“Abraham breathed his last and died in a good old age, an old man and full of years, and was gathered to his people.” Genesis 25:8

Last week was a painful one for our family. My dad, Henry “Hank” Schenck, died at age 80 of complications related to his terminal cancer. My mother survives him along with my brother, Paul, (and me, of course) our two sisters, his older sister, and, his beloved 13 grandchildren.

My dad was diagnosed in April. Since then Paul and I have made innumerable trips to our native home of Buffalo, New York. We have helped consistently with everything from his visits to the renowned Roswell Park Cancer Institute, to taking care of his personal business, to searching for his favorite cream soda.

Dad, who quickly became immobile, and Mom, who lost her hearing some time ago and is wheelchair bound due to post-polio syndrome, entered the St. Francis nursing home four years ago. The care of the nuns and staff there has been extraordinary. Still, there has always been more to do, and it’s kept all four kids very busy and sometimes grandkids, too.

When it became obvious Dad had begun the dying process ten days ago, the family arrived in waves to say their good byes. The night before he passed into eternity, the whole family, except for two grandchildren, gathered in Mom and Dad’s room. We each paid tribute to him by kneeling next to his bed, saying our last words, and kissing him on the forehead. Two of the grandchildren sang to him. Then we blessed him in Hebrew and English.

The last hours were like a scene from the Bible. The Patriarch, now rendered silent and motionless, surrounded by his devoted wife of 53 years and their many descendents. Six hours later, with only my older sister and me holding his hands while my mother lay sleeping nearby, Dad left us without a struggle. He had made his peace with God, he was enveloped in the love of the family he adored, and the last words he heard were from an ancient prayer based on the Psalms of David that I read to him. I can’t imagine how it could have been better.

The title of this post has to do with a conversation I had with Dad on a particularly miserable day when he was told by his surgeon the cancer was inoperable. “Well, looks like I’m going to die,” he said in almost despondent resignation. “I just ask you to help me die with dignity.”

That last phrase has been stolen and tarnished by those who promote euthanasia and physician assisted suicide, but Dad wanted no such thing. He believed ardently in the sanctity of all human life, including his own. All he wanted was what was most valuable to him– our love, our prayers, and our companionship along the last stretch of his earthly journey.

We all took his entreaty seriously and did everything we could to ease his pilgrimage. We said everything we needed to say while he could still hear it. We hugged and kissed him more than we had throughout our entire lives. We prayed with and for him, and asked thousands of others to do the same.

I miss Dad terribly, but I know we fulfilled his last request, and there are no regrets. We did it for him and for Mom. We helped him die, and for that, I’m grateful to the God who received him.

Farewell, Dad. We’ll see you real soon.

My dear friend and advisor, Patti Lyman, an immigration lawyer specializing in asylum cases for those seeking religious freedom, recently wrote me to ask, “Where’s the fire?”

Patti was referring to my indication to her in a previous E-mail that I would hold my fire on the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor until after her confirmation hearings adjourned. That has happened. Alas, Patti will be frustrated because I don’t have any fire now.

Here’s my response to Patti and anyone else who may wonder why I’ve been neutral on the Sotomayor nomination:

1) I learned early on Senate Republicans had already decided they would not oppose Judge Sotomayor in any appreciable numbers, making her confirmation a done deal practically before it happened. That made Judge Sotomayor the soon to be Justice Sotomayor. It goes without saying Democrats will support her overwhelmingly, if for no other reason, because she is their President’s pick. But I do believe many see her appointment, as an Hispanic woman, to be truly historic and important. I will draw the ire of many of my conservative friends on this one, but I believe those factors are important in inspiring confidence on the High Court, just as I do about having pro-life, pro-family and pro-acknowledgment of God God-fearers on the Court. It just makes me believe I and other believers have a fair shake at justice.

2) As Justice Sotomayor, she will be part of our ministry landscape, especially as it pertains to our work at the Supreme Court. Personal relationships are very important in effectively engaging anyone on Capitol Hill, and we will certainly seek to engage her. Openly opposing a candidate for the High Court doesn’t make for good relationships after they’ve sworn the Oath of Office.

3) I’m convinced Judge Sotomayor was the best we could expect given the current political climate. I can’t imagine a president who has publicly stated again and again he’s committed to preserving Roe v. Wade selecting a pro-life nominee. She will be a reliable pro-Roe vote, but she may disappointingly surprise some of her most ardent supporters when she gives a little bit to the other side.

