…make this world a better place, if you can!

The New Year 2018 began and decided for some reason not to bring Larry Robinson along– at least not on “this side” of the journey.  Larry passed away on January 1 from a sudden heart attack.

Larry had been a member of Pilgrim for many years, and there are plenty of folks who knew him better and loved him longer than I…

But know him and love him I did.  Oh, how I loved Larry.

He called me Pastor.  He always hugged me when he walked by.  He knew my favorite song, and would sing it just for me.  He had a voice that all of us treasured, but he never made a fuss about it or acted difficult about singing.  He was the definition of grace.

One Sunday he sang a song that took me over the moon and back again.  “Reach out and touch somebody’s hand…”  He walked the aisles and touched hands as he sang.  It was glorious.  I asked him to sing that song again a few weeks later when I was officially installed at Pilgrim UCC.

He sang it, and smiled at me and made me feel like he was singing “just for me because I was special.”  And the amazing thing about Larry is that I think he made everyone else feel that way too– at the same time!  THAT was his gift!