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| Ford Englerth was a beloved member of our community |
Mary Mother of Jesus Inclusive Catholic Community At St. Andrews United Church of Christ August 29, 2015
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| Lee Breyer, Janet Blakeley, Kathryn Shea,, Katy Zatsick, Charlene, Ford'a wife, Bridget Mary Meehan, Sally Brochu |
Co Presiders:
Lee Breyer
Bishop Bridget Mary Meehan ARCWP
Rev Kathryn Shea ARCWP
Rev Katy Zatsick ARCWP
Music Ministers:
Alicia Bartol-Thomas
Rev Janet Blakeley ARCWP
Cheri McDonough
Mindy Simmons
First three scripture
readings were chosen from the New Jerusalem Bible by Ford Englerth* Liturgy
adapted from “Eucharistic Prayer for Healing” by Diarmuid O’Murchu
Welcome: Katy Zatsick ARCWP, presider at MMOJ
Welcome: Katy Zatsick ARCWP, presider at MMOJ
Lighting of Ford’s Remembrance candle
All: We are gathered here to remember and celebrate
the life of Ford, husband, father, grandfather, friend, sponsor and member of
Mary Mother of Jesus. We light this
candle in the knowledge that relationships do not end at death. We know that Ford will be with us in memories
and feelings. We gather today to
celebrate the gift of Ford in our lives and in our communities. We gather together to ask healing and to seek
comfort as we mourn our spiritual brother in faith who now resides within our
God of Love and Wholeness of Being.
Amen.
Katy: May you light this candle on days
of special remembrance of Ford and your life together and when ever you
choose. May this burning candle always remind you of our love and care for you and your family. May you be comforted by its light and your memories, love, and the presence of Ford. Amen.
Introduction to Ford’s liturgy
We thank you
Charlene for the blessings of Ford your Love, courage and strength gave him and
us. Namaste.
Introduction to Ford’s liturgy
August 29
2015
St Andrews
UCC
I am Katy Zatsick
RCWP one of the co-presiders here at Mary Mother of Jesus Inclusive Catholic
Community.
We welcome you to
the Celebration of Life of our brother in Christ Ford Englerth
We extend our
deepest sympathies to Charlene his beloved wife
and to his family
and friends who are with us today and to those who are
away.
We gather
together to offer Charlene and Ford’s family our spiritual support as we all
mourn our loss of his presence in our lives and communities.
Mary Mother of
Jesus is an inclusive Catholic Christian community and all of you are welcome to
come to the table to receive the bread and wine.
The wine is
non-alcoholic.
I knew Ford as
mutual spiritual companions on our journeys and as my AlAnon sponsor. We were
both Adult Children of Alcoholics.
Symbols of Ford’s
spiritual life are placed on our altar today:
St Michael the
Archangel is a Catholic Christian image of God’s power against sin, chaos,
destruction and evil. Ford fought for sobriety every day, 24/7 for 28 years.
Ford knew through the first Three Steps of AA program that only God has the
power to support and heal him in the spiritual battle against addictions, the
demons of his life.
We know the
suffering of Jesus before his death on the cross. We know that Jesus rose from
the dead and is with us still as our Higher Power. This image of Jesus in his
suffering and death is extending to us and through us his Compassion for all
people, the world and the universe.
Ford suffered
from and battled addictions all of his life. He accepted the love and healing
offered by Jesus Christ from the cross through the 3rd Step and lived
the gift of serenity in his life-at meetings, work, home, and with his family.
We cannot
celebrate the gift of Ford’s presence in our lives without acknowledging and
giving thanks for the Love of Charlene for her husband.
Ford credits
Charlene for saving his life and would not have lived 28 years of sobriety
without Charlene’s faithfulness and love for him.
Charlene
challenged alcohol addiction’s deadly symptom of denial. Ford said, “Charlene
brought the Big Book home and placed it on their table. I would put it away and
she put it out again. Every day for months.” Charlene did not give up and God’s
grace through her love broke Ford’s denial and he entered the 12 Step program of
Alcoholics Anonymous.
