Only Harry: Remembering Harry H. Albritton, Sr.

On August 6, 2015August 8, 2015 By Rev. Dr. Jarrett BanksIn MemorialsLeave a comment

Let me share with you how I usually prepare a person’s eulogy. I think about the person’s life, their contributions, their personality, and then I find a biblical character or story that parallels, or in some way relates to, the person. This is how I usually prepare. However, when it comes to Harry Humphrey Albritton, Sr., usual preparation does not apply. Think with me. Is there one biblical story, or single biblical character, or anyone else you know for that matter, who compares to Harry?

During his final hours, the Hospice nurse came into the room to tell the family what to expect. She concluded by saying, “but everyone’s different.” I pointed to Harry and said, “And you have no idea just how different this one is.”

How many people do you know who played basketball well into his seventies, and played basketball very competitively, physically, tenaciously, always to win; taking on Rocky Stone and me, two against one, when Rocky and I were still young enough to play basketball?

Only Harry.

Who do you know who, when he began having trouble sleeping this past this year, went online and ordered himself a military cot, because he remembered the four years while he was serving our country in the Air Force, getting the best sleep of his life?

Only Harry.

How many people do you know who always, I mean always, told you exactly what he thought to be the truth, even when it came to religion or politics, even when he knew that what he believed to be the truth would make you angry and probably dislike him?

Only Harry.

How many people do you know who, when their pastor dropped by to see him one evening after the pastor got word that he was extremely sick, was honest enough to tell the truth when the pastor asked if there was anything the pastor could do to help, by answering: “Yeah. You can get the hell out of here!”

Only Harry.

How many people do you know who, while in the hospital the day after no one thought he would make it through the night, when his pastor came to see him on crutches following knee surgery, honestly greeted his pastor in the following manner:

“Did you come to see me on crutches?”

“Yes, I did,” I proudly responded.

“You dumb, stupid butt!” Of course, he was much more colorful than that. “You had no business running those long distances at your age! You should have had good sense and stuck to playing basketball!”

Only Harry.

How many people do you know who at a Wednesday night church supper, at the dinner table, in front of God and little old ladies, gave a birds-and-the-bees lecture to the pastor’s son who was getting ready to go off to college?

Only Harry.

How many people do you know living in Farmville who, because he believed in being a good steward of the earth, and because of just good common sense, drove an electric car?

Only Harry.

Who do you know who had the best HVAC system money could buy installed in his garage because of the empathy he possessed for his pets? Who owned dogs that live as he lived: first class all the way?

Only Harry.

How many people do you know who was wise enough and humble enough to begin using a walker before he ever broke a leg or a hip and strongly encouraged others to use one?

Only Harry.

How many people do you know in town who, because of his concern for the children of this town, was not only one of the oldest, active members of the Farmville Kiwanis Club, but paid for his pastor to also be a member?

Only Harry.

How many people do you know who, after listening to a presentation at church about a mission trip opportunity to repair homes in the rural Mountains of West Virginia, in one of the most impoverished areas in our country, became so moved, so agitated and so concerned that he stood up and spoke out, saying that he didn’t want to just put a “Band-Aid” on the poverty, but he wanted to actually do something to cure the poverty? He wanted to strategize, energize and mobilize to end the poverty, to repair the breach, to restore the streets, and make it a place where future generations could thrive.

He wanted to set up meetings with the CEO’s of corporations, with state and local government and investors and encourage them to build new factories in the area and offer employment. And if that did not work, he wanted to lobby Congress to provide tax incentives, to create ways to re-locate the residents to them to the jobs.

Someone responded, “We can’t do that!”

He said, “What do you mean ‘we can’t?’ There’s no such thing as ‘can’t.’ You mean, ‘we won’t.’”

Only Harry.

Who do you know who took his faith, and his call to share his faith, so seriously, that he recently purchased and distributed copies of a book entitled Jesus Calling at Bojangle’s and admonished all of the recipients to read it every morning when they woke?

Only Harry.

How many people in this post-9/11 world do you know who intentionally built a relationship, a genuine friendship, with one of the few Muslims in town: giving him a Bible; inviting him to church; and promising his God to be there if he ever came to church to do all that he could to make sure that felt more than welcomed at the communion table?

Only Harry.

How many people do you know who, because of his empathy for the elderly in town, especially the many widows living here, did all he knew how to do, to get a retirement home built here in Farmville?

