Memorial Service September 23, 2012

Service of Thanksgiving for Harriett Shore

September 23, 2012 at 4:00 PM

Albany, NY

Greeting

We come this afternoon to give thanks for Harriett Shore’s life.  She came into this world in Witchita, Kansas on September 17, 1932.  Her parents were Ted Foree Hobble and Grace Lyons Hobble.  Her sisters, Grace Elizabeth and Anna Mae, pre-deceased her.  She married Bruce Shore in 1953.  Together they had five children, who survive her:  Laura, Robert, Jaye, Donald, and Margaret.  She is also survived by six grandchildren: Jake, Harrison, Brendan, Sarah, Peter, Katherine.  She has one Godson, Victor.  Harriett left this world from Albany, NY on September 20, 2012 to be with God, the Christ, and the Holy Spirit forever and ever.

This is a time to say farewell.  This is a time to remember.  This is a time to support each other in our common loss.  Cry or laugh – let our emotions lead us today.  This is our time.

Prayer

Holy God, you are the source of love and life.  We come this afternoon to say farewell to Harriett, who left this world to be with you.  We give thanks for her life, remembering how she touched us and how her life blessed us in ways we are only beginning to fathom.  Be with us in this time of remembrance and thanksgiving.  Help us through our grief, supporting and strengthening us, today and for the days, the weeks, and months ahead.  Let us not forget the promise of Jesus that though we die, by your love we are given eternal life.  Amen.

Readings and Reflections:

Psalm 139:1-18

O Lord, You have examined me and know me.

 ² When I sit down or stand up You know it;

You discern my thoughts from afar.

³ You observe my walking and reclining,

and are familiar with all my ways.

⁴ There is not a word on my tongue

but that You, O Lord, know it well.

 ⁵ You hedge me before and behind;

You lay Your hand upon me.

 ⁶ It is beyond my knowledge; it is a mystery;

 I cannot fathom it.

 ⁷ Where can I escape from Your spirit?

Where can I flee from Your presence?

⁸ If I ascend to heaven, You are there;

 if I descend to Sheol, You are there too.

 ⁹ If I take wing with the dawn to come to rest on the western horizon,

¹⁰ even there Your hand will be guiding me,

Your right hand will be holding me fast.

¹¹ If I say, "Surely darkness will conceal me,

night will provide me with cover,"

¹² darkness is not dark for You;

night is as light as day; darkness and light are the same.

¹³ It was You who created my conscience;

You fashioned me in my mother's womb.

¹⁴ I praise You, for I am awesomely, wondrously made;

Your work is wonderful; I know it very well.

¹⁵ My frame was not concealed from You when I was shaped in a hidden place,

knit together in the recesses of the earth.

¹⁶ Your eyes saw my unformed limbs;

they were all recorded in Your book;

in due time they were formed,

 to the very last one of them.

¹⁷ How weighty Your thoughts seem to me,

O God, how great their number!

¹⁸ I count them -- they exceed the grains of sand;

I end -- but am still with You.

Reflections: Bruce Shore and Jim Cameron

Peace my heart...

Peace, my heart, let the time for the parting be sweet.

Let it not be a death but completeness.

Let love melt into memory and pain into songs.

Let the flight through the sky end in the folding of the wings over the nest.

Let the last touch of your hands be gentle like the flower of the night.

Stand still, O Beautiful End, for a moment, and say your last words in silence.

I bow to you and hold up my lamp to light you on your way.

~Rabindranath Tagore

Reflection: Jaye Freyer, Jake Freyer, Rick Freyer (see Memorial Posts)

The Path of Life

The young mother set her foot on the path of life. “Is this the long way?” she asked. And the guide said: “Yes and the way is hard. And you will be old before you reach the end of it. But the end will be better than the beginning” But the young mother was happy, and she could not believe that anything could be better than these years. So she played with her children, and gathered flowers for them along the way, and bathed them in the clear streams; and the sun shone on them, and the young Mother cried, “Nothing will ever be lovelier than this.”

