Pastoral Note from Stephen

Dear Friends--

As many of you have picked up on, friends of member Richard Baydin have been very worried for the past week or more over his declining health, particularly around his recent transfer from Hebrew Senior Living to the Brigham, where he was then placed on a ventilator.  His brother, Dr. Jeffery Baydin, just confirmed to me this morning that Richard died at 12:01 am, as a new day began, yesterday.

Richard himself had let several First Church friends know before he was transferred that he was among the numerous others at Hebrew Living whose testing for Cov-19 had come back positive.  So, while some were keenly aware of the precariousness of his position, I did not have permission from Richard  to say anything about such a diagnosis in the service or e-news (in fact, I would never share such news unless the person themselves gave me explicit instructions to do that--and while Jeffery had no issue with announcing Richard's severe illness, he too agreed that we should not be more specific publicly). 

Over the last three years that we have known, and loved, Richard, we have been mindful that his whole health record is like reading the book of Job--he was clear that he was a survivor: of long issues of mental illness, a heart attack, on-going kidney dialysis, a stroke, and just this year, chemo for cancer.  Through all this, somehow, he kept a strange and inspiring life balance, continuing to write brief and beautiful poems and meditations.  As I said to him many times, touched by his work, "Knowing you, Richard, is like having William Blake in my congregation."  He was fragile, and he was also tough.

I want to publicly thank Tim House for befriending and supporting Richard in such fine and soulful ways, and the chief way that Tim really went out of his way as Richard's true friend was his hard work in putting together the great collaborative effort for Art and Spirit where members of the church offered art sparked off of Richard's prayers and meditations.  (It is still up in our Narthax, and will stay there until all of us have a chance to really see it again!).  When the pandemic hit, and we had to cancel the special event for the exhibition, Daniel and I decided to put together a (barely) next best thing--a special service highlighting Richard's work.  When I called him to see if he had listened to the service on WERS, Richard spoke words that every minister would love to hear at least once: "That was the best hour of my life."

Whether that was true or not does not matter--I hope Richard had many, many happy hours on his long and daunting pilgrimage through life.  But we are so happy that we were able to offer some solace and meaning to his days, and it was a happy day when Richard found us and moved among us, at least for a while.  I learned a lot from him, and to all those who visited or called Richard, I know I share with them a deep sadness. But. as I just said to his brother, no one wanted his life to end this way, but I cannot help but think that, truly, Richard's last three years had some note of triumph to them.  His work will, I believe, survive--and Tim and Daniel and I and others will work to make that so.

I want to get this news to you, and I will include a meditation by him in the Friday e-news and in the service this Sunday!

Fondly,
Stephen