Gathering Song: Amazing Grace #431 verses 1, 2, 3
Cheri
McDonough-vocalist Rev Janet Blakeley
ARCWP-piano,
Amazing grace! How sweet the sound
That saved someone like me!
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind but now I see.
‘Twas grace that taught my heart to
fear,
And grace my fears relieved;
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed!
The Lord has promised good to me,
His word my hope secures;
He will my shield and portion be
As long as life endures.
Presider Bridget Mary: In the name of our God who is Love
and Creator, Jesus our Brother, and of the Holy Spirit God’s Wisdom and healing
Power. All: Amen
Presider Bridget Mary: Loving God, comforter and healer, we
know you are present as we remember Ford in our community liturgy.
All: May your healing comfort be with us all.
Opening Prayer, Presiders Kathryn and Lee:
God of Love
remembering Ford may we grow in deeper awareness of your extravagant love
dwelling within us, reconciling us, healing us and renewing all creation in the
family of God.
All: God grant us the serenity to accept the things we
cannot change, the courage to change the things we can and the wisdom to know
the difference. Amen
Liturgy of the Word Read by Ford's daughter, Kimberly Parisi
First Reading
On this
mountain, for all peoples,
Yahweh
Sabaoth is preparing
A banquet of
rich food, a banquet of fine wines,
Of succulent
food, of well-strained wines.
On this
mountain, he has destroyed
The veil
which used to veil all peoples,
The pall
enveloping all nations;
He has
destroyed death forever.
Lord Yahweh
has wiped away the tears from every cheek;
He has taken
his people’s shame away everywhere on earth,
For Yahweh
has spoken.
This is the Word of God All:
Thanks be to God.
Psalm response #139*
All: God, Examine me and know my heart.
Men
Yahweh you
examine me and know me,
You know when
I sit, when I rise,
You
understand my thoughts from afar,
You watch
when I walk or lied down,
You know
every detail of my conduct.
All: God, examine me and know my heart.
Women
A word is not
yet on my tongue
Before you,
Yahweh, know all about it.
You fence me
in, behind and in front,
You have laid
your hand upon me.
Such amazing
knowledge is beyond me,
A height to
which I cannot attain.
All: God, Examine me and know my heart.
Men
Where shall I
go to escape your spirit?
Where shall I
flee from your presence?
If I scale
the heavens you are there,
If I lie flat
in Sheol, there you are.
All: God, Examine me and know my heart.
Women
If I speed
away on the wings of the dawn,
If I dwell
beyond the ocean
Even there
your hand will be guiding me,
Your right
hand holding me fast.
All: God, Examine me and know my heart.
Men
I will say,
“Let the darkness cover me,
And the night
wrap itself around me,
Even darkness
to you is not dark,
And night is
as clear as the day.
All: God, Examine me and know my heart.
Women
You created
my inmost self,
Knit me
together in my mother’s womb.
For so many
marvels I thank you;
A wonder am
I, and all your works are wonders.
All: God, Examine me and know my heart.
Men
You knew me
through and through,
My being held
no secrets from you,
When I was
being formed in secret,
Textured in
the depths of the earth.
All: God, Examine me and know my heart.
Women
Your eyes
could see my embryo
In your book
all my days were inscribed,
Everything
that was fixed is there.
All: God, Examine me and know my heart.
Men
How hard for
me to grasp your thoughts,
How many, God
there are!
If I count
them, they are more than the grains of sand;
If I come to
an end, I am still with you.
All: God, Examine me and know my heart.
All:
God examine me and know my heart,
Test me and know my concerns.
Make sure that I am not on my way to ruin,
And
guide me on the road of eternity. Amen
Second Reading
The Spirit
himself joins with our spirit to bear witness that we are children of God. And if we are children, then we are heirs,
heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ, provided that we share his suffering,
so as to share his glory.
