She Loved

This service was adapted from resources in Chalice Worship and the Chalice Hymnal.

Gathered in Christ’s name, let us praise God

Who is our certain hope in all life’s varied circumstances

In the face of death believe the good news the scriptures proclaim:

As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you.

Hymn: Amazing Grace #546

We have come together within the strengthening fellowship of friends and family

To praise God for the life of Dorothy McKinney;

To share our grief with God and with one another;

To reaffirm our faith in God’s unfailing goodness;

To hear again God’s promise of resurrection;

And to commend Dorothy to God’s everlasting care.

Gracious God, your steadfast love endures forever,

Your faithfulness to all generations.

Trustworthy in all your words, and gracious in all your deeds,

Minister to us now in our grief.

Speak to our hearts your word of comfort.

Touch us into hope through the promises of holy scripture.

Enfold us within the fellowship of all who share our sorrow.

Fill us with the joy and peace that comes from above.

In quietness and peace we wait upon you.

Amen.

Hear now these words...

From the gospel of Matthew (5:1-11)

¹When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. ²Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying: ³"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.⁴"Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. ⁵"Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. ⁶"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. ⁷"Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. ⁸"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. ⁹"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. ¹⁰"Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. ¹¹"Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.

And from Paul's letter to the Romans (8:35-39)

³⁵Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ³⁶As it is written, "For your sake we are being killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered." ³⁷No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.³⁸For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

When I sat down with the family to talk about today’s service, the same two words kept coming up as we spoke about Dorothy… “she loved”.

She loved her family

She loved her church

She loved her friends

She loved to travel

She loved to teach

She loved children

She loved.

She loved her family. Dorothy loved her husband Frank. For over sixty years they were life companions and soul mates. They were completely devoted to one another and had a mutual respect that served them well in their years together. She doted on Frank, catered to his needs, but when she really wanted something, she’d stand firm. This love saw them through good times and through some trials. When the tornados of 1974 struck, Dorothy was stranded in the roofless music room of Southwestern school where she taught. Frank loaded up the chainsaws and he and Bob drove the tree covered roads, stopping to saw through where they needed to in order to rescue her. Later in life when Frank decided he wanted to go to Alaska for a vacation, Dorothy told him that was fine… as long as he took her to Hawaii. They enjoyed both trips. Her love for Frank was clear in how she cared for him and in the way she’d slip her hand into his as they sat together on the back pew of this church.

She loved her children. Dorothy would have done just about anything for her boys Bob and Jon, including standing up to a bully in the grocery store parking lot. She loved her sons and her daughters-in-law Diane and Paula. She was so proud of her grandchildren. She loved Jason, Lisa, Jessica and Jenna so very much--Taking time to make Halloween costumes, making sure they all got cards on their birthdays and other important days, and even retiring early to help care for Jessica. She spoiled them with her love and attention and instilled within each of them the values of love and family she held so dear. Her great grandchildren Kathryn, Julia, Thomas, Savannah, Alex, and Joelle were a source of great pride for Dorothy as well.

She loved her church. Dorothy was a faithful member of this church and of the women’s fellowship here. She made sure that her children were active in camps and bible school and she was a willing Sunday School and bible school volunteer and teacher. She considered each fellow member of this church a member of her family, and she cared for all of us. Important events in the lives of the members of this church were always marked with a card from Dorothy. Not a birthday, graduation, or wedding went by without Dorothy making sure to offer her love and congratulations.

She loved her friends. She cared deeply for the group of teachers that she had grown to know through her 33 years of teaching. Many of them called her “bluegrass” which was her CB handle and became a well loved nickname, especially of her friend Rennie. These friends cared for Dorothy as well, some sending cards and letters and flowers whenever they could.

She loved to travel. She and Frank went on all sorts of wonderful trips together. But, Dorothy didn’t just love the destinations they visited. Sure, she enjoyed the scenery and the sights to see, but what she really enjoyed was meeting the people she traveled with—making connections and friends all over the world.

She loved to teach. For Dorothy, teaching didn’t just occur in the 33 years she spent in the classroom. She rarely passed up an opportunity to correct her son’s English or to ensure that the church bulletin had every word spelled correctly. She loved sharing bible stories with the children of this church and she enjoyed reading…both to herself and to her grandchildren. She had a great talent for writing poetry and for making the words she wrote sing with the joy with which they were written.

And oh how she loved children…not just her own children, grand children and great-grandchildren…but all the children of her church, her classes, and her community.

