Mom

Yesterday (January 11), as I was preparing for my small group, I broke out my guitar and started playing “In Christ Alone,” the brilliant song from Keith Getty and Stuart Townend. It’s simple enough to play on guitar. The chords are easy. But it’s the words that always get to me.  And yesterday I more deeply realized the elegance of this musical statement of faith; in fact, I’m thinking of using it as our corporate “Confession of Faith” in an upcoming worship service.

“In Christ alone my hope is found; He is my light, my strength, my song;
This cornerstone, this solid ground, Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.
What heights of love, what depths of peace, 

When fears are stilled, when strivings cease!
My comforter, my all in all— Here in the love of Christ I stand.”

A few minutes after I was done working on the song, my phone rang. It was my brother, and he delivered the news that Susie and I had known was imminent. My mother, at age 93, had died.

Patricia Enoch was one tough woman. Not tough with other people, but just tough when it came to her personal circumstances. Maybe it was her upbringing of struggling through the deep poverty of Spokane during the depression that set her resolve, but the years since my father’s death in 2004 were not kind to her physically. She sacrificed her knees caring for dad, and her general health after his passing did not allow her to have the replacements she had needed for years.   Add a broken hip into the mix and her mobility became difficult, but that rarely stopped her. 

           

Deafness and blindness eventually took their toll, although I was still able to hold a brief conversation with her a week and a half ago over the phone.  She had been terribly ill for several months, and under hospice care since August. And heartbroken since Sept.1 when my sister died. I’m indebted to my brother Steve and his wife Kris, for all the care and help they have been to her, first in Sacramento, and in recent years, Bozeman.

Needless to say, I have many, many memories flowing through my brain at this time.  But one keeps floating to the top. After my father died, my mother approached me about being baptized. She never had been, and she decided it was time.

We had some deep talks about Jesus first; I made her join a church near where she was living in Beaumont, CA, and in June 2004 I was invited to preach…and baptize her in a service at her church. At age 80.

She is not the oldest person I have baptized, but she was the only one that was my mother. And I had that privilege.

When I last saw my mother at the end of October, we talked more about Jesus. Deep…and trusting. I can say that I believe she is with him now….

When I led our small group in singing “In Christ Alone” last night, the words became even more poignant for me….

“No guilt in life, no fear in death— This is the pow’r of Christ in me;

From life’s first cry to final breath, Jesus commands my destiny.

No pow’r of hell, no scheme of man, Can ever pluck me from His hand;

            Till He returns or calls me home— Here in the pow’r of Christ I’ll stand.”

Amen.

Bye mom.  I love you.

-Chris

Click here to listen to "In Christ Alone"

"In Christ Alone" Words and Music by Keith Getty & Stuart Townend Copyright © 2001 Kingsway Thankyou Music