In my
estimation, all that we suffer in the present time is nothing in comparison
with the glory which is destined to be disclosed for us, for the whole creation
is waiting with eagerness for the children of God to be revealed. It was not for its own purposes that creation
had frustration imposed on it, but for the purposes of him who imposed
it---with the intention that the whole creation itself might be freed from its
slavery to corruption and brought into the same glorious freedom as the
children of God. We are well aware that
the whole creation, until this time, has been groaning in labor pains. And not only that; we too who have the first
fruits of the Spirit, even we are groaning inside ourselves, waiting with
eagerness for our bodies to be set free.
The Word of God. All: Thanks be to God.
Gospel Acclamation: Alleluia, sung by congregation
A Reading
Response: All: Glory to you O Loving God.
Now it happened
that Jesus was teaching one day, and Pharisees and teachers of the Law, who had
come from every village in Galilee, from Judea and from Jerusalem
Seeing their
faith, Jesus said, ”My friend, your sins are forgiven you.” The scribes and the
Pharisees began to think this over. “Who is this man, talking blasphemy? Who
but God alone can forgive sins? But Jesus, aware of their thoughts, spoke his
reply, “What are these thoughts you have in your hearts? Which is it easier to
say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say “Get up and walk?” “But to prove to you that the Son of man has
authority on earth to forgive sins,’---Jesus said to the paralyzed Ford—‘I
order you: get up, pick up your stretcher and go home.” And immediately before their eyes Ford got up,
picked up what he had been lying on and went home praising God. They were all
astounded and praised God and were filled with awe, saying, “We have seen
strange things today.” This is the Good News of our Brother Jesus.
All: Praise to you O Loving God.
Reflection: Katy Zatsick ARCWP
Reflection by
Katy Zatsick
As we reflect on
the first three readings that Ford chose for our liturgy today, we can
understand more clearly what was most important for Ford to leave us as his
spiritual testament and legacy.
During his 28
years of sobriety, Ford through the spiritual program of the 12 Steps of
Alcoholics Anonymous and the teachings of especially Fr. Richard Rohr continued
his healing spiritual journey.
From Psalm 139,
God had a plan for Ford and Ford’s Higher Power never left his soul or his
side. His Higher Power continually drew Ford into deeper relationship with
Himself and
revealed the Love
which is God through his family, friends, sponsors, sponsees and members of his
AA meetings.
Ford included his
experiences with the priests and members of MMOJ as part of God’s plan for him.
Ford arrived at MMOJ through the invitation of Charlie a member of his AA
meeting; Ford’s long time friend. Ford also came because he learned of the
solidarity of Fr. Roy Bourgeois with the RCWP movement.
Ford called we
women priests “these women” and at MMOJ Ford’s Higher Power continued to call
him into relationship with our God of unconditional evolutionary love and no
longer an angry, punishing, judging God-much like his own father. Ford knew well
the struggle with his own character defects of anger and impatience all of his
life. At MMOJ Ford found acceptance as a “Come as you are” member and
contributed his knowledge, gifts and wisdom to our community affairs.
From the letter
to the Romans, Ford and Paul tell us “The Spirit himself joins with our spirit
to bear witness that we are children of God.” The spiritual wounds of the
disease of alcoholism leave us no self-esteem, isolated, suffering and causing
others to suffer.
When I met with
Ford, during our shared prayer, he would smile in deep serenity and say, “I am
loved by God, I am held by God. I am at peace. I am ready to die and do not fear
death” as his heart became weaker and his energy dissipated. And so Paul’s
letter speaks to Ford’s own physical and emotional suffering as his body would
not permit him to participate as fully in life as he once did-especially that he
could no longer go fishing a sport he loved. Or that he could no longer visit
family in CA and NY, the traveling became too much for him.
From Isaiah Ford
tells us of his understanding and image of the kindom of God. “A banquet of
rich food and fine wine.” Here in the eternal now God has destroyed death
forever. This is Ford’s continuing life and his faith promises us that we too
will sit down at that same table when our journey is over and we are healed into
the Wholeness of Being the Love who is God.
