Lenten Meditation for Today : Still Grateful After all These Years
- Christ Episcopal Church
- Apr 8
- 2 min read
This is in memory of a gentleman to whom I reached out in faith in 1985. I will forever remember his kindness.
His name was Jacob, Father Jacob Beck. How lucky I was that, after hours, he was still in his office at St. Philip’s Episcopal Church in Laurel, where he was the interim rector. I called the church. Father Beck answered. I asked if possibly there was a Wednesday evening church service. “No, but I wish we had one.” I think he sensed a note of sadness in my voice when I told him that I had just finished graduate school and had moved from Georgia to start a new job; my wife Pam would not be able to join me for a few months. He invited me to get a hamburger at the Tavern, just across the street from the church. I accepted his offer, and spent a good two hours conversing with this kind man. I remember that I told him that I was having some difficulty getting accustomed to the faster pace of life I now had. “I think your problem is simple,” he said. “You miss your family.” He was so right.
I became a regular attendee, and Pam joined me in June. At her first service, Father Beck greeted her with “We’ve been waiting for you!”
Father Beck usually ended his services with this closing prayer:
Deep peace of the running wave to you
Deep peace of the flowing air to you
Deep peace of the quiet earth to you
Deep peace of the shining stars to you
Deep peace of the gentle night to you
Deep peace of Christ to you.
Deep peace to you, Father Beck (1933-2017).
~Shannon P.