Introduction
Every Sunday the pews in a local church hold people who come to worship. In the forty-three years I have been a pastor in the Christian Church (the last twenty-eight years at First Christian Church in Duncanville, Texas—a suburb of Dallas), I have had the opportunity to minister to many colorful personalities in the pews. Some have had the freshness of youth; others have had the wisdom of age. Some were endowed with great intellectual talents, which they shared; others gave of themselves emotionally. Some enjoyed the blessings of good health; others wrestled with the challenge of broken health. As diverse as these personalities were, they all had one thing in common: they all sat as laypersons in the pews of the church. And as they responded to the worship and to the ministry of the church, all of them in one way or another shared their faith and were an inspiration to the lives they touched. These are their stories.
A Shiny Red Suit and a Song
Luther Langford had a heart as big as the state of Texas. In addition to his big heart, he had a technical mind. He was an electrician, which was good for the church because if any electrical work was needed, he did it free.
Luther also loved kids, and one year the church asked him to play the part of Santa Claus for the church Christmas party, so he rented a Santa suit and gave away Christmas candy to all the kids in the church. He enjoyed it so much he decided to do it every year. He went to a seamstress and had a Santa suit made out of shiny red satin which was much more elegant than any rented suit. The only trouble was, Luther had the suit made to fit him perfectly without any padding, and Luther was much higher than he was wide. This was good for his heart but not so good for impersonating a plump Santa. Luther also had a distinctive voice, which made it difficult to conceal his identity. But he loved playing the part, and every year as the highlight of the church Christmas party, a tall lanky Santa with a very shiny form-fitting red suit would make his entrance, and with a thick Texas accent he would shout, “Merry Christmas boys and girls!” He would then sit in a big chair while all the kids lined up to sit on his lap, tell Santa what they wanted for Christmas, and then receive a bag of Christmas candy. The first time our daughter, Angela, sat on his lap, she had a troubled look on her face, and afterward announced she didn’t think that was really Santa. It was “just Luther.”
This reminded me of my first experience with a questionable Santa, when I was a very young boy. It was at a Woolworth five and dime store in McAllen, Texas. Unlike Luther, this Santa was plump enough, but Santa’s voice was unmistakably female. When I announced to my parents that this couldn’t be Santa, my mother explained that the real Santa was very busy at Christmas time and couldn’t be everywhere, and this lady was one of Santa’s helpers. That explanation worked for me, so we tried it with Angela. Apparently, it worked for her, for without any further questioning, she went straight to opening her bag of Christmas candy. There may have been other children with similar questions, but then that was for their parents to deal with.
Angela had been exposed to Luther’s voice more than most of the other kids in the church. Luther and his wife, Frances, were some of her first baby sitters. Angela was a toddler at the time, and my wife and I took her to their home while we set out for a dinner sans child. When we returned, we found Luther on the floor playing with Angela, and with a big grin, he informed us that he had taught her how to untie her shoes . Frances Langford loved children as much as Luther did. In fact, she became known to everyone in the church as Granny Frances. She taught Sunday school and Vacation Church School. She loved to teach the children new songs, and they loved to hug her neck.
If Luther had a heart as large as the state of Texas, Frances had a faith that was that large. She was often asked to lead the worship for the Christian Women’s Fellowship. Her faith was outgoing and it was deeply personal.
One day, after Frances had a series of chest pains and shortness of breath, the doctor discovered she had a severe blockage in one of her arteries. He told her he would attempt angioplasty, but if it didn’t work, it would require bypass surgery. Frances said to the doctor, “I sincerely hope the angioplasty will work. I know bypass surgery takes a long time to heal, and I can’t be away from church that long.”
During the procedure, the doctor tried several times to insert the balloon in the artery, but each time it was unsuccessful. Frances was awake during this process, and the doctor finally informed her that the angioplasty wasn’t working.
“Try one more time,” Frances pleaded. “But Frances, I tried several times, and it just won’t work,” the doctor replied. Frances repeated, “Try one more time. I’m praying really hard this time.” The doctor tried one more time…and it worked.
Luther and Frances were unique. Although they have been gone for several years as I write this, their memory is still strong in the church. When I think of them in heaven, I can see Luther in his shiny red suit playing Santa for all the angel’s kids, and Granny Frances teaching them to sing some new song in heaven’s Vacation Church School.
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