Saturday, October 16
Remembering Edna…
For over 20 years I have been making trips to New York City to work with a church in Queens. It was originally known as the Jamaica Avenue Church of Christ and now as Hollis Community Church. In these 20 years or so I’ve probably made 15-20 trips to be with the folks there.
Many were weeklong trips where I took a group with me, some were longer, some shorter, and lately, most have been with just my family.
Throughout the years, the people from the church there have become family. I can easily say they are my home church. (That, of course, doesn’t negate my real home church in Indiana. You know what I mean) We have witnessed each other’s kids growing up, seen people move in and move away (Usually ‘in’ from Jamaica and ‘out’ to Florida). I think the church was around 40 people or so when I came so many years ago, and I think it’s still around that number.
I’ve especially gotten close to the Taylor family. Roy and Edna started the church there in Queens, (through what at the time was Go Ye Chapel ministries, and is now Orchard Group) a long time ago. I’ve stayed in their home time and time again, and have become extremely close with some of their family: daughters Jackie, Karen, Betty, son-in-law Franklin, and grandchildren Jordanna and Ethan. I’ve learned to love Jerk Chicken while staying at the Taylors, learned to tolerate eating goat, understood the greater strategies of dominoes and my family and I have spent many a nights staying up late and laughing til we cry telling stories together.Edna passed away this past week. Here funeral is today, this morning actually the service is going on while I write. I grieve deeply the loss of Edna as well as the fact that I was not able to find a way to be there with everyone to grieve, remember and celebrate her life.
The strongest memory I have of Edna was one of the first times I was in NYC and we were leading worship at the church, and in the middle of the service Edna passed a note she had scribbled something on through the crowd and up to the front of the church. It was given to me in between songs and it read: “Could we sing the song Mt. Zion again?” She loved that polka-sounding little song. So we sang it again, and again, and again: “If you miss me from singing down here, and you can’t find me nowhere, come on up to Mt. Zion, I’ll be singing up there…” For 20 some years we’ve been singing that song with Edna…
Well on this day that Edna will be laid to rest…’we miss you Edna, and we can’t find you nowhere…’
Mark Nelson at 9:32 AM 0comments