4) As I told Patti, Judge Sotomayor is only one of nine justices; she is not the worse we could have gotten; and she replaces one of the worst on the Court, so the balance won’t change.

I would have loved to have seen a pro-life, pro-family constitutional constructionist on the Court, but that awaits another presidential election. In the mean time, we will continue to do what we did during the Sotomayor hearing: Pray! I do believe prayer changes things—even Supreme Court justices!

My brother, Paul, and I have said many times, “We are not lobbyists pushing legislation. We’re not litigators filing lawsuits. We are evangelists, proclaiming and living out the Gospel and all its attendant truths.

Whether you agree or don’t agree with the Sotomayor confirmation, you certainly have a role to play in it. Contact your two US senators now with your opinion. They do take note of your sentiments. It may not matter with this one, but it may matter with the next, especially if it falls near an election.

To say this week has been full of surprises is an understatement. First came my surprise VIP pass that allowed me to not only get a glimpse behind-the-scenes of the historic confirmation hearing for Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, but also allowed me to meet her and her family. 

The real surprise, though, was hauling new Senator Al Franken’s wardrobe from the dry cleaner to his office building. OK, did I get your attention? It’s true, but more about that a few lines down.

For now, let me tell you that another surprise–which should hardly be a surprise at all–is that I’m on a train to the airport at 6:11 AM Thursday, rather than getting ready for another day in the hearing room. You know by now my dad, Hank Schenck, is quickly coming to the end of his earthly life, and he’s taken a turn for the worse. I’ll catch a flight this morning back home to Buffalo, New York, and spend the day with him and Mom, both of whom are in a nursing home there near my two sisters.

Back in Washington, though, the prayer vigil and monitoring of the confirmation hearing will continue. We have a Catholic priest friend in town who yesterday joined me in the front row of reserved seating. As you probably also know, Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy is in charge of the whole exercise. Much of what does or doesn’t happen in under his control. Last week I urged the Chairman to turn his attention to the Lord during this very weighty process. He acknowledged he needed prayer. (The Bible says we’re “ensnared by the words of our mouths.”) Any way, it just “so happens” that my priest friend was trained in seminary by Sen. Leahy’s brother-in-law, also a priest. I engineered a “chance meeting” between my friend and the Chairman and they really hit it on, so much so, the afternoon hearing session was delayed getting started because the priest and the chairman were chattering away. (An open door to the chairman’s soul, I suggested to the Father!)

Today, my chief of program, Peggy Nienaber, will monitor the hearing and my priest friend will keep up the prayers. (As I will remotely.)  Please pray with us and watch as much of the proceedings as you can.

Now, on the weirdest Washington resume item I’ve acquired yet:

After the hearing recessed yesterday, I headed outside, only to find much of Capitol Hill in security lock-down after a shooting near the Capitol. I still don;t have a lot of details, but police shot a man after he brandished a gun following a police chase from nearby Union Rail station. (Where I boarded this train this morning.) Because I couldn’t get to our ministry center, I decided instead I’d go the other way to my dry cleaner to pick up suits for next week’s frenetic speaking itinerary through the central part of the country.

When I got to the cleaners, the woman ahead of me was suffering under a huge load of men’s suits she had just paid for. She literally could not carry them. The slick plastic covering over the clothes made them so slippery they were refusing to be contained and were jetting out of her hands.

My boy scout impulse led to an automatic, “Madame, can I help you?” When she turned around, I saw it was none other than Franni Franken, wife of newly minted Minnesota senator Al Franken, the former comedian. I had just met the Frankens last week at the Senator’s official welcome reception on the day of his swearing-in.

Of course, in helping a person in need, even if it is as common as managing a dry cleaning order, it dosen’t matter to me what that person’s politics may be. Franni needed help–and that’s it. But I got some bragging rights out of it, even if they are a bit controversial: I can now add to my resume that I’ve schlepped (to use a good Jewish slang word for “carrying the goods”) Al Franken’s wardrobe. It should give me a good opening line the next time I meet the Senator . . .

Pray for my dad and me today, as I will pray for you. And let’s all pray for the continuing drama as the US Senate moves ahead with the next sitting justice of the US Supreme Court.

Back later . . .

I’m sitting in the US Senate confirmation hearing for Judge Sonia Sotomayor, nominated by President Barack Obama for the United States Supreme Court. I have one of the best seats in the house–right behind the nominee with no one between me and her! It’s a great place to pray.

Please pray with me today that this will be a process characterized by truthfulness, honesty and justice.

My seat mate today is former FBI director Louie Freeh. Interesting company.