Ford and I met
monthly in my home in SCC for about the last 18 months of his life. He was my
AlAnon sponsor and for both of us companions on our spiritual journey with our
Brother Jesus. Following the tradition of the Jesuit St. Ignatius, about a year
ago I led us in meditation on the passage of the Gospel of Luke you just heard.
Today after his death let me share this reflection on Luke’s Gospel and Ford’s
life story.
I began the
meditation by having us walk over the bridge before us. A movement from the
reality of the day to a deeper place within us, our soul’s consciousness. This
time Ford stopped on the bridge itself and was captivated with the scene below
him. Ford really liked this stream and the scene below. Coming from a small
pond, the water tumbled over a waterfall, clear, refreshing, The colors were
brilliant ‘like a rainbow” Rocks were under the moving water but did not impede
its flow. Ford would have liked to stay on the bridge but the meditation called
him away to where Jesus was present.
Ford was with a
group of friends as he lay paralyzed on the mat. They could not get through the
crowd before the house. His friends did climb up to the roof carrying him; made
a hole and lowered Ford down to the floor in front of Jesus. However Ford was
not facing Jesus and he wanted so much to do so. He struggled to turn from his
back and to face him. Ford was successful and looked at the Loving Face of God
in Jesus. Jesus healed him. Ford picked up his mat, paralyzed no longer and
went home with his friends and to his family.
As I reflected on
Ford’s spiritual experience, this is what I feel was taking
place.
Standing on the
bridge Ford was experiencing a life review. He looked down to the River of Life
For me, Ford
experienced the 12 Step story via the vision of his own healing in this parable.
Ford was paralyzed emotionally and spiritually by his addictions. He was at the
“bottom of the bottle” or flat on the mat. He could not move. Using the
Program of the 12 Steps the first being “I am powerless” as the paralyzed man
was. His friends and sponsors in AlAnon carried him, to the third step “I
surrender my life and will to my Higher Power” for only our God can heal the
wounds of addiction.
Ford’s companions
on his spiritual journey in AA and Charlene carry him to Jesus. The work is
arduous; Charlene and the members of the fellowship must carry Ford spiritually
in the struggle against the evil of addiction. They accompany him with all the
courage their Higher Power gives; confronting Ford’s helplessness, his denial,
his ego, his character defects, and his soul wounds. Their ministry, their
trust in God for healing, opens a way to the God within blocked by the roof-his
addiction, to his Higher Power who awaits his coming. (The house is always an
image of the soul.) With the solidarity of his community of AA, Ford goes
deeper into his soul, to lay before his Higher Power Jesus of Nazareth
Jesus forgives
Ford everything-addictions, the hurting of others, all that has taken place in
his life till now this very moment. As in Luke’s parable, God heals Ford, he is
no longer paralyzed he is free to stand up and live life fully. Ford did for 28
years until he saw Jesus face-to-face for ever in God’s house where he resides
now within the Communion of Saints.
I have lost 2
brothers and mother to the disease of alcoholism. For me Ford’s life is a gift
of Hope that addictions can be held in remission, that the spiritually of the 12
Step programs does save lives and together we can free the next generations from
the wounds of this deadly disease.
I will forever
pray for healing for all those who are affected by the disease of addiction. I
give thanks that Ford shared his spiritual journey with me as we companioned
each other on our individual journey of healing. I give thanks for the gift of
Ford for being my AlAnon sponsor. Let us call on Ford when we lack courage and
strength, when we are lonely, isolated, fearful or anxious for he is always with
us.
I am a grateful
member of AlAnon and I will never graduate from our spiritual program. One Day
at a Time. May the gift of God’s serenity be with us all.
Profession of Faith: All
We believe in our Higher Power who is compassion in
our world. We believe in Jesus, whose
death and resurrection reveals God’s infinite Love as the Wholeness of
Being. We believe in the Holy Spirit,
the breath of Wisdom Sophia, who energizes and guides us to live Christ’s
presence. We believe in the Communion of
Saints with Ford, our heavenly friends, who inspire us to live holy lives. We believe in the church as the People of
God, living in faith, hope and love. Amen.