Then the night came, and the storm, and the path was dark, and the children shook with fear and cold, and the mother drew them close and covered them with her mantle, and the children said, ”Mother, we are not afraid, for you are near, and no harm can come.”

And the morning came, and there was a hill ahead, and the children climbed and grew weary, and the mother was weary. But at all times she said to the children, “A little patience and we are there.” And the children climbed and when they reached the top they said “Mother, we would not have done it without you.”

And the mother, when she lay down at night looked up at the stars and said, “This is a better day than the last, for my children have learned fortitude in the face of hardness. Yesterday I gave them courage. Today I have given them strength.”

And the next day came. Strange clouds which darkened the earth, clouds of war and hate and evil, and the children groped and stumbled, and the mother said, “Look up. Lift your eyes to the light.” And the children looked and saw above the clouds an everlasting glory, and it guided them beyond the darkness. And that night the Mother said, “This has been the best day of all, for I have shown my children God.”

And the days went on and the weeks and the months and the years, and the mother grew old and she was little and bent. But her children were tall and strong and walked with courage. And when the way was rough, they lifted her, for she was as light as a feather; and at last they came to a hill and beyond they could see a shining road and golden gates flung wide.

And Mother said, “I have reached the end of my journey and now I know the end is better than the beginning for my children can walk alone and their children after them.” And the children said, “You will always walk with us, Mother, even when you have gone through the gates. “ And they stood and watched her as she went on alone and the gates closed after her.  And they said,  “We cannot see her, but she is with us still. A Mother like ours is more than a memory. She is a living presence.”

Your mother is always with you. She is the whisper of the leaves as you walk down the street. She is the smell of bleach in your freshly laundered clothes and she is the cool hand on your brow when you are not well.

Your mother lives inside your laughter. And she’s crystallized in every teardrop . She is your first home and she is the map you follow with every step you take. She is your first love and your first heartbreak, and nothing on earth can separate you. Not time, not space, ...not even death.

Reflections ~ Don Shore, Margaret Illis (see Memorial Posts)

Taking New Forms

When we lose someone we love, we should remember that the person has not become nothing.  “Something” cannot become “nothing,” and “nothing” cannot become “something.”  Science can help us understand this, because matter cannot be destroyed – it can become energy.  And energy can become matter, but it cannot be destroyed.  In the same way, our beloved was not destroyed; she has just taken on another form.  That form may be a cloud, a child or the breeze.  We can see our loved one in everything.  And smiling, we can say, “Dear one, I know you are there very close to me.  I know that your nature is no birth and no death.  I know that I have not lost you; you are always with me.”

If you look deeply at every moment of your daily life, you will see that person.  Practicing like this, you will be able to overcome your grief.  The same is true with your mother or your father.  Their true nature is the nature of not born, not dying, not arriving and not departing.  In reality, you have not lost anyone who has died.

Thich Nhat Hanh – “no death, no fear”

Reflection

Revelation 21:1-6

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. ² And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. ³ And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; ⁴ he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away." ⁵ And the one who was seated on the throne said, "See, I am making all things new." Also he said, "Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true." ⁶ Then he said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life.

Closing Prayer

You have blessed us, O God.  We have been blessed by Harriett’s life.  We have been blessed by wisdom from writers ancient and new.  We have been blessed by words shared with one another.  Thank you for these blessings.

Thank you for your presence this afternoon.  We are grateful for your loving kindness, which will sustain us in our sorrow for the days, the weeks, and the months ahead.  We will remember Harriett long after we depart from here – those memories will give us solace.  We are thankful that her pain is gone and she is with you, the Christ, and the Holy Spirit for all eternity.

We remember the promise of eternal life in Christ Jesus.  We pray that when the time comes to close our eyes for the last time in this world that we will open them in your realm to see Harriett again.  Amen.

Closing Hymn – Amazing Grace

Benediction