Only Harry.

Who do you know who, after being told by his mother as a little boy that he could not go over to the home of his best friend Ting, because Ting had black skin, and he had white skin, went outside, got a hand full of some coal dust, spread it all over his arms and face, went back in and said: “Mama, now I have black skin. Now, can I please go home with my friend Ting?”

Only Harry.

How many white people do you know who went to the Paramount Theater in the late 1930’s with his black friend but sat in the balcony, because his friend was not allowed to sit downstairs with the whites? He said, “If my friend Ting is going to sit in the balcony, I am too.” He remembers being the only white boy sitting in the balcony that day.

Only Harry.

Who do you know who loved his pastor with an unparalleled frankness and straightforwardness; and loved his church faithfully and generously, yet critically and honestly, in a way like none other?

Only Harry.

Who loved ECU academics and athletics, supported them with his generous donations and with his faithful attendance, and with his ad nauseum discussions with you, especially if you were a Tar Heel?

Only Harry.

Who loved Joyce more than he loved his own life, who constantly bragged on her competence and her accomplishments, her faithfulness and her intelligence, even more than he bragged on his own basketball skills and East Carolina?

Only Harry.

Who loved his children with an honest and tough love, but also a compassionate and forgiving love, who continually preached to instill in them the virtues of hard work, of striving for excellence, of the willingness to change and to adapt, and of giving their all to make a difference in the world all the while loving neighbor as self?

And who do you know who did this and actually succeeded? How many people do you know who spent their last days surrounded by all of their children, all of them hard-working, successful contributors to society?

Only Harry.

Who loved his grandchildren with the same honest, tough, but compassionate and gracious love? Who has grandkids who will never forget this unrivaled love, who will undoubtedly grow up in this world with a little bit of their grandfather living in them, with this burning desire in their hearts to be the very best that they can be, to give their all to make this world a better place?

Only Harry.

Who has friends, a church and a family who will always be grateful to God for giving them the one and only, irreplaceable gift of God’s grace named Harry Humphrey Albritton Sr.?

Only Harry.

The good news is that because of the uniqueness of Harry, I believe our days of mourning will be quickly transformed into days of gratitude and celebration, if they haven’t already.

And here is more good news: It is very obvious to all that Harry was created in the image of our God and imaged our God through his faith in Christ, because the God that gave us the matchless gift of Harry, is, God’s self, matchless.

Of whom does Moses ask after the Israelites are delivered from slavery and death: “Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in splendor, doing wonders” (Exodus 15)?

Only God.

Of whom does the Psalmist ask: “For who is God except the Lord? And who is a rock besides our God?” “Who is like the Lord our God, who is seated on high, who looks far down on the heavens and the earth” (Psalm 18, 113)?

Only God.

To whom does King David pray: “Therefore you are great, O Lord God; for there is no one like you, and there is no God besides you” (2 Samuel 7)?

Only God.

Of whom is the prophet Jeremiah speaking: “There is none like you, O Lord; you are great, and your name is great in might… Among all the wise ones of the nations and in all their kingdoms there is no one like you” (Jeremiah 10)?

Only God.

Who commanded to the faithful, “You shall not pollute the land in which you live…You shall not defile the land in which you live, in the midst of which I dwell…” (Numbers 35)?

Only God.

Who through the prophet Isaiah admonished God’s people to strategize, energize and mobilize, “to rebuild the ancient ruins, to raise up the foundations for future generations, to be called the repairers of the breach, restorers of the streets to live in” (Isaiah 58)?

Only God.

Who through the writer to the Hebrews proclaimed the good news: “We do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved. And faith is the substance of things hoped for. The evidence of things to not seen” (Hebrews 10, 11)?

In other words: “There is no such thing as ‘can’t!'”

Only God

In the gospels, who gives the gift of God’s only self in the person of Jesus, showing us how to live and how to love:

By speaking the truth, even while knowing that people will be angered by that truth and reject him for that truth;

By being a living example of wisdom and humility;

By caring for children everywhere;

By having concern and taking action on the behalf of the poor, the vulnerable, and the widows;

By sharing the good news of God’s love with all people;

By accepting foreigners at his table, making disciples of all nations, all ethnicities and all religions;

By identifying with, and by friending, and by sitting beside, and by liberating those who have been regulated by society to sit in a seat on the margins;

By challenging all of his friends, his family of disciples, his sisters and his daughters, his sons and his brothers: to always strive for excellence, to do the very best that they can, to work hard while generously giving all that they have to give, even their very lives, to make this world a better place?

