The son of the church member died unexpectedly, at age 52. I had never met him. But I learned about him at his funeral. For one, the church was full. Lots of people came to say good-bye to him. The more interesting aspect I found was the presence of his co-workers. There were two rows full of family members on one side of the aisle; there were two and a half rows full of his co-workers on the other side. They came in together, sat together, and stood together. Eight of them served as pallbearers. There was a row of bright yellow trucks in the parking lot where they had parked together. This man had worked at this same job for 30 years. And his co-workers came to pay their respects. The only thing they didn't do together was pay attention during the service. It was fairly obvious to me which ones were accustomed to being in church and could have prayed the 23rd Psalm along with me and which ones were only in a church for this man's sake. But they all came.
On the other hand, my Grandma lived a long, full life. Her death was not a surprise. It was back in February and we held her memorial service shortly thereafter. However, the ground in NY was too frozen last winter to bury her then, which is why she wasn't buried until last week. I thought I knew my Grandma pretty well, but I learned even more about her in her death. She had planned her memorial service before she passed: chose which Scriptures she wanted read and which hymns she wanted us to sing as well as choosing to celebrate the Eucharist. Grandma was a life-long Episcopalian; the service was at the church she'd attended and been active in for the previous 30 years or so. The recessional hymn, "Faith of our Fathers," written by Frederick Faber in 1849, has stayed with me these past six months. That Grandma would chose this hymn to be sung by her family and friends at her memorial service speaks volumes to me.
Faith of our fathers, living still,
In spite of dungeon, fire and sword;
O how our hearts beat high with joy
Whenever we hear that glorious Word!
Faith of our fathers, holy faith!
We will be true to thee till death.
Faith of our fathers, we will strive
To win all nations unto Thee;
And through the truth that comes from God,
We all shall then be truly free.
We will be true to thee till death.
Faith of our fathers, we will love
Both friend and foe in all our strife;
And preach Thee, too, as love knows how
By kindly words and virtuous life.
We will be true to thee till death.
No comments:
Post a Comment