The Good News According to Marie

I’m XMarieX Fairport (Marie), and I’m a “born & bred” Christian, meaning my Dad attended seminary and became a pastor before I was born. I grew up with Christ in my life, every day. I was expected to attend Sunday School, all church services, Vacation Bible School, all youth programs, church camp, etc. I didn’t mind too much. It was just how my life was. Although I did attempt to play the “sick card” one Sunday morning and, wouldn’t you know it, just as I settled in to watch a cartoon on TV, there was a knock on the door of our church-owned house. My entire Sunday School class came into our house and had Sunday School right in the middle of our family room! No “Underdog” for me.

I grew up seeing how important God was, by listening to my Grandpa pray before and after meals for five to seven minutes (I might have been watching the clock), by seeing my Dad fall to his knees and start to sob after hearing of the death of a church youth that Dad felt hadn’t let Christ into his heart. This continued through adulthood when my Dad’s last words in this life were, “The Light! The Light! Beautiful! Wonderful! The Light! …. JESUS!!!!”. More recently, the last year of my Mom’s life, she’d tell me, “We will ALL be all right!” You need faith to believe you’re going to be all right, but when your Dad SEES Jesus welcoming him into Heaven, we all have to be all right, right?

When hearing the Psalms, I thought some of the verses were so whiney. Then I fell down a flight of stairs and injured my back and have been living with severe chronic pain for over a decade. I often am heard crying out, “Oh God, PLEASE! Please take it away! Please, just a little bit?! Please make this stop!” I’ve come to realize that God listens, and soon after I beg, I drift off to sleep where the pain goes away for two to three hours. Thank you, God!

I went from being super active by ice skating in the Winter, flying kite in the Spring, tent camping in the Summer, and hiking in the Fall, and running around working at a job I loved, to just sitting with DISABLED “tattooed” to my forehead. I felt worthless. I was working on getting my service dog when I was introduced to First UCC SL. I started offering to do Psalter, to help with social events, to lead a program about grief, and fill in behind the pulpit. I was able to DO things and be “normal-ish”. No one was able to hear me cry out in pain or see me wiping my tears due to the pain I was dealing with in real life. No one was seeing how my body changed because I was no longer active. No one saw my cane or my walker and how unsteady I was on my feet. I was no longer worthless! You don’t realize what it’s like to miss something, until it’s taken away. Then to have it handed back to you via Second Life is a dream come true!

Having Christ at my side every moment of every day can get routine if I allow it. That’s why church camp was so special to me as a child. It was like getting a “Christ Booster Shot.” You have all of these high energy youth and adults showing you exciting ways to experience God along with upbeat songs and POW, you’ve received a Christ Booster Shot. Unfortunately, it’s been a lot of years since I’ve had one of those boosters and I am eagerly awaiting UCC General Synod where I am certain to get up to date with a Christ Booster Shot. Any time I’m blessed with the opportunity to be a lay pastor at First UCC SL, my goal is to give a booster shot of Christ to others. I want to give others the warm feeling of knowing God isn’t far away. God isn’t always walking beside you. More often than not, God is holding you, carrying you, lifting you up, and oftentimes, we don’t even realize it. Any time we have a reason to celebrate, God is with us, celebrating more than anyone else! Any time we’re heartbroken, God is holding us close to His heart. Any time we’re suffering, God reminds us how His Son suffered, but suffers no more. Any time we feel alone, God *IS* with us. Always.

I’m a born & bred Christian and always will be. I’m thinking I’m one of the extremely fortunate ones! I’ve been blessed with having Christ in my life and having a family who lived their lives with Christ. I’m truly blessed.