My brother Charlie and I created Faith and Fungi (F&F) as an exercise for our mental health during the COVID pandemic. COVID was especially stressful on him as a pastor. A year or so earlier he came out to his church that he was gay but celibate, and he advocated for change powerfully at the UMC Annual Conference. Never mind that he garnered incredible respect from his peers, friends and family. The powers-that-be punished him by moving him from a church he loved in Dubuque to a “more welcoming church” in Waterloo. It is a good church and would have been a good fit, but he was already battling depression and exhaustion from the move (He carried more stuff than some infantry battalions.) When COVID hit, my brother was nearly lost. He reached out to me in a way he never had before. He called me needing mental support.
We got with him right away. Sally treated him to her wonderful cooking, and we took him mushroom hunting, walking and canoeing every chance we could. My son, Will visited him often also. We talked on the phone almost daily for a while, and we alternated F&F posts regularly. It didn’t matter that it was read by few. It’s real purpose was our own interaction.
His malaise was finally dissipating but apparently not quickly enough for the powers-that- be who once again made him move, this time to a small church, Asbury UM, in Cedar Rapids where the elderly congregation loved him. He seemed more at peace in his heart, and we were happy that he was once again close enough that we could visit often, making day trips one direction or another. More than anything we loved making music together, Sally on piano, me on sax and Charlie’s great baritone voice.
Eventually, he gained the self-confidence and purpose to take on a 2nd Cedar Rapids church that needed a pastor, Kenwood Park UM. That congregation might have loved him even more than Asbury, because he chose them. The problem for me was that he no longer needed the outlet of Faith and Fungi. He didn’t take a turn writing for it after my last post and he said he no longer had time or desire to write for it. When it came time to renew the domain, he said he didn’t care if we did. It was up to me if I wanted to keep it going. I considered not renewing. Afterall I was busy writing my sure to be epic tome “My Many Mushroom Mistakes.’ I didn’t have much time to write blogs at all. Plus, I wanted my preacher brother’s thoughts for the Faith” side of the blog.
In the end I renewed the domain to preserve what had already been written. And so the blog stayed unchanged until everything changed in the blink of an eye and a deadly crash that took Charlie and another pastor, his close friend and mentee Carol, from us all On July 7th 2024. They had lunch together and travelled to the suburb of Bertram to check out another small Methodist church that was looking for guest pastors. They weren’t familiar with the little road and terrible highway intersection that would claim them, but they were true to their calling to the very end.
And so, our family inherited Charlie’s vast amount of stuff most of which none of us wanted, and we began the odyssey of trying to settle his affairs with no will. Through it all, small and not so small miracles kept happening. I’ll share some of those in future blogs, but for now I’ll share one small miracle. I now have access to his private prayer journals which he kept daily but would never let me read. They contain some of his most heartfelt writing in powerful and beautiful prayers. Yes, there are a few prayers that no one else needs to read, but there’s so much more inspiration and deep faith that the whole world should read. So, Pastor Chuck will indeed provide his input to F&F for years to come and this blog will gain a new purpose – to be read by many! – Dave
