Class Memorial Service at Battell Chapel
Friday, June 8, 2007

Organ Prelude - Eleanor Fulton, Organist

Schmucke dich, a liebe seele - J.S. Bach
Herzlich Tut mich Verlangen - Johannes Brahms
O Welt, ich muss dich lassen(1st and 2nd setting) - Anonymous

Steal Away -The '52 Whiffenpoofs

Opening Sentences - George Dole

We call to mind this afternoon so many lives, each one a tale of joys and sorrows, interwoven with the lives of others in the ever-changing fabric of community.

We gather drawn by having shared this place when we were taking form, united by a calendar that tells us we belong together.

We welcome that belonging, having felt the touch of loneliness, and think of those departed with both grief and gratitude - we matter to each other.

Invocation

Unto you do we lift up our eyes, you who dwell in the heavens
As the eyes of servants look to the hand of their lord.
As the eyes of a maid look to the hand of her mistress,
So our eyes look to you, O Lord our God.
That you may be gracious to us.
(from Psalm 123)

Hymn - Congregation standing

Our God, our help in ages past,
Our hope, for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast,
And our eternal home.

Before the hills in order stood,
Or earth received her frame,
From everlasting Thou art God,
To endless years the same.

A thousand ages in Thy sight,
Are like an evening gone;
Short as the watch that ends the night,
Before the rising sun.

Our God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come;
Be Thou our guide while troubles shall last,
And our eternal home.

Reading - Anne Kimball
(From the Yom Kippur Memorial Service)

If some messenger were to come to us with the offer that death should be overthrown, but with the one inseparable condition that birth should also cease, if the existing generation were given the chance to live for ever, but on the clear understanding that never again would there be a child, or a youth, or first love, never again new persons with new hopes, new ideas, new achievements, ourselves for always and never any others - could the answer be in doubt?

Responsive Reading - Philip Parham

I lift up my eyes to the hills - from where is my help coming?
  My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.

He will not allow your foot to be moved; the one who keeps you will not slumber.
  The one who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand.
  The sun will not strike you by day, nor the moon by night.

The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will preserve your soul.
  The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time on
  and even forevermore.

Amazing Grace - The '52 Whiffenpoofs
(The Whiffenpoofs will sing the first two verses. The congregation, remaining seated,
is invited to join in the last two verses).

Through many dangers, toils and snares, I have already come;
Tis grace has brought me safe this far, and grace will lead me home.

When we've been there ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun,
We've no less days to sing God's praise, than when we'd first begun.

Scripture Reading: Isaiah 61:1-6, 8-9 - Anne Kimball