Losing Faith...

St. Paul's UMC--and the rest of the world, for that matter--has lost a true saint in Faith Geer. After a year-long battle--and it was a battle--Faith succumbed to melanoma. Her children have written a beautiful obituary, which you can find on line at Neely's Funeral Home, or in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Better yet, they have written a wonderful testimony to Faith with their lives. She could have been no more proud of Kelly, Nathan, and Natalie and their lives, loves, and careers than she was of them. Ron Hoellein, St. Paul's Pastor Emeritus, gave a great eulogy at her Service of Death and Resurrection on Sunday, March 3. Pastor Karen Slusser and I were honored to share in that service, and our music ministry played and sang their hearts out in tribute to her. If you wish to view it, go to our website at stpaulsumc.com.

Faith had a whole team of loving caregivers who loved her and tended to her every need over the past year, and they were seated together at the service. The sight of them together, alone, was enough to start the tears. There are so, so many good people in God's world, and Faith Geer had a way, even in illness, to assemble them together and give them a common vision. She has done this for a large number of churches and organizations as well. She had several very close friends, and they were vital to her joy, her journey, and her struggle, and I know she reciprocated in many ways.

Faith Geer leaves a great legacy--her "DNA"--at St. Paul's and in the other groups she charged with her presence, faith, creativity, and flip-charts. One of her passions was working for full inclusion of LGBTQIA+ persons in the life of The United Methodist Church. Here at St. Paul's, we proudly proclaim a Welcome Statement that says that we will do just that. Faith Geer died on the very day that the 2019 special session of the United Methodist General Conference voted to accept a plan that continues excluding LGBTQIA+ persons from full inclusion in our church. St. Paul's has pledged to do what we do best--be St. Paul's--and do our best to live fully into the motto so many U.M. churches post: "Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors." If you open our doors, you will be welcomed, to the best of our ability, and with all of our hearts. This is what Faith taught us: love, hospitality, welcome, inclusion, vision, and planning!

Faith had a funny idea of Jesus. She saw him not as a lawgiver or a rule-keeper, but a Savior in the fullest of the Wesleyan tradition. Her Jesus wasn't just out to "save souls," but PEOPLE. Her version of Jesus was just as concerned about a person’s stomach, or how she was respected and affirmed, or whether he would be paid a fair wage for a day's work as he was about "eternal salvation." In fact, Jesus seemed to make quick work of eternal salvation, proclaiming it as a given for anyone who said  "yes" to God's YES to all.  Faith's Jesus would go out of his way to find those who were marginalized and disenfranchised by the establishment or the institution, and then hang out with them, eating with them, and even calling them as disciples. Faith's Jesus cared every bit as equally for women and children as he did men, for the poor, possibly even more than for the rich, and seemed to chafe only at those who put law over life, rules over reconciliation. Her version of Jesus lives on at St. Paul's. If you want to get saved here, you had better be prepared for a whole lot else beyond eternal fire insurance. We have a job for you!

If you really knew Faith Geer, you knew that beyond that smiling, inviting face, perfectly coiffed hair, and nattily-dressed exterior, burned the heart of an activist and a serious "do-gooder." Her world was not right unless it was right for all. She could be so idealistic about this that she refused to accept anyone's idea of "reason" unless it included a plan to begin fixing the world--and the church. If you wanted to see the fire, just call refer to God as "He" a half-dozen times, or state that you believed "homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teachings" and then get your marshmallows and sticks ready. This high sense of justice didn't abide fools, either. Her intellect was as sharp as anyone's I have ever known. If you wanted to argue with her, you better bring your "A" game, and have more ready than just your opinion, or you were sticking your tongue into a live light socket. But when the sparks were done flying, you would have made a new friend, and would part with a hug.

So, you see why we at St. Paul's are struggling in the aftermath of her passing? What she did as our Administrative Director is irreplaceable. Who she was as a child of God was unique. The vacuum she has left here is palpable. And I know our experience is shared by others in our Annual Conference, in the Reconciling Ministries Network, in Nyadire, and who knows where else, as she was never one to brag about stuff like that. To paraphrase the apostle, "We have lost Faith, but we will not lose heart." And we will never. Never. Never. Settle for a wimpy Jesus, as we remember Faith.