PASTOR BURROWS SPEAKS OF 'LOVE' AND HIS DEPARTED SON AT THANKSGIVING BANQUET

Faith Temple’s Thanksgiving Dinner evening celebration was held on Wed., Nov. 13, 2024, in Fleming Hall. Mrs. Amanda Campbell organized the event; Mrs. Cindy McCall and Mrs. Anna McCall decorated; Pastor Raymond D. Burrows recognized servers before blessing the food; and Mrs. Ann Burrows led in songs, accompanied on the piano by Mrs. Sandra Martin.

  “Dear ones, as a church family, if I could have one of my dreams come more fully true, it’s this: that we learn to, or grow into, appreciating our church family more and more,” Pastor said, as he spoke after the meal. “That we not take each other for granted — not in the least.”


If we want to appreciate another person and not look down on anyone, we should realize that each person we meet knows something we don’t know, he said.

  

“That person’s been somewhere you have not been, no matter who you are or where you came from,” he said, adding that such an attitude should “escalate” here in the church family. “It can only happen if we make it happen.”

  

Pastor said that on Sept. 17, when he was traveling to Charleston to see Timothy, his son, he talked on the phone to him, and Tim was excited about prospects of getting a liver transplant.

  

“I’ll believe it when I wake up and tell me that the operation was done,” Tim told his dad. 

  

“He had his hopes built up a number of times, only to have them dashed to pieces,” Pastor said.

  

As he drove to Charleston, Pastor had several phone conversations with Tim, realizing he would not get there before Tim’s transplant surgery.

  

“Dear ones, I had no idea that evening that we, in actuality, would never have another conversation. [Because of medical devices, Tim was not able to verbally speak after the operation.] I was there the day he was born, and I was there the day he passed from this life. I watched them as they dug a part of this grave, yesterday, where he’d be placed. And there’s no way we can ever reach back and get an opportunity. Once it slips through our fingers, it’s gone. The only opportunity we have is ‘now’ — the present. Tomorrow might not exist in the smallest way. I know that’s a sad story. It’s a personal one. But I’m saying to us, friends, as a church family, let us love each other. Let’s love each other.”

  

He asked us not to let criticism to slip into our spirits. 

  

“If anyone misses the mark, in the way you thought he or she did, throw some grace in there,” he said. “Don’t be so critical or judgmental. They might not can help it… Love will take us a long way. I’m thankful for our developing church family. I love the noise of your fellowship as you interact in settings like this one. Some might term it as ‘noise,’ something that’s disturbing or even frustrating. No. It’s beautiful, because we choose to interact. We choose to love and laugh.” (Continued on the backside)

  

He remembered the late Mr. T.G. Jones and the late Mrs. Carol Lutz, who were present at last year’s Thanksgiving banquet. Pastor said we should make the most of opportunities so we have no regrets. “Thank you for being part of our church family,” he said.

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