At Deer Park United Methodist Church, Rev. Ron Baird and his wife Kathy Baird have been living the “Hymn of Promise.”
As the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered the church doors, the Bairds knew their mostly elderly, non-techie, but tightly-knit congregation, was going to suffer without their daily and weekly connections.
“This is their whole life,” Kathy Baird said. “They quilt together, do breakfast together. Church is their lifeline.”
After a trip to the local nursery, Kathy Baird gathered enough flower bulbs to package with a sweet note and off she and Ron went one day to deliver – at a safe distance – this blessing of promise.
“That personal touch has meant a lot to them,” she said. “There were some tears, but lots of laughter.”
The Bairds live 45 minutes from Deer Park, and some of their congregants are spread around the countryside, so it took all day to make deliveries to 25 homes. Kathy Baird said people weren’t expecting them, and it was fun to take everyone’s pictures – pajamas and all – to share on a Facebook group that some members of the congregation are tech-savvy enough to check.
“They were so happy to see each other’s pictures,” she said.
These flower bulbs will bloom and some day soon, Deer Park UMC will be back together like the “Hymn of Promise” says: “In the bulb, there is a flower. In the seed an apple tree. In cocoons a hidden promise; butterflies will soon be free. In the cold and snow of winter, there’s a spring that waits to be. Unrevealed until it’s season; something God alone can see.”