General Intercessions:
Response All: God of Wholeness, hear our prayer.
Presider Kathryn: Confident that God hears
the voices of all who trust in our Higher Power and Brother Jesus, we join our
prayers to his.
Lee: Loving God, Grant Ford’s family, friends and
members of MMOJ peace and comfort as we mourn his loss today and in the days to
come.
All: God of Wholeness, hear our prayer.
Kathryn: Our Brother Ford shared in the priesthood of all
believers leading God’s people in prayer and worship. He participated fully as a member of the
Discipleship of Equals. May Ford join the heavenly liturgy in your presence to
sing your praises until we come.
All: God of Wholeness, hear our prayer.
Lee: Loving Higher Power, many friends and members of
our families have gone before us and rejoice at the coming of Ford. Carol Ann,
Jodi, Charlie, and Jack welcomed Ford to his heavenly home. May we too join
them in our everlasting home with our Brother Jesus and Mary his Mother and all
the saints. All: God of Wholeness, hear our prayer.
Kathryn: Many people die by violence, war, and famine each
day. Show your mercy to those who suffer
so unjustly and gather them all to your kindom of everlasting peace.
All: God of Wholeness, hear our prayer.
Presider Lee: Loving God, giver of peace and healer of
souls as we grieve our loss, we trust that you will care for us through your
compassion given by our friends and family members.
All: Amen.
Preparation of the gifts and offertory
“These Alone are Enough” Mindy Simmons soloist
Presiders Bridget
Mary and Katy (raising bread and wine)
Ever gentle Higher
Power, we offer you the gifts of bread, wine and our lives. May we love tenderly, do justice and walk
humbly with our Higher Power and Brother Jesus Christ. May we offer God’s
healing love and support to one another as we mourn our loss of Ford’s life in
our family and communities. We ask this through Christ Sophia, the Wisdom of
God. All: Amen.
Presider Kathryn:
Gracious God,
our Higher Power, source and sustenance of life, redeeming presence to the pain
and brokenness of our world, Holy Spirit, who enlivens and inebriates all that
exists, we beseech your healing power upon us and upon all we pray for today. All: Amen
Voice 1: Down through the ages, you rescue us from darkness,
from addictions and grief. You light up
our ways with wise and holy people. Today among these we add Ford Peter.
Voice 2: For all you
bring to our lives, and for all we seek amid pain, loss and suffering, we
acclaim your love and greatness and trust in your healing. You restore us from
grief and loss and you revive our lost hopes.
Voice 3: Source of our health and wholeness, healer of body,
mind and spirit, we bring before you the darkness our world and the grief and
loss of your people. We seek to be
healed and made whole; we seek to be reconciled and united. We seek serenity and wholeness in our hearts
and in our world.
All: We ask you to awaken anew in our hearts the
empowering grace of your abundant Spirit, who infuses these gifts of bread and
wine with the transforming energy of life, to nourish and sustain us in our
times of need, especially as we mourn the loss of Ford in our lives.
All: raising your hand over the bread and wine:
Let your Spirit come upon these gifts as we pray:
On the night before he died Jesus took bread into his hands and said: This is
my body, take and eat. Do this in memory
of me. (Pause)
At the end of the meal Jesus took a cup of wine,
raised it in thanksgiving to you, and said: Take and drink of the covenant made
new again through my life in you. Do
this in memory of me. In prophetic solidarity, it is poured out for you and for
all. Sustain one another in the power of
sacred memory.
Voice 4: As we gather around this Eucharistic table, we
recall God’s blessings and love from ages past, and we celebrate anew the gift
of life which we share among us at this Eucharistic feast.
All: May the Spirit of life and wholeness, who
transforms the gifts we present, transform us, too, that we may be refreshed in
our inner being and be empowered to bring mercy, love and healing to those
whose lives we touch as we celebrate his life and as we mourn the loss of Ford
in our lives. Amen.
Voice 5: The bread we break and the cup we share are
symbols of our world of abundance where all are invited to partake of the
fullness of life. But that life we often
impede by our greed and selfishness, and by our exploitation of other people.
