Witness for Fr. Dave on behalf of Resurrection Parish and Staff
Given by Bill Reynolds
October 13, 2002

We are all gathered here today because of our love for David Baumgartel. Fr. Dave has touched each of us in a deeply personal way, creating a life-long connection that ties us with him forever. It is so good that we can all be here together, to celebrate his Life!

My name is Bill Reynolds. I had the honor of serving Resurrection Parish as the Executive Officer of our Parish Council for the last two years. Working with Fr. Dave was a big part of that honor! The Parish staff asked me to share some reflections tonight.

I remember the first time I met Fr. Dave. It was May 2001, and the Council was having its annual planning meeting. We had all heard that our new pastor was going to be Fr. Baumgartel, some of us knew of him, but most of us did not know him personally. We awaited his arrival in June with anticipation and a natural amount of wonder. He came to our meeting in advance of his formal start as pastor, and immediately impressed all of us with
-his great spirit of openness,
-his natural way of being comfortable and welcoming
-and especially his great enthusiasm! He shared with us that he was so very excited to be coming to a parish with a high amount of lay involvement. Our hearts were joyful on that day as we got a glimpse of what gifts God in store for Resurrection in the person of Fr. Dave!

Fr. Dave’s 16 months as our pastor were marked with enough challenges to sideline even the most optimistic and energetic person! We faced several difficult times:

• Our participation in the Bishop’s capital campaign
  
• Several unexpected changes in our Resurrection staff team, resignations, long-term illnesses and the like
  
• The nation’s crisis of September 11
  

• His deep spirituality,
  
• His trust in God’s grace and guidance (he constantly reminded us that we do as best and as much we can, and we MUST trust in God and God will make of it what God needs to)
  
• His humor…his ability to bring God’s sense of humor to bear when it is MOST needed. Who can forget his infectious laugh? Using the gift of humor to keep all of us grounded in what really matters!
  
• His constant focus and interest in the young people, especially the “munchkins” who he welcomed always! I learned just this morning that Fr. Dave is already hard at work in heaven working on behalf of the munchkins. One of our parishioners, a 5 year old girl, had a week long fever. Finally on Thursday night her mom prayed to Fr. Dave to help her fever break by Friday morning…of course, he delivered.
  
• His ability to sense what people really need. He worked so hard at keeping in touch with the parish, trying desperately to find out what it was that the parishioners most needed in our faith journey. Here was a man who lived out the idea of holy servitude as demonstrated to us by Jesus at the Last Supper when he washed the disciples feet.
  

• push the envelope…
  
• to find out where we needed to go next…
  
• ask what is God calling us to do as a Living Church?
  

Witness for Fr. Dave by Mary Ann McLane

My brothers and sisters, the Lord be with you.
Good evening, and a most gracious welcome to you all.
I am Mary Ann McLane, a member of the Resurrection parish family and a steward on its pastoral council.
Faced with the reality of having to update his funeral plans, Fr. Dave said to me about a month ago that “it’s going to be a blast, and I’ll have the best seat in the house.” Our faith tells us he is truly here… we welcome and rejoice in his presence as a sign of God’s fulfillment of his promises to “wipe away every tear”.
Fr. Dave was faced with many realities in this past year as pastor here, and the life lessons he taught me were in handling these realities:

• The reality of September 11, and how comforting, powerful and life-giving were his words at that Tuesday evening liturgy… how God is present in the worst moments of our lives
  
  
• The reality of needing to compose a homily for Good Friday, addressing the sex scandals, within 10 hours of the directive being written in the newspapers…how he dreaded doing it!. Yet it was one of the most powerful reflections I have ever heard anyone give… how closely our situation is to the despair and disappointment in Jesus which the apostles must have felt that Good Friday, and how hopeless it all seemed then and seems to us now. But we have the promise of Jesus to forgive, lead and raise us up in a resurrection....
  
  
• The reality of having every Sunday’s homily be based on the day’s scriptures, and yet somehow, somehow, he would link it up at the very end to move right into the Creed… I often waited in a funny kind of anticipation to hear how he was going to do that connection…to believe in God, the Father almighty, Creator…….you get the idea!
  
  
• The reality of never considering himself much of a writer, but his intense desire to remain connected and involved as pastor with his parishioners, during his illness, caused him to strive to write “letters from the pastor’s bed”… and they were truly wonderful… hopeful…always trying to put things into perspective…
  
  
• The reality of needing to celebrate a Palm Sunday liturgy, with blessing of the palms, great homily, and full music, in one-half hour for Channel 6 TV…some of us in Resurrection’s music ministry helped him do it this year…and it was a wonderful gift to the homebound, and we have the tape to prove it!
  
  
• The reality of needing so much help from so many during this past month, and his graciousness and gratitude for every ministry given to him. He truly made it easy to “be” for him, even in his greatest vulnerability…
  
  

Fr. Paul Mast's Homily - Vesper Service
Dave Baumgartel’s Wake - Sunday Oct. 13, 2002
Resurrection Parish - 7:00 PM

An old hasidic teaching states: “There are three ascending levels of how one mourns: With tears – that is the lowest. With silence – that is higher. And with a song – that is the highest.” Permit me to lead us to the highest level tonight by singing the refrain of a song that I believe expresses the essence of David’s life.

