LYME/OLD LYME— The Rev. Steven Jungkeit, Senior Minister at the First Congregational Church of Old Lyme (FCCOL), has today announced the passing yesterday morning of the Rev. David W. Good from complications with leukemia.
Rev. Good was Minister Emeritus of the First Congregational Church and had served as its Senior Minister for 37 years from 1975 to 2012.
In his email sharing the sad news with church members, Rev. Jungkeit says, “The breadth of his [Rev. Good’s] ministry is astonishing, both for its prescience and for its imaginative sweep. Prescient in that David anticipated many of the justice issues that we are still contending with today. Imaginative in that he used the symbols of the Christian tradition to connect with those of other peoples and cultures, demonstrating that as human beings, we all belong to the same common family.”
He continues, ” David’s ministry at FCCOL, but really, his entire life, was dedicated to countering that indifference.”
Rev. Jungkeit then gives numerous examples of the extraordinary outreach work that Rev. Good initiated, saying, “In 1985, David led the first visit to Green Grass, South Dakota, initiating a partnership with the Lakota people of the Cheyenne River Reservation that continues to exist some 40 years later.”
He continues, ” A few years after that, prompted by the struggle against apartheid in South Africa, David journeyed to that country in order to foster another set of relationships with those in the Township of Soweto, and with the Methodist Churches of Southern Africa. Later still, he forged a bond with the Koinonia community outside of Americus, Georgia, an anti-racist experiment in communal living that helped to birth Habitat for Humanity.”
Citing what he describes as “One of David’s greatest contributions” Rev. Jungkeit describes how, “… in the days and months following the 9/11 attacks [Rev. Good] [a]lmost immediately, … reached out to the Muslim community, doing whatever he could to counter the fear and paranoia generated by that event, while also helping everyone within his orbit to both appreciate and celebrate the vast wisdom of the Islamic tradition.”
Rev. Jungkeit notes, “Soon, that outreach led to the formation of the Tree of Life ministry, dedicated to the pursuit of human rights in Palestine and in Israel. For more than twenty years, groups of travelers from FCCOL, the Berlin Mosque, and many other places of origin, have journeyed together to the Middle East to learn about the profound human rights challenges facing Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, in East Jerusalem, the Golan Heights, and in Israel proper, while also learning from many Israeli voices of conscience who are seeking to build just and humane alternatives in that region.”
Recognizing recent world events, Rev. Jungkeit states, “The importance of that work becomes more evident with each passing day. It is a legacy that will continue to grow, as we find new ways to support the work of that Tree, “whose branches shall be for the healing of the nations.”
Commenting that, “David’s global outreach scarcely touches all the ways that he gave of himself to individuals within the FCCOL community, and to Old Lyme and the Connecticut Shoreline more broadly,” Rev Jungkeit explains, “Week after week, he delivered learned, impassioned, and inspiring sermons. He accompanied many people through their final days, and helped family members to come to terms with their own losses. He steered committees and task forces. Through his leadership, the Fellowship Hall and Sunday School wing was added to FCCOL. We have a Food Pantry housed at FCCOL because of David’s vision, and in his later years, he organized PARJE (Public Art for Racial Justice and Equality).”
Rev. Jungkeit concludes, “I came to FCCOL because I was inspired by the tracks David had set down throughout his ministry. It was, and is, an honor to follow in those footsteps.” He ends his email by describing Rev. Good simply as, “… this remarkable man.”
A date for the Memorial Service is still being arranged and will be announced shortly.
We send our deepest sympathies to Rev. Good’s wife Corinne and his extended family. He truly was a remarkable man.
