It is the third day of the new year and the 10th day of Christmas. On this rainy day in Gettysburg, I find it a good time to reflect on the season and the beginning of 2015. As usual, the Christmas holiday was spent in Brooklyn, New York, where I stayed with my sister and brother-in-law. I presided at the Christmas Eve liturgy at Epiphany Lutheran where I grew up. I find it comforting to return to my familial and spiritual roots. This holiday was different in that one of my aunts had surgery on Christmas day so could not come to the house for dinner with my uncle. My other aunt (the oldest in the Strobert family) decided to stay at home, so we took dinner to her. It is always a delight to visit our cousin Ricky and his family. We had dinner there this last Thanksgiving. Their sons are really young men now, 23 and 19 years old. Time really goes rapidly.
A few days after Christmas, a good friend, Salud Nieting died from cancer. She was such a gracious person and fine host. Her late husband (Lorenz) was one of my New Testament professors when I was a student at Gettysburg. When I returned to the faculty, he was my colleague. My last formal dinner as a student was at the Nieting's before I left for my first call in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. Salud along with Lisa Leber (a former advisee and now pastor) gave me a retirement party which was held at Salud's. Another pleasant memory for me was the time when I met Salud and Lorenz in Paris. They were celebrating a wedding anniversary, I was giving a paper at the Sorbonne. We met in front of Notre Dame, had lunch in and walked around the Latin Quarter. Rest in Peace, Salud.
This season was the first time without receiving a Christmas letter from Kathleen Gahagen, pastor in Buffalo, New York. She died this past year but her father, Robert Gahagen remembered her words and presence in his Christmas Eve sermon at Epiphany. It was the same sense of loss with the Pasqual family upon the death of Morris Pasqual, husband, father, grand-father, and great grand-father. He and his wife Gloria, raised 6 children who continue to be good, responsible, and professional people.
My health continues to bother me but I'm going to keep going until the time I'm not able to travel and get around has freely. I'll be leaving for Paris this month for a couple of weeks. It will be good to be in the city of lights while I work on an article that centers around Paris and two African American visitors to the city in the 19th century. For some reason I get inspired and creative when I'm in Paris. I'll stay at the same apartment complex as the last two times in the 15th arrondissement. During my time there, I'll take a couple of days to go to Amsterdam where I will meet my colleague and friend, Brooks Schramm. He is on sabbatical and doing research and writing in Emden Germany. Hopefully, I can visit the church where the meeting of the Evangelical Alliance was held in 1867. Daniel Payne was there. When I was working on my Payne book, I went there to take pictures, however, it was closed due to renovations. I want to take some interior photos as I work on a PowerPoint presentation of Payne in Europe.
As the new year begins, I hope to complete my book of essays on Martin Luther King, Jr. and complete the article. In March, I will be teaching "Multicultural Religious Education" as part of the Christian Education seminar at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. I look forward to the academic involvement. At the same time, I look forward to continuing my involvement with the Adams County Adult Literacy Council as a tutor. These students are really committed to learning!
If you read this issue of my blog, I pray that you have a glorious New Year 2015.
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