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Showing posts with the label Funeral

Jim, Can You Hear Me?

(This week was my brother's birthday. This is for him.) The weeks have scurried on and turned into months now and still you are gone, but, here as well. There are remembrances of you, photos, emails, and memorials, both small and large. Your voice is in my memory and now and then I hear you speak, recalling old phone conversations where together we cursed politicians, phony preachers, a sleeping church, and, where we replayed the last major golf tournament, Tiger’s life collapse, Phil’s implausible shot, Rory’s power swing, and Spieth’s relentless grit and skills. We grieved Mom’s difficult life, Dad’s mysterious remoteness, and our own flaws and foibles and foolishness. And, there is your laughter, still floating in my consciousness; a laugh that drew you up, shoulders raised, head lifted, eyes closed, a sort of breathless moment of immobility, slow motion seconds of you drinking in great gobs of elation and jubilance ending in coug...

A Eulogy

Note: This is the eulogy I delivered at my brother Jim's funeral, Tuesday, February 28, 2017 In Memoriam Rev. James C. Moody August 7, 1956 – February 24, 2017 Jim loved the movies. There was nothing he enjoyed more than sitting in a dark theater watching a great movie, with a bag of popcorn, a soda, some cheese nachos, a slice of pizza, a hot dog with chili and jalapeños, and a big candy bar. Going to a movie was like a family reunion for him. It was a meal. An event. He didn’t just watch movies, he looked for insights from them, for life lessons that he carried into his ministry, his preaching, and his own living. That’s what movies are supposed to do—teach us, move us, transform us—take us out of our lives for a couple of hours and then put us back in them wiser and more human.  Come to think of it, that is what church is supposed to do, as well. Jim understood that. We had a debate over the movie “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.” It’s one of my favorites. Aud...

Reflections on Dr. E.W. Mince: September 12, 1925-December 24, 2011

Memorial Reflections Dr. E.W. Mince December 27, 2011 There is that well known passage in the Old Testament where the writer speaks of the seasons of life: To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven: A time to be born, And a time to die; A time to plant, And a time to harvest what is planted; A time to make war, And a time to heal from war; A time to tear down, And a time to build up; A time to weep, And a time to laugh; A time to mourn, And a time to celebrate; A time to cast away stones, And a time to gather stones; A time to embrace, And a time to refrain from embracing; A time to gain, And a time to lose; A time to keep, And a time to throw away; A time to pull apart, And a time to sew together; A time to keep silence, And a time to speak; A time to love, And a time to not love; A time of war, And a time of peace.[1] Dr. Mince understood and accepted the cycles of life. He was a seasonal man. He knew how to transi...