This One's for Pat

My heart sank on Monday night when I learned that Pat Orlinski had passed away. Despite all her recent physical hardships, there was no indication that she would be leaving us so soon. Death is always the worst of surprises.   

There are plenty of people who knew Pat better than me. They are the ones who lovingly and faithfully served our church alongside her for so many years. They are the ones who filled her home every Thursday for Ladies Bible Study. And there are many others besides I’m sure.

Nonetheless, as one who grew up in this church and has come to serve our church as a pastor, I want to testify to the far reach of the witness of Pat’s life. As a child, when I read about the women of the early church as found in Acts, my imagination was filled out by the faithful women I knew in my church, among whom was Pat. She had the heart of a servant, proven first by the love and care she displayed for her family, which was then carried out further to her church family.

When I returned to this church as an adult, I found that she was not at all a figment of that child’s imagination. She was as I remembered: loving, faithful, humble, a servant. Her life cemented itself in my imagination of the women of Acts.  

Now, I’m sure Pat was not perfect (and family always has something to say about that!), but I have nevertheless found her life to be a standing challenge to my own. When I consider her perseverance and faithfulness in the face of many hardships, I am forced to ask myself, “What then is my excuse? If Pat remains faithful, how can’t I?”

In this way, I strongly believe that the lessons that Pat has taught through her life far exceed any class I could ever offer. Words mean very little, actions mean everything, and she bore the witness of Christ in her life. In his letters, one of the Apostle Paul’s most frequent admonitions was, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.” [1 Cor. 11:1] Paul understood that we learn best by example, by imitating the life of another who is faithfully imitating Christ. The lesson here is two-fold. 1) We should find faithful people in church and seek to imitate them. 2) We should seek to be those faithful people that set an example for others. No seminary degree is needed to lead that sort of life.

I will always treasure the example of Pat’s life. My prayer is that her legacy would be filled out by women and men following in her footsteps, as we all follow Christ together. One day, we will all meet again and see the completion of Christ’s work in and through us all.

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.

- 1 Thess. 4:13-18 [ESV]