Welcome to "Tuesday Mornings," a source of inspiration and encouragement for Christians everywhere. Thanks for opening this message.

 

Ordinarily I write a few paragraphs to introduce the topic for the week. Today is an exception. This topic needs no introduction. It needs no beating of the drums to get your attention. The topic is as relevant as today. You will understand what I mean before you have finished reading the second paragraph. Continue reading below whenever you are ready. Be prepared for a serious discussion about a topic that everyone—absolutely everyone—faces in life.

 

Tom Barnard

Editor

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Tribute to a Triumvirate

Tom Barnard

 

hen you live in a university town, things often happen in groups of three. Russians would call this a Troika. The term comes from ancient times when a Russian carriage was pulled by three horses abreast. But the term is also a cardinal number that is the sum of one and one and one. Three separate entities, but related.

 

This week our town suffered the loss of three gifted and much loved people. Their funerals were to be held on consecutive days. Although individuals in the best sense of the word, they were connected. One came to the end of his life 86 years after life began for him. He was a minister, war veteran, teacher, and friend to many. His wife had preceded him in death by a handful of years, and some would say that he was never quite the same after that. He substituted uncommon generosity for the love he had for his lady.

 

The second was also a military veteran who excelled in finance and management. He balanced the books of a university for a quarter of a century. He nurtured his school through times good and bad. He was so admired that when he retired, he was granted emeritus status, but not because of his work in the class-room. He had given his life to the excellence of his alma mater. Although he handled the stress that often accompanies student financial accounts, he had no enemies. None. Truly remarkable. He retired from his labor of love 9 months ago; he suffered the loss of his wife this past summer. He was only 71 years old.

 

The third was still creating her legacy. She was an administrative assistant to one of the vice presidents, and her future looked bright. She had a smile of recognition for everyone that entered her office. She was blessed with a memory for names that made everyone feel welcome as soon as their eyes met. Her family was counting on her leadership as mother and wife for many years to come. To say that her death was untimely is much more than a saying about people who have died relatively early in life.

 

What connects these three? A college? A town? A church? A mission? A calling? A commitment to excellence? Yes to all of these, and more. But it is inadequate to speak of these three as Troika. Each stood alone in what they contributed to friends, family, church, and the workplace. And what they leave to us stands alone as well.

 

Inscribed in marble beneath the memorial medallion of Andrew W. Mellon in the lobby of the north entrance of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. are these words, translated from the Greek by Alfred W. Zimmern. They are from the Oration of Pericles over the dead in the Peloponnesian War, and they were delivered at Athens in 430 B.C.

 

“For the whole earth is the sepulchre of famous men

and their story is not graven only on stone over their native earth

but lives on far away without visible symbol

woven into the stuff of other men’s lives.”

 

There is one more thing that connects these three heroes, other than the fact of the timing of their deaths.Each was a dedicated Christian. And each, in separate ways, will live on “far away without visible symbol, woven into the stuff of other men’s (and women’s) lives.”

 

James Russell Lowell, in Sonnet VI, wrote:

“Great truths are portions of the soul of men;

Great souls are portions of eternity.”

 

“Three horses abreast,” each pulling us heavenward, toward our everlasting home. A wonderful picture!