Donovan’s “Ministry Memories” list is at the bottom of his introduction!
In the beginning there was a garden. That isn’t a faith statement. You only have to come home after two weeks away and discover the greetings of wildflowers growing in the crevices of your driveway. I fully expect that if they find life on other planets, it will probably be a dandelion. A garden is tenacious and will be here long after we are gone. Life will surely begin and end in a garden.
I am now sixty years old, having spent thirty years of my life serving three wonderful congregations. I write because I have been given the gift of a sabbatical at a time when my faith is at low ebb. COVID took a chunk out of me, along with everyone else. The Church often tells us to believe the words, so that we can say them. During the last few years, I found that I was saying the words with the hope of believing them. Believing comes by way of the Spirit, but often it also comes through others.
So I begin with words from Psalm 23: “The Lord is my Shepherd.” How has the Lord been my shepherd? I look back through my years of ministry and think of the people I have known and how they have led me through my life. These are people who have taken their faith seriously by living it out.
These stories are a garden of memories. I need to write them far more than you need to read them. But if you do read them, I will be grateful. What sower who sows the seed doesn’t long for the garden to be noticed? In the beginning there was a garden.
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Sadie
Sadie Webb | The Morganton Years Sadie Webb lived on the last road in Western North Carolina and then some. Her mailbox introduced me to her gravel drive, which lingered through the smell of tall pine trees, a display of black-eyed Susans, to the front porch, arriving at her smile. “Oh, come in! Sit down! Would you like some tea?” “Yes, thank you,” I said. Glasses rattled in the kitchen while I surveyed the pictures that covered her walls. I…
Mary, Bob, Bobbitt, & A Marine Named Harold
Mary | The Morganton Years One way to introduce Mary is by her occupation. Mary was the librarian at the state psychiatric hospital in Morganton, NC. Another way would be to introduce her by what she did for a living. Living is one of Mary’s specialties because she had outlived all her family. While having no family may make one quite sad and lonely, it led Mary to become very, very wealthy. When I met Mary, I was taken aback…
Claude And Miriam
Claude Russell | The Morganton Years In a nursing home in Valdese, NC, I met Claude Russell – white hair, white moustache and underneath the moustache a happy disposition. I introduced myself to him, and he snapped my picture with his Polaroid camera. We watched me develop. After I sat down, Claude told me he was a furniture salesman. He opened a scrapbook and pulled out an article entitled “The House That Furniture Built.” The article detailed “one of the…
Katherine
Katherine | The Morganton Years Because it is a tradition, folks in Morganton and the surrounding areas drive the looped road that is filled with Christmas stations. They are located on both sides of the road and feature manger scenes, frosty, the Star of David, the Grinch – you get the idea. When Michael was old enough and McKenzie wasn’t, Beth and I took him around the loop to see the lights. Michael doesn’t remember it, which is why I never…
Hank
Associate Pastor, FPC – Hank Shell | The Morganton Years At First Church Morganton, I was the Associate Pastor. One of the great perks was that it was a wonderful learning experience. For example, one Sunday I got up to lead the Responsive Call to Worship. “This is the day that the Lord has made,” I proclaimed. The congregation was supposed to respond, “Let us rejoice and be glad in it.” But I received silence, a very awkward silence. So,…
Duke & Irma
Duke & Irma Dell | The Morganton Years In a condo just off West Union Street lived a very retired Duke and Irma dell Mercer. Duke was a former furniture salesman who looked like he could have hung around with Frank, Dean and Sammy. Duke told stories that smelled like tobacco and usually came equipped with a punchline. Irma Dell looked like what the mind conjures up when you hear Irma Dell. She drove a ’67 mountain green Camaro. I…
P.P. & Anna Lee
P.P. & Anna Lee Henderson | The Morganton Years Anna Lee was the daughter of P.P. Henderson, who was ninety-nine years old when I met him. When P.P. was a boy, he grew up next door to Biltmore House, where he would climb over the fence and play with the Vanderbilt children. Later in life he became a professional boxer. I suppose that P.P. had a career after boxing, but for the life of me I can’t remember what it…
