Pastor Allan passed away a short while ago. He was the first pastor I remember having when I was a kid at a small Baptist church in eastern Washington. You might wonder why I would share about a Baptist pastor when I am an Orthodox Christian. I remember hearing Fr. Barnabas Powell on Ancient Faith Radio sharing spiritual guidance he received while entering Orthodoxy. He was told, “You cannot be Orthodox until you are thankful for everything that brought you to today.” I am so thankful for that Baptist church I grew up in, for being surrounded by people that love Jesus, and I am thankful for Pastor Allan.
When I was around seven years old Pastor Allan baptized me. In preparation for this, his sweet wife Bernice, who passed in 2022, had a class where we talked through Bible verses and picked a verse to memorize. I picked Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Now you could argue that it is just a fabrication of my imagination, but I remember feeling so clean and light when Pastor Allan raised me out of the water.
I don’t remember the sermons I heard as a kid, but Pastor Allan makes me think of Mark 10:21. This is where a rich young man came and asked Jesus how to have eternal life. The verse says, “Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and spoke to him.” That little detail that Jesus loved the man is so significant. It is a reminder that Jesus looks at us and loves us too. More than that, the Greek word used here could imply not just “looking at”, but also “looking in.” Jesus looks inside and sees the real person and loves us all. The verse also reminds us that we are to look at everyone around us and love them too. Can you imagine a world where people only spoke to others if they truly loved them? Do you ever ask yourself how much you love others before you speak to them?
I remember Pastor Allan and his wife Bernice like this. They looked at me and loved me. This reminds me of another story I heard about a priest giving his sermon. He was wearing his robe, and he had a big beard. A three year old girl had it in her mind that this priest was Jesus. One Sunday, she dashed away from her parents and ran up to the priest crying out, “Jesus!” The priest bent down, lifted her up, and finished his sermon. Later, when he was asked about this, the priest said, “I know that she will not remember my sermon, but I hope that she will always remember the day that Jesus held her in His arms.”
When I was a child, Pastor Allan and Bernice were pictures of Jesus for me, and this is what we are called to be for each other. May we all look at one another and love each other as we become more like Jesus.
Originally published in the Holy Apostles E-bulletin. Subscribe here.
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