“She gives me love, love, love, love crazy love. She gives me love, love, love, love, crazy love.” Words and music by Van Morrison from his album “Moondance.” Vocal interpretation by Paul Mast. Inspiration by David Baumgartel. The connection between those lyrics and David is the God whose crazy love fashioned him into a priest so that he could freely give away so much of that crazy love to so many people.

Think for a moment about crazy love. It’s more real then we allow ourselves to imagine. An engaged couple have eyes only for one another, tuning out anyone who passes by. Crazy in love with each other. A mom, worried sick through the night about a child who is burning with fever. Crazy in love for that child to recover. A dad, anxious about how his son will take the loss of a championship soccer game. Crazy in love for the boy who will feel hurt and need healing. A teacher, concerned about a student who is showing signs of rebellion and apathy. Crazy in love for the one who needs mentoring.

Then there are your stories of experiencing God’s crazy love in the many different ways David practiced it with you. Those of you who were sad had that lifted by David’s infectious smiles. Those of you who were emotionally hurt were freed by one of his bear hugs. Those of you who were estranged from family and friends were encouraged to reconcile by his gentle words. Those of you who were struggling with the devastation of cancer, the anxiety of unemployment, the fear of an unfaithful spouse or children on drugs were comforted by his crazy love style of care giving. Those of you stressed out by taking yourself too serious were laughed back into reality by his red tennis shoes, his conversational T-shirts and his hair styles for every season. A priest crazy in love with his people.

Everyone of you was important to him. Everyone of you was valued. Everyone who was in need of the gift of his crazy love was never turned away.
It was like he was programmed to market happiness. I don’t mean a Microsoft Word program. I mean the Word of God who programs us to live our lives in such a way that we make a difference for heaven’s sake. David Baumgartel let the Word of God take root in his life in such way that the crazy love of God schooled him in how to live his life in a way that mattered, in a way that touched others with the crazy love of God. For that reason you will not be able to think of him without thinking of the God who used him as an instrument for tapping into God’s crazy love for you.

He was so good at giving testimony to the God who is crazy in love with us. In this respect he follows a distinguished list of saints, evangelists, apostles who modeled for him how to be a Christian witness. Peter was such a model for David.

In the reading from Acts, chapter 10, verses 34-43 St. Peter gives testimony to how Jesus and the holy Spirit broke into human history and changed it forever. This is the converted Peter witnessing to the people about Jesus dead and risen. This is the Peter beyond fear, beyond denial, beyond abandoning Jesus on the cross. This is the Peter who is free of all those demons by the crazy love of God who used Jesus of Nazareth and the holy Spirit to turn him into a crazy preacher of how the love he encountered in Jesus got into him, turned his life upside down and through this witness that crazy love gets out of him and into others.

After the death and resurrection of Jesus Peter had a new story to tell. It was not about himself, but about a God so crazy in love with humanity that he anointed his son with power and the holy Spirit to die and rise so our story can continue with him.

So it was written, so it was done in the life of David Baumgartel, brother, cousin, friend, priest, pastor, preacher.

There is a story about a wise Eastern master conducting a town hall meeting. All the questions people asked him were about life after death. The master never answered those questions. On the way back to the monastery one of his disciples spoke up and said, “Master, how come you never answered anyone’s question about life after death?” The master said, “Have you wondered about those people who don’t know what to do with this life and they want another one that will last forever?” The disciples persisted and said, “but master, is there life after death or not?” The master smiled and said, “is there life before death, that is the question.”

David would have appreciated that story because as all of you well know he lived his life before death with no regrets. He lived it fully not for himself but for others.

And he passed that good news on to you as St. Peter passed it on to the people of Galilee. And the good news is that the crazy love of God frees us to live life on this side of death with such passion and fire that it becomes the desire and energy for more life with God after death.

Several days before he died I talked with David about his pastorship at Resurrection Parish. I asked him to give me a one-liner which we can use in remembrance of him. He thought for a moment then said, “it was the best year of my life.”

People of God of Resurrection Parish. Cling to that one-liner. You gave your pastor the best year of his life. Smile when you say that. Smile wider when you say it with a T-shirt on. Smile even wider when you say it with a T-shirt and tennis shoes. The crazy love that God had for David will be getting out of you and into others.

Rabbi Abraham Heschel once said, “there are no proofs for the existence of God. There are only witnesses.” I invite everyone here tonight to join Hank and Eva, David’s cousins and the flock of Resurrection Parish to join St. Peter and David in giving witness before death to the crazy love of God.

Let it be a song that you sing in your heart, a heart that tonight is heavy with sadness and grief and loss. But a heart that will get free and light and comforting whenever you sing, “God gives me love, love, love, love crazy love....love, love, love, love, crazy love.” “Dave gives me love, love, love, love crazy love....Dave gives me love, love, love, love crazy love.

And now that Dave is with God eternally no matter which of those names you use to sing the refrain, both of them will be in your heart.