REV. LUTHER C. PIERCE

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I am REV. LUTHER C. PIERCE, a retired United Church of Christ pastor living in Gainesville in north central Florida. I served churches in Connecticut, Florida and Massachusetts, and was Executive Secretary of the Greater Miami (FL) Council of Churches back in the 60's. In early life, I grew up in Brooklyn, Connecticut, a life to which I returned in 1946 with a new bride, a gift from the military since I met her while stationed near Dothan, Alabama. My love affair with Frances continues 63 years later. We became busy, raising a family of four sons while I worked in my father’s poultry hatchery business. In high school. I had thought about an engineering career and learning to fly. WW II disrupted the first thought, but I did learn to fly. You’ll learn more about that in the first poem I post below.

Thanks for looking (and that photo is NOT current!)

MY STRUGGLE

An autobiographical poem

Every life knows its struggles,
knows the pull of competing interests,
often interests of vocational values, or
religious values that give meaning to life.

As a boy, I enjoyed going to church,
to Sunday school and worship.
By their example, my parents
led me to love my church.

As a boy, I loved airplanes,
thrilled to their sound overhead,
longing to be up there,
pilot in command.

I see it as the struggle of my loves.

Both loves continued into adulthood.
In college and in the Army of World War II,
church attendance remained important,
a natural part of daily and weekly life.

Early adulthood found me at home,
in the church of my Connecticut childhood,
enjoying its close and friendly community
as I served as Sunday school superintendent.

I became a pilot, and enjoyed
thousands of hours of flight.
I earned my Airline Transport Rating
and was a Certified Flight Instructor.
I crossed the continent, flew into Canada,
Cuba and the Bahama Islands.
I taught Frances to fly
and we carried our children with us
as we explored our land and its skies.

There came the day that Pastor Jim
told me he had a job for me.
A job I didn’t think I wanted.
But soon I heard the still small voice
say quite clearly Go. Go and work with Jim
and put your Christian education experience
to work full time helping rebuild a weak church.

Sadly, gradually, I left airplanes behind
to take up ministry that began in Christian education,
moved into ecumenical ministry in the great city
of Miami, and then on into pastorates
in Florida, Connecticut and Massachusetts.

Flying days are far behind me now,
though I still look up when a plane
appears in the sky overhead..
The old longing won’t go away.

Retirement age came some
twenty years ago, years to explore
the writing crafts that in prose and poetry
probe and expand the meaning of my faith.
They have been years to continue
serving my beloved church,
the Christian community,
in whose embrace
I find the best in life.

My struggle is long over.
Or is it?

July 2009

MY LIFE

This is the story of my life
Told as a parable
Of being in the sky I loved
And roamed
Across my mid-years.

The sky was clear,
Visibility unlimited
When I began my long flight
Across the years.

Puffs of white cumulus
Cast occasional shadows
Along my path
And I flew through them,
Penetrating their haze.

Out ahead I knew thicker clouds waited,
A storm gathering its forces,
Strong winds and heavy rain.

My instruments led me forward
Toward the marker near home.
The needle flipped as I hit it
As the rain hammered my windshield.

Time to follow the glide path,
To begin my descent through the darkness.
Faithfully it led me
Until through the mist
I could see my runway ahead.

I reduced power,
Passed the boundary,
And flared out to land.
Home!

As I taxied to the terminal
I saw a group of people waiting.
I climbed out
To fall into the arms
Of my waiting family.

Luther C. Pierce
March 2021


My 1956 F35 Bonanza
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Monroe Congregational Church, UCC
Monroe, Connecticut