The Ballet

Ruth and Ruby live in the same small skilled nursing community.  They are sisters, and both were both born in Arkansas.  Ruth loves our worship services; Ruby is quite ambivalent about them.  Ruth expresses herself quite coherently, but she is paralyzed from the waist down.  Ruby is stronger physically, although she is in a wheelchair, but like several others in this community, she has some dementia.  

When I arrived there this week, they were both in the activity room.  Ruth always reaches out to me and says, "Oh, honey, I am so glad to see you. It has been too long."  I am always glad to see her as well.  Then Ruby surprised me by saying, "Why, how nice of you to drop by!" She then continued to chat about things.  Ruth rolled her eyes as she often does when people get noisy.  I believe she has a deep need for silence, and that sometimes is not easy to come by in skilled nursing.   

   

As the service got underway, Ruth kept chatting, much to Ruby's chagrin.  Then Mary, who was sitting in front of me decided she wanted to pour some water from a pitcher into her glass.  However, she missed  her glass by quite a bit and water poured on the floor.  I kept talking about John 15 and how we all have a place on the vine and walked over and asked Mary and asked if I could pour some water for her.  I then gently moved the pitcher out of her reach, and motioned to the aide who was just coming into the room that a mop was needed.  He nodded and quickly returned with mop and a yellow "floor is wet" sign.  

   

At that point, Ruby decided that it was time for her to leave, but she was have trouble maneuvering her wheel chair between two other wheel chairs and the yellow sign. Pausing to ask Mary if she would mind if I moved her up a bit, I helped Ruby make it through the mini-maze.   Ruby said that she wanted to see what was "out there."  I sympathize with that longing, so once her chair had cleared the maze, I announced, "Ruby, you are free!"   With a whoop that would make any preacher proud, she raised her fist in the air and off she went.   I looked at Ruth who was smiling, but shaking her head and rolling her eyes.  She is a realist, and sure enough, it was not too long before one of the assistants brought Ruby back in. She did not seem to mind.  Perhaps that one moment of freedom was enough. And for some reason, more residents took communion that morning than ever before. 

I am grateful for a role in this dance.  We are knitted together with laughter, frustration, spills, bread, and song.  We belong to one another, and Christ is among us.  I am glad that I, too, belong.

   

Remain in me, as I remain in you. 

John 15:4