Stolpe Star 2020

 

Looking back at last year’s Stolpe Star, 2019 seemed to be a year filled with changes. By comparison the changes of 2020 almost seem to have been putting life on hold. We have been worshipping and fellowshipping with Milwaukee Mennonite Church and Meadowbrook Church on-line. David and Rachel and Elizabeth have been doing a lot of school on-line. The support programs we have enjoyed on Candy’s Alzheimer’s journey have been suspended: Mind Effects, Memory Cafe, Caregiver Support Group. We have not been able to visit Candy’s Dad, Charlie Miller, in Hart Park Square, the senior residence where he lives, but I do get him out for essentials such as doctor visits. 

Nevertheless, life does not stand still. Leanne and Jon downsized into a new house in Schwenksville, Pennsylvania. Sam did start as a freshman at Goshen College in Indiana. Hannah graduated from Messiah College and has begun teaching high school Spanish in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. Elizabeth is in 8th grade at Wauwatosa Montessori School, and Isaac is a junior at Grove City College in Pennsylvania. I have begun writing devotionals for the Guideposts publication Strength and Grace: Devotionals for Caregivers. We are still deciding if Erik and Juno will visit for Christmas from Dallas, where he continues as Director of Music for the School of Rock. 

How much we need the Advent lessons of constructive waiting in 2020! In the Lectionary Epistle lesson for the first Sunday of Advent from 2 Peter 3:8 we read, “with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day.” In my Psalms prayers on November 30, the first weekday of Advent 2020, I realized this was an echo of Psalm 90:4. “A thousand years in your sight are like yesterday when it is past, or like a watch in the night.” As long as 2020 seems to have been, the waiting will certainly persist into 2021, when passed will be a mere watch in the night.

Perhaps all of 2020 can be an Advent of constructive waiting. Perhaps as we await the celebration of the coming of the Prince of Peace, we see ourselves as his agent of peace in our time, living now into the peace the angels announced at his birth. “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!” (Luke 2:14)

Merry Christmas!

Norm and Candy too

Marching Down Our Street

Last night (August 13, 2020) a Black Lives Matter march came down our street about 9:30 while Candy and I were on our front porch playing our evening game. Those who were marching were in straight rows and columns “social distancing” with rhythmic chanting that kept everyone in step like a military drill squad. A number of cars followed the marchers. Monitors wearing identifiable vests walked alongside keeping everyone in good order. They were loud but orderly (no violence, vandalism, looting, or threats) and finished by 10:00 pm several blocks from us.

 Though our attention was distracted from our game, we did not feel threatened or inclined to retreat inside. Our delightfully diverse Washington Heights neighborhood was certainly a congenial setting. A number of neighbors came out to watch and after the marchers were gone, lingered for casual conversation. Many homes have a variety of signs sympathetic to racial justice and harmony, including the upscale ones on Hi Mount, Washington Blvd., and in Washington Highlands. Just an aside observation, not intended as political advocacy, walking and driving our neighborhood would give little clue to who is running against Joe Biden, except for one “anyone but Trump” sign on a lawn a couple of houses down from us. Obviously, our neighborhood is not typical of the US or even Wisconsin. I am very aware of the broad spectrum of political opinions among my family and friends.

 I am not offering this to change anyone’s mind about anything, but simply to acknowledge an out of the ordinary experience for us in our quiet neighborhood during our typically quiet couple time before retiring for the night.