INTRODUCTION OF 2023 Faith & Grief Memorial Arch Co-Chairs               

Jeff Logan, Faith & Grief Ministries, Board Chair

WORDS OF WELCOME                                                                                                

Kathy & Michael Crow, Faith & Grief Memorial Arch Co-Chairs

CALL TO WORSHIP (responsively)

  The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;[a]
    God’s mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
    great is your faithfulness.
 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
    “therefore I will hope in the LORD.  – Lamentations 3:22-24

OPENING PRAYER           

Pallivi Reddy-Barrett

In the darkness that encircles us all around and shuts our vision, do Thou, Lord, rise like the sun and dispel the darkness with Thy Light Divine. May all be freed from danger. May all realize what is good. May all be motivated by noble thoughts. May all rejoice everywhere. May all be happy. May all be free from diseases. May all realize what is good and healthy. May none be subject to misery. O Lord, lead us from the unreal to the Real. Lead us from darkness to Light. Lead us from death to Immortality! Peace, peace, peace be unto all! 

Almighty God! Lord of humankind: remove the hardship and release the sick of their sickness. Ease the suffering and heal them as you are the healer There is no cure except through Your healing. Help us to be steadfast and make our faith well-established. Grant us a healthy heart and a truthful tongue. Set right our affairs and forgive us our sins, our wrongs, our mistakes, and shortcomings.  Amen                                               from the Hindu Tradition

Psalm 23                            

 Cantor Vicky Glikin, Temple Emanu-El

I Peter 1:3-9                       

The Reverend Witek Nowosiad, Faith & Grief Ministries, Board Member, Spiritual Leader & Disability Advocate, Children’s Health, Plano                 

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy, he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who, through faith, are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In all this, you greatly rejoice, though now, for a little while, you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

An Islamic Understanding of Grief

Dr. Shahnaz Babaloui

Grief is an inevitable fact of life, one that each person must, unfortunately, go through. Allah (S) says in Surah Al-Baqarah, verse 155, “And We will surely test you with something of fear and hunger and a loss of wealth and lives and fruits… “

To grieve is to love, and the deeper one’s love is for someone or for the community at large, the deeper the grief for his or her loss. When we mourn the death of a loved one, we feel raw, angry, anguished, vulnerable … you name it. The pain can manifest in a variety of ways, and the coping mechanisms vary from person to person. There is no timeline for grief or the healing process, but the sharp pangs tend to blunt with time, though triggers can hit at any moment, seemingly out of nowhere. 

Measures of great comfort are received from Allah (S)’s wisdom and justice when such tragedies hit, as stated in verses 155-157 from Surah Al Baqarah:

“…but give glad tidings to As-Saabiroon (the patient ones). Who, when afflicted with calamity, say: ‘Truly, to Allah, we belong, and truly, to Him we shall return.’ They are those on whom are the Salawaat (i.e., who are blessed and will be forgiven) from their Lord, and (they are those who) receive His Mercy, and it is they who are the guided ones.”

PERSONAL REFLECTION              

Cathy Willson Monkman, Certified Church Educator PCUSA 

SOLO “Amazing Grace”                        

A. G. Black

MOURNER’S KADDISH

Jewish mourners often recite the Kaddish during times of bereavement or on the anniversary of the death of a loved one.  This prayer is spoken collectively.

Glorified and sanctified be God’s great name throughout the world, which He has created according to His will.

May He establish His kingdom in your lifetime and during your days, and within the life of the entire House of Israel, speedily and soon, and say, Amen.                 

May His great name be blessed forever and to all eternity.

Blessed and praised, glorified and exalted, extolled and honored, adored and lauded be the name of the Holy One, blessed be He, beyond all the blessings and hymns, praises and consolations that are ever spoken in the world; and say, Amen.

May there be abundant peace from heaven and life, for us and for all Israel; and say, Amen.

He who creates peace in His celestial heights, may He create people for us and for all Israel, and say, Amen.

BENEDICTION

The Reverend Witek Nowosiad