Easter, the IRS, crosses and my birthday

What could these things possibly have in common?

The cross at Glen Levin Presbyterian Church on Franklin Road in Nashville.

Good Friday. Tax Day. My Birthday.

It’s Good Friday. The day Christ died on the cross for our sins. It's also tax day. The day the IRS drained our bank accounts of all our hard-earned money. And it’s also my birthday weekend.

My birthday and tax day always happen around the same time every year. But this year there’s something special about my birthday falling on Easter weekend…

I was born Easter weekend.

I was born on the Saturday before Easter in Gaffney, South Carolina — the town made famous by the deeply disturbed Kevin Spacey, I mean, Frank Underwood who was born and buried there. It’s also home to the Big Peach. 

My parents had moved from Amarillo, Texas to Gaffney, South Carolina so my dad could finish seminary in Wake Forest. My mother taught at Limestone University while Dad was a school principal and a minister at Beaverdam Baptist Church.

During this time my mother became pregnant with me and I know she was a nervous wreck (because she told me so many, many times). After all, a few years before, her second daughter Maryann died when she was only three days old.

When my dad died in 2008, I found a letter he wrote to Mom when she was in Brazil visiting her family. In it he asked if after returning from this trip if she might want to try again to have another child — I cried when I read those words.

Within a year I was born.

Easter and the cross at Glen Levin Presbyterian Church

As a child, my favorite part of Easter was always more about my new dress than the bunny. As an adult my favorite part about Easter is seeing flowered crosses at churches.

My personal favorite is the cross at Glen Levin Presbyterian Church in Nashville. For literally years I have stopped my car to take a photo. It's simply breathtaking how much work goes into these stunning masterpieces. 

Flowering of the Cross 

Flowering of the Cross, is an ancient and meaningful tradition that represents the transition from Good Friday to Easter, from meditation on Jesus' death to joyful celebration of the resurrection. 

This tradition transforms a barren cross, a reminder of Jesus' death, into an Easter symbol. Covered with fresh, living flowers, the cross serves not only as an emblem of Jesus' resurrection but also of the continuing presence of Christ among today's Christians.

A brief history of Glen Levin Presbyterian Church

Glen Levin was established on May 4, 1890 at Waverly Place off 8th Ave. with 28 charter members. Included in that number were Mr. and Mrs. John Thompson and Mrs. Thompson’s parents, Colonel and Mrs. John Overton. 

Mrs. Thompson bought lot #57 in Waverly Place from W.S. Criddle for $1728. 

The church was named for the Thompson’s beautiful home, Glen Levin, in appreciation for the Thompson’s financial support. Colonel and Mrs. Overton provided half the funds for the building, which cost $10,000. 

Mrs. Sam Orr was another founding member. I feel confident that would be my childhood friend, Lyn Franklin Hoyt’s family. After all her sister is Betty “Orr” Franklin Colombo of the Robert Orr Sysco family. I will need to double-check with Lyn about this. 

The church’s architect was Hugh Cathcart Thompson, architect for the Ryman Auditorium. 

In 1958 the Presbytery granted the Glen Levin Church permission to buy property on Franklin Pike next door to the Glen Levin Mansion. The new church was erected and dedicated June 30, 1963. The old church was torn down about a decade ago. (Of course the old church was torn down!)

Nashville Pikes: 150 years along Franklin Pike and Granny White Pike” by Ridley Wills II 

Thanks, Mamãe

I always wanted to send my mother flowers on my birthday. She took a big risk when she decided that I should be born. And it was meant to be… on the Saturday before Easter in 1965.

Thanks for giving me this life… even if I have to pay taxes.