As you know, the confirmation hearing for President Obama’s nominee to the US Supreme Court, Judge Sonia Sotomayor, began today. I was present in the hearing room in the US Senate Hart Building to observe and to pray. This particular hearing room is very familiar to me. It’s called Hart 216, and it’s the “Central Hearing Facility” for the US Senate. I know it because we’ve held a number of our annual National Memorial for the Pre-born prayer and worship services there. In fact, Hart 216 is the only US Senate hearing venue that has accomodated a full-scale prayer and preaching service!

In any case, being in the actual room afforded much more information than I would have gotten simply from a television screen or computer monitor. You can read people’s body language, overhear whispers and talk with key players in the confirmation process. I was honord to be the guest of one of the senators on the Judiciary Committee which gave me a rare glimpse behind-the-scenes. It also gave the opportunity to meet Judge Sotomayor, something I had prayed would happen.

I found Judge Sotomayor very tough and not overly friendly. Of course, nominees are coached to be extremely circumspect about what they say and do during the confirmation process, so I have to give her a lot of room for that. Still, she was quite taciturn. I did tell her people from all sides were praying for her and for God’s will to be done. She acknowledged it, but was quickly hustled away by her security detail.

We didn’t learn a lot today and there were few surprises. Most of what both the senators and the nominee said in their opening reamarks was predictable. I thought the most outstanding speech was given by my friend and sometimes tutor in the Capitol Hill secene, Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah. Senator Hatch set out a powerful and very reasonable framework for the process and for taking the necessary steps toward a vote on whether or not to recommend her to the full senate for a final confirmation vote. Senator Hatch was pointed in his remarks, but not the least bit offensive. He assured Judge Sotomayor she will be taken very seriously by all members of the Committee.

Thank you for praying with us through this process. I’ll be back to the hearing tomorrow and will file another report for you at the top of the day and after the hearing recesses. In the mean time, keep praying!

I’ve always had a real thing about stereotypes. Maybe it’s because I grew up Jewish in an overwhelmingly gentile community. Maybe it’s because my father told a story when I was young about a kid he knew in school who ran down Jews, only to be shocked when my father said, “I’m Jewish.” The kid responded, “Well, you’re not like those other Jews.” “What are they like?” my father asked.

I’ve carried that burden into my very public ministry. Now it’s Christians who are often stereotyped. We’re painted as less informed, less intelligent, less educated, superstitious, closed-minded, bigoted, hateful, fanatical, severe, ill-humored, intrusive killjoys. None other than our newest US Senator, Al Franken, practiced this kind of pernicious mischaracterizing for years under the guise of humor.

Sen. Franken has not only insulted Christians numerous times and in an amazing variety of ways, including vulgarities, but he’s also mocked what we believe. He wrote a script for Saturday Night Live portraying Catholics as dogs confessing to a priest. It was never used because, believe it or not, the producers thought it would be too offensive.

OK, I’m writing about this because Jesus said we are to treat others the way we want to be treated. So, let me begin by admitting I’ve engaged in stereotyping, and I almost did it again with none other than—–Mr. Franken! You may have seen the article about my congenial, confrontation of his bigoted background just after he was sworn in to the Senate this past Tuesday. I wanted him to know that as a US Senator, he needs to think about ALL the people of the United States now, not just his old audience of Christian-mockers. But, I quickly realized I may have done just what I was admonishing him not to continue doing.

Following my face-to-face exchange with the Senator in the 9th Floor reception room in the US Senate Hart Building, I turned to my chief of program, Peggy Nienaber, and announced we could leave. All that was left was a more formal part of the program where Mr. Franken would stand at a microphone and thank all the key players in his campaign for their help in getting him to this monumental moment. I’ve heard a lot of those obligatory salutes, and we had other things to do.

Then, as Peggy and I were turning a corner toward the elevators, I heard Senator Franken begin talking about his wife, Franni. He thanked her, then choked up and cried for a moment, as he told us all how much he loved her. I’ve been around a lot of politicians—and I’ve seen a lot of crocodile tears, but this seemed sincere. It was touching, and I said to Peggy, “good for him.” It instantly defeated my own stereotype of this man, with whom I continue to disagree on so many things.

I will still challenge Mr. Franken on his policy positions, and, if he keeps it up, on his caustic humor at the expense of good people. Having seen this side of him, though, I’ll do it in a different spirit and with a better appreciation for his humanity.

Photo: TIME reports President Obama will worship in same sanctuary enjoyed by President Bush, the Evergreen Chapel.