Church Family, Adopted Dad

Shortly after I came back from a year at I.U. School of Music I became disenchanted with the church I had attended since grade school.

A friend of mine, Sue Nichols, had changed churches too and suggested that I try East 49th Street Christian Church. The Sunday after President Kennedy was shot was my first Sunday. That first Sunday I felt for the first time that God was present in church. I had never felt that at the other church. I came back the next Sunday and Russ remembered my name. That shocked me. I had only met him the once going through his famous greeting line outside.

I wanted to start choir right away but I didn't have transportation. Members of the choir would pick me up for rehearsals and church and take me home. This was miles out of their way. I had trouble getting a four block ride at the other church.

Russ was always interested in what I was doing and how I was getting along. I used to wonder what it was like to have two parents who really loved each other like Russ and Marian. I envied Phil and Paul but I looked on them like my "adopted little brothers." (They were little then and I could swing them around on my shoulders.)

Later, I got married, had two boys, Patrick and Michael and eventually my marriage failed. My mother's marriage fell apart when I was seven, and my grandfather left a week before my tenth birthday. I didn't want to be the third one to fail and swore I'd never get a divorce.

Russ and Marian were always there encouraging me and making me feel I wasn't a failure after all. They encouraged me, counseled me, and talked to the boys when I needed extra help. Russ helped me see a lot of things differently and I looked up to him like an adopted dad. He did more for me than my own dad ever did. I also looked at God differently. I always believed in Him from the time I could remember, but he was always like one dumb song says "From a Distance" (pretty tune, but lame on the reality of God). I thought: if Russ as a human could seem so good and as perfect as a human could be, then how much more compassionate, forgiving, kind and loving were God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit?

Thank you Russ for being you. I'm sure God had a hand in bringing me to East 49th in my teen years. I and my boys will greatly miss you.

Love,
Sharon-Glee Gerth / December 20, 2007