Prayers for Mourning

This is not meant to indicate any kind of religious preference on Stephen's part but rather my own exploration and need to memorialize a man I loved, repected, believed in, and trusted.

Yizkor Memorial Service {Personalized by me}

There is a time for everything, for all things under the sun:

a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to laugh and a time to cry,

a time to dance and a time to mourn,
a time to seek and a time to lose,

a time to forget and a time to remember.

This day in sacred convocation we remember those who gave us life.

We remember those who enriched our lives with love and beauty, kindness and compassion, thoughtfulness and understanding.

We renew our bonds to those who have gone the way of alI the earth.

As we reflect upon those whose memory moves us this day, we seek consolation, and the strength and the insight born of faith.

Tender as a parent with a child, the Lord is merciful.

God knows how we are fashioned, remembers that we are dust.
Our days are as grass; we flourish as a flower in the field.
The wind passes over it and it is gone, and no one can recognize where it grew.

But the Lord's compassion for us, the Lord's righteousness to children's children, remain, age after age, unchanging.

Laden with trouble and travail, life quickly passes,it flies away.

What are mortals, eternal God,
that you should be mindful of them?

What are mortals, that you should take note of them,
that you have made them little less than angel?

The sounds of infants attests to Your power,
the magnificnce of life reflects Your glory.

The heaven's display Your splendor.
What majesty is Yours throught the world!

Teach us to use all of our days, O Lord,
that we may attain a heart of wisdom.

Grant us of Your love in the morning,
that we may joyously sing all our days.

When I stray from You, O Lord, my life is as death;
but when I cleave to You, even in death I have life.

You embrace the souls of the living and the dead.

The earth inherits that which perishes.

The dust returns to dust;
but the soul, which is God's, is immortal

The Lord has compassion for his creatures.

He has planted eternity within our soul,
granting us a share in His unending life.

He redeems our life from the grave.

May we all be chitable in deed and in thought,
in memory of those we love who walk the earth no longer.

May we live unselfishly, in truth and love and peace, so that we will be remembered as a blessing, as we this day lovingly remember those whose lives edure as a blessing

Our generations are bound to wach other as children now remember their parents. Love is strong as death as husbands and wives now remember their mates, as parents now remember their children. Memory conquers death dominion as we now remmeber our brothers and sisters,grandparents and other relatives and friends.

The death of those we now remember left a gaping hole in our lives. But we are grateful for the gift of their lives. And we are strngthed by the blessings which they left us,by precious memories which comfort and sustain as we recall them this day.

Eternal God, Master of mercy, give me the gift of remembering. may my memories of the dead be tender and true, undiminished by time, not fasified by sentimentality. Let me recall them, and love them, as they were. Give me the gift of tears. Let me express my sense of loss, my sorrow, my pain as well as my gratitude and my love. Give me the gift of prayer. May I confront You with an open heart, with trusing faith, unembarrassed and unashamed. Give me the gift of hope. May I always believe in the beauty of lifem the power of goodness the right to joy. May I surrentder my being, and the soul of the dead, to your compassion.

May God remember the soul of Stephen who has gone to his eternal home. In loving testimony to his life I pledge to help perpetuate ideals important to him. Though such deeds and through prayer and memory, is his soul bound up in the bond of life. Love is strong as death; deep bound of love are indissolvable. The memory of our companionship and love leads me out of loneliness into all that we shared which endures. May he rest eternal in dignity and peace.

NATIVE AMERICAN PRAYER

"I give you this one thought to keep
I am with you still~I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond glints on snow,
I am the sunlight on ripened grain,
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning's hush,
I am the swift, uplifting rush
of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not think of me as gone~~
I am with you still~~in each new dawn."

OTHER PAGES: | Memorial Quilt: The quilt, Colors and design, Blocks in Progress, More Blocks in Progress | Memories: Intro, Musings2 , Musings3 , Musings2 | Music: Intro, Stephen's Favs | Songs We've Shared | Musical Reminders |Photos , Big Basin Photos '98| Prayers | Quotes--Inspirational | Recipes | Resources: Support Resources, Inspirational Resources Other Online Memorials | Valentine for Stephen|

POETRY: | 16July01-15Sept01 | 15Sept01-25Sept01 | 26Sept01-02Oct01 | 03Oct01-12Oct01 | 12Oct01-18Oct01 | 18Oct01-26Oct01 | 26Oct01-13Nov01 | 13Nov01-28Nov01 | 29Nov01-06Dec01 | 07Dec01-22Dec01 | 24Dec01-12Jan02 | 14Jan02-19Feb02 | 19Feb02-7Mar02 | 9Mar02-30Mar02 | 8Apr02-05May02 | 05May02-16May02 | 21May02-06Jun02 | 07Jun02-21Jun02 | 21Jun02-02Jul02 | 03Jul02-07Aug02 | 14Aug02-20Aug02 | 29Aug02-05Sep02 | 05Sep02-12Sep02 | 14Sep02-16Sep02 | 17Sep02-21Sep02| 21Sep02-23Sep02| 25Sep02-02Oct02| 02Oct02-06Oct02 | 11Oct02-13Oct02 | 14Oct02-20Oct02 | 20Oct02-28Oct02 | 30Oct02-01Nov02 | 01Nov02-09Nov02 | 09Nov02-Present | Poetry Index |

GUESTBOOK: |Sign Guestbook | View Guestbook |
| Archive of Guestbook | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 | Page 5 | Page 6 | Page 7 |

Margot Hill / mmhill@adiis.net

Return to Stephen R. Franks Memorial Page