“Who Can Bear to Feel Himself Forgotten?”

“They continue their dreams,

But shall wake soon and hope for letters,

And none will hear the postman's knock

Without a quickening of the heart,

For who can bear to feel himself forgotten?”

I thought of this moving quotation from W. H. Auden’s poem, “Night Mail”, Wednesday afternoon when Claire and I were at Immanuel Village Senior Living for one of our “When Swing Was King” shows. Before the program began, I was visiting with Nancy, one of WSWK’s biggest fans, and I was telling her about the touch of sadness that all people feel when they open their mailbox and find nothing personal in there. With real feeling, Nancy agreed with me and then asked, “Do you write letters yourself?” I told her that I do. In fact, I explained that Claire and I write an awful lot of letters and cards. She then smiled coyly and said, “Well, I’ll tell you what. If you write me, I will promise to write you back!”

“When Swing Was King” is a truly exceptional outreach, providing quality
entertainment and an inspiring lift of the spirits. But it is even more than that. It is an opportunity to make friends, to remind people that their lives and times matter, and to show them they are not, as Auden warned, forgotten. These ministries occur with every “When Swing Was King” show. For instance, yesterday’s show at Echo Hills Assisted Living sparked lively (and delightful) conversations with residents afterwards – conversations about dancing, Dick Haymes’ 6 wives, hitchhiking hundreds of miles to hear Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra, summer jobs in their high school years, the tornado that hit the town of Primrose in 1965, and more. 

And such opportunities for meaningful connection also occur every Sunday afternoon when Claire and I conduct the Vital Signs Ministries interdenominational church service at Aksarben Village Senior Living. For that matter, they also occur every time that you drop by and visit someone who is otherwise marginalized by society -- or make a phone call or send along a letter. For who indeed should “bear to feel himself forgotten?”

And that reminds me -- we would like to once again extend to you an invitation to join the friendship team of our Sunday afternoon services. We set up around 2 o’clock, begin at 2:30 the “formal” program, and then, at about 3, start in with 30 or 40 minutes of personal visiting over coffee and cookies. We could sure use your help. But the members of our congregation could use it even more! So if you’re interested in even an occasional visit, please let us know.