The Memorial Service

I thought I'd write a little bit about my mom's memorial service for those of you who weren't able to be there. She had met with her pastor, Ken, before she died to let him know what she wanted to have done at her service. She wanted a lot of music and she wanted to glorify God, so that's what we did. Here's the order of the service:

Prelude: Piano and Organ music from Loren with a Men's Quartet singing hymns and praise songs

Invocation: Pastor Ken

Solo: "Here I Am to Worship" sung by Shelby, a little girl who was one of Carol's friends

Congregational Song: "Psalm 145"

Celebrating Carol's Life: Words from Mike and Debbie J.

Congregational Songs: "Psalm 98" and "Ancient Words"

Scripture Reading: Psalm 146

Mixed Quartet: "Psalm 73"

Proclamation of the Word: "Lifelong Praise (Psalm 146)" by Pastor Ken

Men's Duet: "I Can Only Imagine"

Affirmation of Faith by the Congregation

Congregational Song: "How Great Thou Art"

Benediction

Postlude: Piano and Organ

I was amazed at how beautiful all the music was during the service. We could tell that God was certainly there with us, because everything was just perfect. I mean, really perfect. Out of a family of musicians, you've got to believe that we're all pretty critical of other musicians, but it was just all so beautiful to listen to. It was even pretty fun. I never thought we'd have fun singing at our mom's funeral, but we did. Nathan had made a request to the organist that he "turn the volume up real loud" on at least one song, and he did for the last one, "How Great Thou Art". It was so loud that everyone was singing at the top of their lungs, and Nathan and I were laughing out loud in the front row from joy. It was cool.

Mike and Debbie shared some college memories of mom, and Debbie talked about their water gun incident that they shared at one of mom's chemo treatments. They read a letter from mom's close friend, Jan, which was really touching, and then they each took turns reading the scriptures that mom had been praying for each one of us kids every day since we were born (Psalm 119 M, N, J and D, for those of you with psalters). Pastor Ken gave a nice sermon.

The place was packed out, and I heard from several people that they were surprised by how many people had been touched by our mother because they all knew her to be a quiet and reserved person. I wasn't surprised, but it was really a neat testimony to her time here on Earth.

We had a reception at the church afterwards where we showed a slide show of pictures of mom throughout her life, and we got to spend a couple of hours chatting with old friends who we hadn't seen for some time. It was a great memorial service, and I think everyone went away feeling refreshed and full of life. I wish everyone's services could be like this, and I'm glad we are a family of believers who can find joy and hope and celebration in a time like this.