Only God.

And who sent his son into the world to say:

“Very truly, I tell you, anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life, and does not come under judgment, but has passed from death to life” (John 5).

“Very truly, I tell you, the hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live” (John 5).

“I am the resurrection and the life. All who believe in me shall never die” (John 11).

“In my father’s house, there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would have told you that I go to prepare a place for you” (John 14).

Only God.

Who called apostles like Paul to say, “There is nothing in heaven or in all of creation, not even death itself, can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8).

Only God.

And who called apostles like John to proclaim that the time is coming for all of us “when there is going to be no more mourning, no more crying, no more pain, and no more death” (Revelation 21)?

And who called people like Harry Humphrey Albritton, Sr. to walk in this distinctive way and to share this inimitable hope in word and deed?

Only God.

Closing Prayer and Commissioning

May we please stand. Let us pray together.

In the days ahead, O God, may we continue to thank you for the gift of the uniqueness of Harry, and for the many ways that Harry will forever remind us of the uniqueness of our loving, eternal and only God who we know fully through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Amen.

Now go onward from this place as Christian soldiers remembering Harry and honoring God…

By strategizing, energizing and mobilizing,

By speaking the truth;

By being a living example of wisdom and humility;

By being a good steward of the creation;

By caring for children everywhere;

By having empathy for and taking action on the behalf of the poor and the vulnerable;

By sharing the good news of God’s love with all people;

By accepting foreigners at your table;

By identifying with and by friending and by sitting beside and by liberating those who have been regulated by society to sit in a seat on the margins;

By striving for excellence, doing all that you can do, giving all that you have to give, even your very lives, never saying the word “can’t,” to make this world a better place;

By rebuilding the ruins, repairing the breach, restoring the streets and raising the foundation for generations to come.

All in the name of Jesus Christ our matchless Lord, who reigns with the inimitable Father and Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen.

Tribute to Bill Lewis

On June 17, 2014July 1, 2014 By Rev. Dr. Jarrett BanksIn MemorialsLeave a comment

William Horace "Bill" Lewis, Jr. — William Horace “Bill” Lewis, Jr.

2 Timothy 4:6-18 NRSV

In this fragmented and fragile world, friends, true friends, honest to goodness friends, friends that can be trusted, are hard to come by.

Before the Apostle Paul died he lamented to Timothy that only Luke had remained by his side, and, at first, no one came and supported him; all had deserted him.

Novelist S.E. Hinton spoke to this harsh reality of life when she wrote: “If you have two friends in your lifetime, you’re lucky. If you have one good friend, you’re more than lucky.”

There is no doubt that the reason that many of you are here this afternoon is because you have been “more than lucky.” You are here because in Bill Lewis, you had one good friend, an honest-to-goodness friend in whom you trusted.

As an attorney here in Farmville, Bill Lewis earned your trust. When you purchased your first house or refinanced another, you, like my family and I, trusted Bill to be at your side, read and translate all of the legal jargon of the contract, and to honestly look after your interests. You trusted in Bill to always give honest and wise counsel. With Bill you never needed a second opinion.

And whether you sold a business and made a fortune, or had to close a business and file bankruptcy, you trusted in Bill as your faithful confidant. And for some of you, Bill was one of the few, if not the only person in this world, in whom you trusted completely.

I personally experienced Bill’s unwavering faithfulness when I had the privilege of being the pastor of his father Horace. During each of my visits with Horace in the last years of his life, Horace never failed to mention how good Bill was to him: always bringing his lunch, stopping by each day, sometimes several times a day, to make sure his needs were being met. During the time in his life when he needed someone the most, Horace could always trust Bill to be a faithful son.

And Charissa, you could always trust Bill as a faithful husband. He was trusted as your protector: When you were traveling by car Charissa, he was always reminding you to keep your car doors locked and to make sure you always had enough gas in the tank.

And when you were traveling on foot and he was with you, he always made sure that he walked on the sidewalk between you and traffic (And, metaphorically, isn’t that exactly what he did for so many of us as our attorney?).

