the Order of Worship indicated “Message from Family” by “Carol Sims – Daughter.”
She hit a grand slam home run!
Carol had us laughing and crying as we simultaneously celebrated and missed Paul Sims.
Noting his insistence on punctuality and that this had become a well-over-an-hour service, his daughter said,
“Dad,
I’m the last one
at the microphone,
and
you
didn’t live a
59-minute life.”
What an image! May the same be said of you and me.