She loved.

When I asked her family about a scripture verse, one of them noted that we should read the beatitudes…because all of the things they describe, describe Dorothy. She was kind, and merciful, she was a peacemaker and a peaceful soul. But above all of these things, she loved. And that is the greatest lesson she had to teach us, and the most beautiful thing we can all take from the time here on earth we shared with her. She Loved.

O God, our Strength and our Redeemer, Giver of life and Conqueror of death, we open our hearts to you just as we are. We celebrate your gift of life freely given, but are grieved by a sense of loss in the face of death. The love which binds us to one another leaves us aching as ties are broken. Accept our tears as emblems of devotion, and transform them into waters of life to nourish the days ahead.

We trust you. We love you. We know that in Christ your love is ever-lasting. Nothing can separate us from your abiding care. With you is eternal life.

We thank you especially for your gift of Dorothy McKinney into the lives of those who have loved her. With confidence now, we entrust Dorothy to your unfailing love and overflowing goodness. Through the power that raised Christ from the dead to live eternally with you, lift up this, your servant, to life fulfilled beyond our imagining. We give her to you and ask that you accept her as all she is, enfolding her in your everlasting arms and embracing her as your friend.

Now strengthen us, through the gift of your spirit, to face the future with confidence that you stand with us. Grant that the changes of life may leave us stronger as we journey through life.

Reassured of your abiding presence, help us to knit more firmly the ties that bind us one to another. Renewed by your love, help us to love in even larger circles so as to embrace your people everywhere ‘til at last we are all united eternally through Christ, in whose name we pray.

Amen.

It may seem odd for us to celebrate the Lord’s Supper at a funeral, but in the tradition of the Christian Church Disciples of Christ, partaking of communion together is a key part of worship. When we partake, we partake together with the host of Christian believers in all times and places. We celebrate at this table with one another, and with all the saints who have gone before us. We dine at this table with Christ, and we dine at this table with our friend Dorothy. This table is open to all who would partake and the invitation is made on behalf of the one who made this meal possible, Jesus Christ himself.

As we prepare for the communion, please join in singing Softly and Tenderly, found on page 340 in your hymnal.

Hymn: Softly and Tenderly #340

Prayer for the Loaf

Words of Institution

Prayer for the Cup

Words of Institution

In the 1870’s a man named Horatio Spafford lost his entire fortune due to the great Chicago Fire. Shortly thereafter, while crossing the Atlantic, all four of his daughters were killed when their ship collided with another. Several weeks later, his own ship passed by the place where his daughters had died, and Horatio penned the words to “It is well with my Soul.” This hymn stands in testament to the eternal hope that no matter what happens to us, God will be beside us, even in our moments of darkest grief. Will you please stand and sing Hymn number 561, It is well with My Soul.

Hymn: It is well with My Soul #561

Take courage. Go in the knowledge that the loving God is your eternal friend and companion.

And may the God of peace

Make you complete in every good thing

So that you may do God's work in the world

Through Jesus Christ

Our Savior and our Shepherd.

Amen.

The Eternal God is our refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

Purpose:

In the stillness of this place we turn to God who is our beginning and our end. From dust we have been made and to dust we return. With reverence we gather to thank God for the gift of Dorothy McKinney to us and to commit her earthly body to the ground with the confidence that neither life nor death can separate any of us from the love of God we know in Christ Jesus.

Memoriam:

We hold in grateful memory this one who is now separated from us by death. Though we cannot recall her to life, we can remember her and fix her memory within our hearts for as long as we live. We can celebrate the fullness of her life, with all its beauty and goodness and rejoice in the ties that bind us one to another.

Committal:

Having commended Dorothy, our companion on life’s journey, into the hands of God, we now commit her body to the ground; confident that the one who has made us shall not leave us in the dust, but in Christ gave us the victory of eternal life. We look to the final day when, as the scriptures promise, God “will wipe every tear from our eyes and there will be an end to death, and to mourning, and crying and pain, for the old order has passed away."

Prayer:

God of all life, we thank you for the life we remember here today.

W

We ask that you be with us in the days ahead

As sorrow and loneliness weave their shadows around us.

Through the power of Christ's resurrection

Restore our hope and give us the strength to carry on with our lives.

We pray that your grace and love will be an abiding presence

In this time of need.

Fill our spirits with the truth of life.

Grant us your peace.

Amen.

This concludes our service; the family wishes to invite you to fellowship with them at the extension office immediately following the service.