Chris Campbell
Be joyful in the Lord, all you lands;
serve the Lord with gladness
and come before his presence with a song.
Beloved in the body of Christ,
This last Tuesday Richard Kuns, a longtime contributor and benefactor to the “Daily Bread,” Saint Philip’s in the Hills, and the Christian community as a whole, wrote what would be his last “Daily Bread” before going to his reward later that evening. He started by saying:
"As I grow older and older it is a time of reckoning with a body that no longer functions as well as in years past. But there is a gift! I can look back and notice God’s presence in my life I did not recognize or appreciate during the journey."
Only a few months ago I met with Richard to help him learn how to post his “Daily Bread” on our website without help. The time spent with him was incredible!
I know that I learned more from him in those couple of hours than he learned from me. I arrived at his home expecting to show him how the software worked and then leave, but Richard had other plans. We talked at length about discernment—both his and mine—and, of course, how central the psalms are to human life.
Know this: The Lord himself is God;
he himself has made us, and we are his;
we are his people and the sheep of his pasture.
I try, and will continue to try to carry this truth with me, especially as I deal with my own grief at his loss. I must try constantly to remember that my grief is not grief for what Richard has lost—his mortality—but what I have lost—his companionship.
Richard made a habit of beginning and ending every day by reciting the psalms. One of these was today's Eucharistic psalm, Psalm 90:
3 You turn us back to the dust and say,
"Go back, O child of earth."
5 You sweep us away like a dream;
we fade away suddenly like the grass.
6 In the morning it is green and flourishes;
in the evening it is dried up and withered.
10 The span of our life is seventy years,
perhaps in strength even eighty;
yet the sum of them is but labor and sorrow,
for they pass away quickly and we are gone.
12 So teach us to number our days
that we may apply our hearts to wisdom.
Richard's life was one which was thoroughly applied to wisdom. And it is because of this that he was so loving, and so well loved.
13 Return, O Lord; how long will you tarry?
be gracious to your servants.
14 Satisfy us by your loving-kindness in the morning;
so shall we rejoice and be glad all the days of our life.
15 Make us glad by the measure of the days that you afflicted us
and the years in which we suffered adversity.
16 Show your servants your works
and your splendor to their children.
17 May the graciousness of the Lord our God be upon us;
prosper the work of our hands;
prosper our handiwork.
Richard shared the words to Hymn 550 in his last 'Daily Bread' and I thought it might be appropriate to share this hymn once again.
After so many years of sharing his love and wisdom with the world, Richard has gone ahead of us "o'er the tumult" to the embrace of God.
Yet, I will carry with me always, in my heart and mind, the love and wisdom which he so generously shared, grieving my loss, but singing praise for his gain through Christ!
So I sing to Richard now, and to all God’s faithful who have gone on to their reward:
Enter his gates with thanksgiving;
go into his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and call upon his Name.
May you live in Truth, Peace, and Love,
—Chris Campbell