Festival of Lights

Hello and welcome to the liver blog. Just wanted to share with you the thank you we sent to our church. More thank yous to more churches and people coming soon.

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With Thanks to Christ Lutheran Church on Capitol Hill.

If you have a chance to take a look at the Festival of Lights serigraph in the gallery, you will get an idea of how it is for us since Bob got sick. People coming to us.

Before anyone much knew about it, even us, Ann Fecht notices the kids coming to church alone and comes to us with a catered meal.

When we were at the bottom, Pastor Sue comes to us as I cry into the cell phone that they’re talking about a liver transplant (to be clear, Bob’s liver totally regenerated and there is no need for a transplant). And she comes to us over and over with bread and wine; long after our capacity leaves to answer the phone or answer the door. Social niceties gone, Pastor Sue comes.

Dave comes to us to pick up the kids for Sunday school, making sure they make it for the Christmas program. Joy brings us good news of great joy with a tape of the program, and with the simple knowing that our kids get a rich Christmas, in spite of the tomb that was our home.

People come to us via the internet through Bob’s care pages, which really save us when we are isolated in our ‘cave’ as Pastor Sue calls it. Can't go out nor can we let anyone in. Too creepy. And yet, there are all the names of people logging on which move us so deeply that we weep almost every time I read the names off to Bob, about twice daily.

The CLCW come to us with a generous gift and then with even more people coming to us. When Bob starts to recover and we can let people in, they come with food and conversation and listening ears and amazing stories. And it is the turn from inside to out. Ash Wednesday is Bob’s first trip to church, and we were already been greeted by many of you through the fabulous home visits. A highly recommended transition.

And then there’s the benefit, which is like dying and going to heaven, except not really dying. Living and going to heaven. Is that what they mean when they say the Kingdom of God is near? I’ve heard of a trip around the world, but now we know the trip around the universe. Hell. Heaven. And back to earth with an existence that is so much richer because of the newfound understanding that the Grace of God is bigger than any kind of evil that lurks within or around.

And now as we live in the wake of the miracle of Bob’s total healing, we would like to thank all of you for coming to us and showing us that God’s love is bigger than we can imagine. Even months ago when we did not know the fate of Bob’s liver nor his other vital organs, it was clear to us that whatever happened, there is no way to adequately thank everyone who comes to us, except to live a life of gratitude, however long that life is. We seek to show that gratitude too through our family blog, to which you are all invited, rollingontheliver.blogspot.com.

And so we thank you, dear sisters and brothers in Christ Church on Capitol Hill. Thank you for coming to us. In prayer, support, thought, conversation, communion, and celebration. You are a festival of light.

With love, Bob, Terri, Amanda, Aidan, and Mom Speirs (who is now returned to Brooklyn, New York)

Artist Note: "My original thought was that this would be a procession of children from every city and town. The children would bring light and peace to the world. They would gather from many places, joining an unending procession towards peace and nonviolence for all children of the world." -John August Swanson