This morning I sat at the table by the window, where my grandmother kept her books on birds, looked out the window and into the tree filled field where I played as a child, and memories flooded back. This summer I am spending time working at the Joseph Smith Historic Site, a place where my Grandpa once worked, and a town I once lived in as a child.
Monday night I moved into an apartment on the first floor of the house where my Grandparents lived. It is perhaps that night when truly the memories started to flood back. I could remember where the couch had been, their recliners, grandma’s bird watching books, the honeysuckle in the garden by the steps, and the rocking chair and so much more. The place has changed a bit, and seems smaller, and now is two apartments rather than one, but still it reminds me of my grandma and grandpa, and also of my early childhood.
The room that is my bedroom, was where I slept when I first moved to Nauvoo so long ago, though it has changed a bit, a doorway closed off and closets added. At least, I don’t recall the closets, and I think the bed I slept in was against the wall where the closets are now. I can not be sure as the baseboards look the same as the rest, but the molding around the doors to the closets is definitely newer… Perhaps they just moved and cut the baseboard when building the closets, or my memory is deceiving me. In some ways it is interesting to live here, and in some ways it feels a bit odd to be in my grandparents old place. This morning as memories of childhood games came back, also came back memories of things like the moving truck parked out front as my grandparents packed up to move back to Oregon, and my uncle visiting and memories of a Commodore 64.
Today I took a trip around town, and as I did memories of walking from the reunion grounds with my Grandpa to a Barber where he got his hair cut stood out, as I drove by a house with a sign saying “barbershop in back.” I wonder if perhaps that is where we walked to, I have no way of knowing, but it is possible.
It is going to be an interesting summer, as I share with visitors about the history of Nauvoo, and try and interpret that history in a way that is honest, open, and gracious. It is not always the easiest thing to do, there was good and bad that took place here. Some of what took place many in Community of Christ like to forget, and some try to deny. The majority of our visitors come from cousin traditions which embrace the theological shifts and events of this place as a point from which their modern day understandings grew from, and wonder how come we choose to revert back to earlier theological understandings. Yet it is my joy to share the sacred story, for I truly believe the both the good parts of that story along wit the mistakes we made and that which we see as bad we must know so that we can grow from our past experiences as we strive to embrace our eternal call as a people… That is to allow the Spirit to mold and shape us, to transform us so that we may truly work with the Eternal Creating One to help transform and restore all of creation to that which it is created to be. If only that could happen by Sunday, I could figure out what to say in the sermon I have been asked to give to the theme of “Transformed by God” (I apologize for the slightly disorganized post, but my mind just keep wondering and jumping around today)
Peace be with you,
— Lyle II