Jonathan Krogh Jonathan Krogh

The inVESTment of Time

Dear Remembering Ones:

Yesterday was a wonderful celebration of our 2026 Confirmation Class as Kaia and Claire offered their faith statements, presiding over the worship service with wisdom and grace. Classmate James, who had a prior commitment yesterday, will be received into membership at FPCLG at a later date; he will be confirmed in worship at Riverside Presbyterian Church next week along with Riverside Confirmation classmate, Gavin.

Sunday was also the occasion to celebrate my first full decade of ministry with FPCLG. This was a surprise and an event for which I am most grateful and will remember for years to come. I greatly appreciated the kind words, the magnificent commemorative etched-glass sculpture and, of course, the beautiful slide presentation recalling

Dear Remembering Ones:

Yesterday was a wonderful celebration of our 2026 Confirmation Class as Kaia and Claire offered their faith statements, presiding over the worship service with wisdom and grace. Classmate James, who had a prior commitment yesterday, will be received into membership at FPCLG at a later date; he will be confirmed in worship at Riverside Presbyterian Church next week along with Riverside Confirmation classmate, Gavin.

Sunday was also the occasion to celebrate my first full decade of ministry with FPCLG. This was a surprise and an event for which I am most grateful and will remember for years to come. I greatly appreciated the kind words, the magnificent commemorative etched-glass sculpture and, of course, the beautiful slide presentation recalling these ten years of ministry.

As you know, FPCLG is not my first clerical rodeo; this anniversary comes in the middle of my 38th year of ordained ministry with the Presbyterian Church USA. In the slideshow of recollections, I was reminded that during my service to this congregation I have officiated over 70 memorial services for members and friends of FPCLG. Just an hour ago and according to my records, I advanced the total number to 703 as I conducted another funeral at the request of a local funeral director who calls me when the family is seeking a ministerial officiant who will be uplifting without droning on and on and on.

Unlike services I conduct for parishioners whom I have known in life, these impromptu rites are different because I have no living relationship with the deceased. I have come to enjoy these services because I learn about the departed through the recollections of surviving family, friends, loved ones and more frequently than you might think, a few enemies confirming news of the demise. I learn about military service, hobbies, professional associates, quirks and affections and occasionally little facts about life experiences that bring a smile even to this stranger’s face.     

Like today’s services, which were for a Vietnam veteran who, after completing his drafted service in 1966, was recruited and performed for a short while as a professional skater with the Ice Capades. He was not a champion; he performed in the backdrop corps for a full nine-month season, dazzling the crowds with their synchronized spectacle ten shows a week. Even his closest relatives were unaware of this professional diversion; they knew him as the retired payroll manager for the Federal Signal Corporation. Clearly at some point he traded in his sequined jumpsuit for an orange safety vest. Sadly, the details of that transformation were lost to time. Sometimes the young ones who know us were too late for the most interesting chapters of our lives.

In the end, we become the culmination of the stories told. I love being the recipient of those stories as I provide curation for the services that turn the page on the mourners’ experience of each particular and unique passing character. It’s an honor when I receive that call. I’ll see you on your way out.

Promising to be brief, I remain,

With love,
Jonathan Krogh
Your Pastor  

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