Grace
Grace Savage | The Morganton Years Grace Savage was skeptical of anything that came from north of the Mason Dixon Line. She had heard about me and welcomed me into her home for the interrogation. I sat at one end of her living room, and she sat at the other. Above her head were the six-foot long horns from a Texas Long Horn. She quizzed me on my theology. Why do bad things happen to good people? I passed my…
Beverley
Beverley McMurray | The Morganton Years Bob was ushering in church one Sunday, and Beverley was sitting in her usual seat against the back wall of the Narthex. Beverley turned to him and asked, “Do you think I’m odd?” Rather than answering right away, Bob walked to the other end of the Narthex to pick up more bulletins and then returned with his answer, “Damn right!” The next time Bob passed by, Beverley said, “I like you; you’re honest.” Bob…
Nelda
Nelda Maxwell | The Morganton Years “Here’s the church. Here’s the people. Open the doors and see all the people.” I love the Church, but who would have guessed that “all the people” come with so many names. While my mind is able to pull up the oldest Jeopardy questions without a hitch, my brain becomes panicked with names. It happens even with people I know very well. The tap shuts off; and until I relax, the names won’t come pouring in.…
Lillian (Mom)
Dandelions and Dreams We are young as field flowersThe first warm day of spring.Running to the top of hills,We gather thoughts and dandelions. Dreams fly, lighter than hours,Magnetized by sun shafts,Floating beyond our knowledge,They’re the hope of imagination. Laughter drowns in Spring showers.Wishes die in cold clay,Or pry from a wedge of earthIn birth of new flowers and dreams. – Lillian Drake (Mom)
MIssion Trip
Mission Trip | The Morganton Years After a ten-day mission trip, I had gotten all my youth group, except for one, through security at the Atlanta airport. John was still waiting in security, and I could see that, based on the face of the man behind the security scanner, a problem was developing. The belt had stopped, and he was looking intently at the screen. The man then waved another security official over. He reversed the belt, and both of…
Olin & Grace
Olin and Grace Villers | The Morganton Years Olin Villers was a tall and somewhat heavy man who sat near the pulpit, so that he could hear the preacher. Sitting close to him was his wife Grace, because, I suppose, that’s what they had always done. They would sit like it was Christmas Eve in a July sanctuary – hip to hip. Grace wore the hats of the 1940’s and 1950’s to worship and looked small next to her husband.…
Nate
Nate | The Morganton Years If Jesus and Nate had a feeding-of-the-crowds competition, Nate might have won. Nate was in the youth group that I attempted to lead. The particular evening of the feeding of the youth group was planned with a great deal of parental support. The Fellowship Hall was set up with three sets of tables. There was a table for two, which represented the richest people in the world. There was a table for five that represented those…
Alfred (Dad)
Alfred Edwin Drake – Dad | I was ordained and then installed as an Associate Pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Morganton, NC, on Sunday, July 19, 1992. The date happened to land on my mother’s birthday. My dad had the sermon for the service. He entitled it “Navigating by a Few Unseen Daytime Stars,” which was based on scripture and a poem entitled The Helmsman, written by W.S. Merwin. The poem is about two navigators who are on the same ship.…
Clippings / Ordination & Installation
Clippings – The Morganton Years I have an orange wheelbarrow that meanders through my garden. Years ago, I found it on the front porch of my home in Morganton. It was given to me by three friends – Michael, David and Scott. The three friends who were my age suffered through my rant. They were all on their way to being very successful. They were all making lots of money. They were all living in huge homes and driving cars…
Katherine | II
Katherine | The Morganton Years During the 1980’s, girls playing soccer in Morganton wasn’t a thought, so Katherine Wilson had a thought. She suited up and played with the boys. I’m not sure why I am telling you that, except to say that she was full of life. She was my “Yee-haw” girl in an earlier episode. She was Montreat. She was the summer-scene young one stretched out on the hood of her Suburban. She would fit perfectly in a…