Voice 6: So grant that in union with all peoples, living
and dead especially Ford, we may strive to create a world where suffering and
pain are diminished, where justice and peace are restored, and where all people
can live in health and wholeness, united in acclaiming the God of life, whose
abundance is offered to each and to all, until the kindom arrives in the fullness
of time.
Doxology: (Kathryn and Lee hold up bread and wine)
All: We make
our prayers in the name of our Healing, Loving Wholeness, Higher Power, through
with and in whom we offer our gifts, Source of eternal life, love and goodness,
now and forever
Sing Amen (-Danish #936)
All: (Recite the prayer of Jesus while holding hands with
your neighbors) “Our Father and
Mother…forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against
us... For yours are the Glory and Power now
and forever and ever Amen.
Sign of Peace: Mindy Simmons “I Wish You Peace”
soloist
--Please
share a sign of peace with those close to you
Litany of the Breaking of the Bread:
All: Loving God, you call us to speak truth to
power, we will do so.
Loving God, you call us to live the Gospel of
justice and peace, we will do so. Loving
God, You call us to live as Your presence in the world, we will do so.
Presiders: (Lifting up bread and wine) This is our Cosmic Christ of all creation; past, present and
future, in whom we are reconciled and healed. All are invited to partake
of this sacred banquet of Love, God of Wholeness of Being.
All: Jesus we are worthy to receive you and become
you for others.
We are
the Body and Blood of Christ in the our world.
Communion hymn
Song “Song
of the Body of Christ” Mindy Simmons pianist during communion
All:
We
come to share our story,
We
come to break the bread,
We
come to know our rising from the dead.
Verses:
We come as your people, we come as your
own,
United with each other, love finds a
home.
We are called to heal the broken, to be
hope for the poor,
We are called to feed the hungry at our
door.
Bread of life and cup of promise, in
this meal we all are one.
In our dying and our rising, may your
kingdom come.
You will lead and we shall follow, you
will be the breath of life;
Living water, we are thirsting for your
light.
We will live and sing your praises,
“Alleluia” is our song.
May we live in love and peace our whole
life long.
Thanksgiving.
Thanks to
Ford Peter Englerth from Mary Mother of Jesus Inclusive Catholic
community.
Patricia
MacMillian President of the MMOJ Board and Finance committee,
representative
for our community.
Eulogy by Ford's Son-in-law:
Mark Parisi
Bill K
Announcements:
All are
invited:
-Interment
following immediately after liturgy in the Garden of Repose
-A light
reception follows in the fellowship hall
Closing Prayer: All:
Loving
God, we’ve gathered today to share this special time remembering Ford
together. May you guide our journey
through grief to hope and healing. We
are here because Ford made a difference in our lives-husband, father,
grandfather, brother, friend. Ford
touched our hearts. We remember Ford
because we have loved and because we are loved.
Loving God of Wholeness and Being, Creator God, lead us out of the
darkness of grief and into the light of hope and healing. May we be ever
mindful of the promise of hope, even in the midst of mourning our loss, and may
we find healing in the perfect serenity of your love. Amen.
Concluding Rite
Presiders: Our God is with you
All: and also
with you.
Blessing (Everyone please extend your hands in mutual
blessing)
All: May the blessings of our Divine Healer and
Comforter be upon us especially Charlene and Ford’s family and friends. Let us go in the Peace of Christ to serve
others with compassion.
Recessional: Psalm 23 “The Lord is my Shepherd”
Alicia
Bartol-Thomas solo vocalist, Rev Janet Blakeley ARCWP pianist.
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not
want;
He maketh me to lie down in green
pastures:
He leadeth me beside the still waters.
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not
want;
He maketh me to lie down in green
pastures:
He leadeth me beside the still waters.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of
the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil:
Yea, though I walk through the valley of
the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil:
For you are with me, you will comfort
me,
You are with me, you will comfort me.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow
me all the days of my life:
And I shall dwell in the house of the
Lord forever…
forever… forever…
forever.
