Monday, 8 October 2012

October 7 Burial of the Ashes Service



A Poem read by James Barr Lee's nephew

The Cost

Death is not too high a price to pay for having lived.
Mountains never die, nor do the seas
        or rocks or endless sky.
Through countless centuries of time,
        they stay eternal, deathless.
Yet they never live!
If choice there were,
        I would not hesitate to choose mortality.
Whatever Fate demanded in return for life I’d give,
        for never to have seen the fertile plains
        nor heard the winds
        nor felt the warm sun on sands
             beside the salty sea,
        nor touched the hands of those I love -- without these, all the gains of timelessness
        would not be worth one day of living
        and of loving;  come what may.
                                                                                                       -Dorothy N. Monroe



Words for Committal of Ashes read by Mary Flynn dear friend of Lee's

Eternal God, in whose care are all you r people,
we commit ashes of

Lee Anne Mary Tennyson

to the earth,
       with thanksgiving for the life she lived,
       and the love she shared.

Give her rest, we pray,
       and the joy of life everlasting.

Lee, the good earth which welcomed you in life       welcomes you now into new life.

Go peacefully.

Travel safely with our love
       into the deeper presence
              of the God who loves us into life,
              who loves us into death,
              and who loves us into life beyond death. 

                 (The ashes are buried)

A Blessing read in unison by sisters Lynda and Louise
(Lee requested this one for her funeral)

May God bless us with enough foolishness
       to believe that we really can
       make a difference in this world,
so that we are able, with God’s grace,
       to do what others claim cannot be done.  Amen

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