Thank you to the ministers, the Plymouth family, friends and to the committee who worked tirelessly with Mrs. Doris Ray, Chair and Dr. Ella Davis, Co-Chair. We extend our heartfelt thanks for a beautiful Retirement Celebration. The love displayed by you filled our hearts with joy. We shall forever be grateful to you.

Love,

Lee and Ollie Brown

Rev. Lee Brown Jr. Tribute
Written by Rev. Nicholas Hood III
Pastor, Plymouth United Church of Christ
Detroit, Michigan
Saturday, January 20, 2007

Everything Has Its Time

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 (NRSV)

³ For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

² a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;

³ a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;

⁴ a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

⁵ a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

⁶ a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to throw away;

⁷ a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

⁸ a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.¹

 ¹ The Holy Bible : New Revised Standard Version. 1996, c1989. Thomas Nelson: Nashville The Holy Bible : New Revised Standard Version. 1996, c1989. Thomas Nelson: Nashville The Holy Bible : New Revised Standard Version. 1996, c1989. Thomas Nelson: Nashville

-We gather together today to say thank you Rev. Brown.

-To every thing there is a season and a time to every purpose under the heavens -Today is a time to say thank you.

-On a personal note, I have appreciated your wisdom and counsel and general support of my ministry these past 15 years.

-You have been a friend and a colleague.

-For 15 years I have enjoyed your confidence and positive attitude.

-Your loyalty has been unquestioned.

-I have enjoyed our early morning and sometimes afternoons on the golf course

-You have been a personal help to me in my ministry.

-When I asked you to step into the chilly and refreshing early morning Detroit River to assist me in baptizing all would renounce sin and give their life to Jesus Christ, you said yes.

-When I asked you to help with the logistical arrangements with the City of Detroit for our Church Picnic on Belle Isle you said yes.

-When I asked you to stand with me on Christmas Eve and pray for four to five hours continuously for all who came seeking a blessing you said yes. You have done this every year for fifteen years.

-I asked you to be my first point of contact for the poor who walked through the doors of the Plymouth United Church of Christ, seeking shelter, food, clothing, transportation, employment and money to pay their bills and you said yes.

-I asked you to sit with me during Church Council, Trustee and Deacon Meetings and you said yes.

-You have been a personal help to me in my ministry.

-I appreciate your willingness to pitch in and help the church and me with anything I have asked:

-You have helped in areas where you had a comfort.

-You have helped in areas that may have been foreign to you.

-You have taught, led worship, preached, visited the sick,

-When I asked you to create and lead a Bible Study in Southfield you said yes.

-When I asked you to lead worship on the third Sunday you said yes.

-I asked you to visit the sick and you said yes.

-When I asked you to take my place on the Metropolitan Jail Ministry, you said yes.

-So, our purpose today is to say thank you, Rev. Brown:

-Thank you for your fifteen years of service as a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

-Thank you the diligence and devotion you put into your ministry and the outreach ministries of the Plymouth United Church of Christ:

-We say thank you for your leadership of the Nursing Home Ministry,

-Thank you for your work with the Jail Ministry.

-Thank you for your support of the Thanksgiving Turkey Mission.

-Thank you for your support of the Christmas Toys for Children Mission.

-Thank you for your support of the Boys and Girls Summer Camp in Brighton.

-Thank you for your leadership of the benevolence ministries of this church.

-Thank you for your leadership of the Transportation Ministry

-Thank you for your support and leadership of not one, but two church golf outings each year.

-Thank you for your love, support and presence in the Pilot Club.

-Thank you for your mastery in massaging the rebirth of the Men’s Fellowship

-Thank you for the theological insight you have given the Southfield Bible Study.

-Thank you for the continuity of leadership and support you have given the Plymouth Non-Profit Housing Corporation.

-But, most of all we say thank you for being a tireless champion of a man from Galilee who gave his life on a cross,

-One who was the synthesis of grace and mercy,

-The antithesis of sin and degradation,

-Who took on the sins of the world that you and I might bask in the sunshine of eternal life!

-You have been unashamed to admit your love and devotion for Jesus Christ as Lord and savior.

-You have not hesitated in telling the poor, the tired and the confused to come drink from the fountain that never will run dry.

-To listen for that small still voice of God crying in the wilderness.

-You have told all who will listen that Jesus Christ gives strength to the weak so that we will mount up with wings like eagles and walk and not be weary, run and not faint.

Lee Brown Jr. You have run the race, you have finished the course, and you have strained for the prize of eternal life in Christ Jesus.

Thank you for your faith,

Thank you for your hope,

Thank you for your love

You have worked for the best, strived for the best and hoped for the best.

Enjoy your retirement and may the blessings of God never cease upon you, Ollie, your children and your children’s children!