By Rev. Dr. Keith Russell
Letter from the Editor reflecting on the life of E. Lee Hancock.
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Battell Chapel, June 6, 2010
Texts: Psalm 31:3-5, 9-11, 14-17a; Matthew 6:25-34
In the oft-quoted phrase of British novelist Leslie Hartley, “The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.” Reunions, like anniversaries and other occasions of remembrance, enable us to travel to that foreign country. My mind, for instance, travels to past times in this very sanctuary when I was inspired by the great preacher George Buttrick, challenged by the towering theologian Paul Tillich, and prodded by William Sloane Coffin – university pastor, preacher, and prophet. My debt to Battell Chapel’s ministry is enormous, which makes this opportunity to share with you all the more special.
Our reunion-ing of the past week has been a rich experience. Much of that which had been dis-membered by the inevitable passage of time has been re-membered. We delighted
Much delight, yes, and for this we are profoundly grateful to God. But if you’re like me, this week may also have reunited you with something else.
My awareness of a certain nagging undercurrent was shaped the other week by a visit with a dear friend just before her potentially life-threatening surgery. “George,” she said, “ I feel my life is so incomplete. So many things I’ve started are left hanging.”
At this reunion time I have felt within myself, alongside great gratitude and joy, a sense of incompleteness and an undercurrent of sadness. What first comes to mind are the broken ties to the many of our classmates who we remembered in beautiful memorial services right here, and whose names are listed in the bulletin. Of my class, over 160 out of about 1000 have died.
Further, for all the great things about my student days at Yale, my educational experience feels incomplete. I lament what it was not — the courses I didn’t take, the great professors I never got to learn from. And what we did work so hard to learn can be so dated now. Do you ever think about what your education has not been? Read the full story »
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