Charissa will also always remember trusting Bill as a teacher: the caring way he taught his step sons how to tie a tie; place the handkerchief in their coat pocket; how to shave; have manners at the table; respect other people’s property; always tell the truth; how to treat a girl; how to love and care for nature and animals; of the importance of appreciation for sports, history, family, traditions; being a Southern gentlemen; respecting one’s mother; the importance of obeying the law; how to play the guitar; how to shoot a gun as well as properly taking care of it.

Charissa, you also trusted him as a faithful provider: always putting the needs of others ahead of his own needs. Your needs, the needs of his girls, the needs of his step sons, his sisters, his Aunt Nell, his home, the needs of his friends and the needs of his clients were always more important than his own needs.

And all of us could always trust Bill’s honesty and impeccable integrity. I don’t know if she is actually going to do it or not, but Charissa would tell Bill that if she outlived him, she wanted to engrave “Honest Abe” on his headstone.

One day, Charissa lost her engagement ring. When she told Bill, he filed it with their insurance company. And soon after the check arrived, but before it was cash or deposited, Charrisa reached into her pants pocket as she was getting ready for work one morning, and felt, you guessed it, the ring. Charrisa said that Bill nearly broke his neck trying to get to the post office that day to return the check!

You do not need a preacher to tell you that such honesty and trustworthiness in this world is very rare. We can easily relate to S.E. Hinton when she said that we “more than lucky” to have just one such friend in this world. We completely understand the Apostle Paul when he said, “All deserted me. Only Luke remains at my side.” The reality is that honest to goodness people in this world are very rare.

And I believe there is a good reason for this.

Honesty and trustworthiness always comes with a price. This is something that we may not always realize and seldom think about. People who can be truly be trusted, people with impeccable integrity carry an enormous burden.

Charissa calls Bill one of the biggest worriers in the world. He constantly worried about his work, always wanting to make sure he did everything right and treated everyone fairly. He would often wake up in the middle of the night with his clients and their problems on his mind. And this worry and anxiety extended into his personal life as he continually worried about Charissa: her health, her needs, her care, and even for the needs and care of their pets. Are they safe? Had they been fed? Did they have fresh water? Are the outside dogs in their enclosures and are in the inside dogs safe inside, and if they are, where are they? Why don’t they come in here and get in bed with me? How about the cats? Charissa said when he came home, if he did not immediately see them, he would call each one by name asking me her if she had seen them during the day.

Caring for others, caring for all of God’s creation, being faithful, being trustworthy, being honest, is costly. This is why Jesus said, “For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it.” This is why the Apostle Paul said only Luke remained at his side. And this is why so many of us here count Bill Lewis as one of the very few people in this world in whom we know we could trust.

Now hear the good news. In his letter to Timothy, Paul writes: “All deserted me, but the Lord stood by me and gave me strength…I was rescued from the lion’s mouth.The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and save me for his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory for ever and ever. Amen.”

The good news is that even when we do not have anyone in whom to trust on this earth, we can trust in God.

The late L.D. Johnson’s wonderful book, The Morning After the Death, ends with these words about the faithfulness of God.

“God can be trusted! In the last analysis, Christians have no more persuasive word. God can be trusted. That does not resolve all the mysteries or answer all the questions, but it gives us enough to build our lives around. God is trustworthy. He is Lord of life and death and He is to be trusted.”

The good news that helped Paul fight the good fight and finish his race was that God could be trusted. And the good news for each of us, especially those who have gathered here this afternoon is that God can be trusted.

God can be trusted when God says:

“I will keep you from all evil; I will keep your life. I will keep your going out and your coming in from this time on and for evermore.”

God can be trusted when God says:

“I will never leave nor forsake you. I am working all things together for the good. Neither death nor life, nor nothing in all of creation can separate you from my love.”

God can be trusted when God says,

“You will not die, but you will be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.”

God can be trusted when God says,

“For this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality.”

God can be trusted when God says,

“One day the saying will be true: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’ ‘Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?’”

The Holy Spirit can be trusted when the Spirit says:

“I am filling you even now with a peace that is beyond all understanding.”

The Holy Spirit can be trusted when the Spirit says:

“I am with you always, even until the end of the age. I will intercede upon your behalf, I will hear your cries, understand your groanings.”

The Holy Spirit can be trusted when the Spirit says,

“I will dwell with you and in you and live through you.”