EXPANSIVE LOVE [PARTS I & II]

 

EXPANSIVE LOVE [part one]

        [On the Retirement of the Office Ministry of Lea Ramirez]

                                                                                 (with no h)

My daughter Leah (with an h

in her name) like you,

danced on drill team

and you have a way

of knowing these things.

And so we’ve crossed

this half century of knowing

each other. Joe Lenberg

brought you here, to this

church office, this ministry.

Like Felicity, he knew some things.

What life gave you here:

grandchildren, great grandchildren.

And how does one call the great losses, gifts?

Son, husband, mother. Rudy!

How you loved Marcia.

The way you wear

your red cowboy boots

lifts up widows.

Your advocacy heels.

The fourteen pastors

of your tenure: Scheid,

Nelson, Martyn, Stewart,

Nesvig, Hellerich, Lambertson

Abiut, Anderson, Murphy,

Klepach, three from Tree of Life,

Hilde, Moses. Count the other

ministers, too, Felicity, Denise,

the musicians: Virginia and Bart,

the choirs and the bells. Count

Flushing toilets during Covid

to avoid rings in the bowls, how

you know things. Fierce loyalty.

These are Kathleen’s fingers

on the piano playing

Bridge Over Troubled Water.

This is joy as you, Lea Ramirez,

become joy entering a room--

how you know things, not depending

on what happens, and doing the work.

EXPANSIVE LOVE [part two]

The pastor’s secretary is retiring.

The pastor’s secretary.

She’s worked for 14 pastors.

I’ve got the list right here.

The pastor’s secretary, we say,

repeating ourselves, 14 pastors,

all those years. All those pastors.

What she must know

about them, the ones who

had to minister to us.

Imagine ministering to 14 pastors,

and knowing, too, as Lea knew,

that’s only part of your work.

Grace surrounds her in being Lea.

She knows grace as God’s work. The rest

of it, the bulk of her ministry,

also grace-filled, is taking care of,

and loving, us.

Jim Bodeen

1 December 2025

Thank you, Sister Lea,

for all of it, Jim