Hermano Julián López

This past Monday, el día después de Pascua, a longtime and faithful member of my Westside church went home para quedar con Jesucristo. Hermano (Brother) Julián López was only a few years older than yours truly, and had serious health issues for as long as I've attended la Iglesia Crustiana Mexicana, Mexican Christian Church. But now he is free of these and his weak mortal body and enjoying the eternal bliss of being in the Lord's presence.

Hermano Julián probably made as big an impression on me as anyone at the church. His love for the congregation, for neighboring Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, for the Westside and most of all for his -- and our -- Lord were very evident. After I began attending Mexican Christian Church I would travel by bus across San Antonio early on Sundays, to get there in plenty of time. I'd arrive before all the others -- except for Julián. He was always there before me, and greeted me with his customary smile. He usually had the coffee already brewing. Sundays when he didn't, I would make it. There came to be a tacit competition between the two of us, to see who could make the best pot of coffee for the church. I concede that Julián probably won that contest.

And there was no doubt that Julián was "king of church bell ringers". He delighted in ringing the church bell at the start and the end of each Sunday service. He would ring exactly twelve times, one for each of the Apostles! Once Julián ended up in the hospital for his second leg amputation it sort of fell on me to get the bell rung. But I hardly felt like a worthy successor to this "king of church bell ringers"!

Wednesday evening Mexican Christian Church (Disciples) hosted a visitation and prayer service for Hermano Julián. Since he was also active in the barrio senior citizens center and in Guadalupe Church there were lots of folks present. Several of us presented songs for or stories about Julián. I myself sang two: "I Am the Resurrection and the Life" and "Pues Si Vivimos".

I'm sorry that my bilingual brother in Christ has gone home to be with Jesus -- only in that I won't get to hear him ring the bell again or compete with him in the matter of "gourmet" coffee making. But I'm glad that he's now in that perfect place where he's not in pain, and his being is whole. Que descansa en la paz y la gloria de Cristo, mi hermano y amigo.