Please leave quietly and walk to the Garden of Repose
ABUNDANT
GRATITUDE
Gifts: Stole given to Ford by Charlie Grunkemeyer.
Big
Book Ford’s personal copy.
Death
is nothing at all—
I
have only slipped away into the next room.
I
am you and you are you—
whatever
we were to each other
that
we are still.
Call
me by my old familiar name,
speak
to me in the easy way which you always used.
Put
no difference into your tone;
wear
no forced air of solemnity or sorrow.
Laugh
as we always laughed at the little jokes
we
enjoyed together.
Play,
smile, think of me, pray for me.
Let
my name be ever the household word that it always was,
Let
it be spoken without effect, without the ghost of a shadow on it.
Life
means all that it ever meant.
It
is the same as it ever was;
absolutely
unbroken continuity.
Why
should I be out of mind because I am out of sight?
I
am but waiting for you,
for
an interval, somewhere very near,
Just
around the corner. All is well.
------A
Letter from Canon Henry Holland
Ford
P. Englerth - 1943 - 2015
Interment of Ashes in
Memorial Garden
St Andrew United Church
of Christ
August 29, 2015
Co-presiders: Bridget Mary Meehan,
Bishop ARCWP & Sally Brochu, ARCWP
Opening Prayer: Loving and Gracious God, in whose
eternal care is all creation, we are gathered here to commit Ford’s ashes to
the earth. He is here now where he worshiped you among friends in this church
that he called his “home”- a place that fed him spiritually and a place that he
loved and was loved.
We believe
that, as you raised Jesus from the grave to spread the message of love and hope
among your people, you will continue to breathe life into all of us so that we
like Ford, will be with you forever.
ALL: Amen
An Abbreviated Reading from: High
Flight by William Gillespie
This poem was written as a tribute to the
astronauts in 1986, after the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded. In the first
half of the poem, the words “they put out their hands and touched the Face of
God” are words of hope and awe. Then the poet continued::
If I be the first of us to die,
Let grief not long blacken your sky.
Be bold yet modest in your grieving.
There is a change but not a leaving.
For just as death is part of life,
The dead live on forever in the
living.
And all the gathered riches of our
journey,
The moments shared, the mysteries
explored,
The things that made us laugh and weep
or sing,
The joy of sunlit snow or first
unfurling of the spring,
The wordless language of look and
touch,
The knowing,
Each giving and each taking,
Those are not flowers that fade,
Nor trees that fall and crumble,
Nor are they stone,
For even stone cannot the wind and
rain withstand,
And mighty mountain peaks in time reduce to
sand,
What we were, we are.
What we had, we have.
A co-joined past imperishably present.
So when you walk the woods where once
we walked together
And scan in vain the dappled bank
beside you for my shadow,
Or pause where we always did upon the
hill to gaze across the land,
And spotting something, reach by habit
for my hand,
And finding none, feel sorrow start to
steal upon you,
Be still.
Close your eyes.
Breathe.
Listen for my footfall in your heart.
I am not gone but merely walk within
you.
Interment of Ford’s Ashes:
“Ripple” – written by the Grateful
Dead – sung by Mindy Lou Simmons
(Ford’s family will now place his
ashes in the earth. Then sand from
Siesta Key Beach, that touched the Gulf where Ford loved to fish, will be
distributed to each person. Each person will be invited to take their turn
and place the sand in the earth.)
Closing Prayer: Let us pray, O God of consolation and
mercy, the time of Ford’s life among us leads us to reflect on our human
condition and the brevity of our lives on earth. For those who believe in your
love, death is not an end – nor does it break the bonds that you made with us,
and that we have with you and one another. Our passing from this earth opens
for us, the eternal life of your promise. In this we place our faith and
hope. ALL: Amen
And we pray,
eternal rest grant unto him, O God.
ALL: and let perpetual light shine
upon him.
May he rest
in the peace that only you can grant. ALL: Amen
May he,
together with all those past and present when they have run their earthly
courses…may they all, through your mercy, rest in peace. ALL: Amen
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