Paulette and I enjoy watching Antiques Roadshow. One of the more interesting items we’ve seen was an ancestral Civil War letter written home from a military hospital. Apparently, many people have Civil War letters, but this one was special, because it was written on behalf of the soldier by Walt Whitman. Letters to and from home were desperately important to the patients, but many could not write them themselves, either because of their wounds or because of being illiterate. Whitman volunteered as an aide, and in addition to tending to medical needs, he would serve as a scribe. Many volunteered as scribes, including the author Louisa May Alcott (Little Women), and I didn’t learn until recently that President Lincoln’s wife Mary did so also. She would often visit military hospitals, bringing the young men flowers from the White House gardens to help with the hospital smells. While there she would sit and write letters for the patients. One young man only learned who she was after his family wrote back asking about his visit with Mrs Lincoln. Poignantly, in the case of the Whitman lettet, the young soldier died a little over a week after the letter was written.

One of the many sad things associated with the COVID-19 pandemic has been the difficulty in communicating with Loved ones who are in nursing homes. Locally, the wife of one of my friends is in a nursing home due to memory problems, and the only contact he has had with her has been weekly window visits. He stands on the ground outside the window and tries to talk with her over the phone. I am also touched by a second case. Maxine was my mother’s best friend, and since Mom’s death in 1978, Maxine had sent me two loving notes each year, on my birthday and at Christmas. This past Monday, Maxine celebrated her 98th birthday. Maxine is completely cogent, but these past months she has had to be in a nursing home due to injuries from a fall. Maxine’s daughter Bonnie lives nearby and has been a faithful visitor, albeit through the window. Maxine’s hearing is too poor to use a phone, so Bonnie has been using handwritten cue cards to communicate, much like the silent suitor in the movie, Love Actually. I wish I could see Bonnie with her cue cards. There are many other moving stories, and you can find Many online.

Joy Lutheran Church has resumed in-person services, but due to our ages, underlying conditions, and Florida’s extremely high ambient infection rate, Paulette and I have felt that it is too dangerous for us to attend. Instead, we have faithfully attended Joy’s Facebook couch church. It has helped us worship, but it is not the same as being there. Part of going to church is the fellowship and communication with other Christians, which we have greatly missed. Paul at times must have felt the same way, for in Romans 1:11-12 he says, “For I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you, that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith.”

These are hard times, but it helps to remember God’s unconditional love for you and me.

Jim