Funeral Service
12 February 2021 
 
Ann Williamson
 
19 September 1938 -
19 January 2021

Opening Music
The UK Blessing; Sarah Brightman, Pie Jesu

Gathering
“I am the resurrection and the life,” says the Lord.  “Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who believes in me will never die.” John 11:25

Welcome
We meet in the presence of God.  To both those gathered here and those joining us remotely, welcome.
We meet to remember the life of Ann, our mum, sister, aunt, friend; Granny Annie, Grandma, Great Grandma.  We meet to give thanks for her life and to commit her to God, whose Son Jesus Christ has passed through death before us. Hear now opening words of faith and hope.

Jesus said:
Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.  Matthew 11:28
Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Matthew 5:4

Opening prayer
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is his faithfulness. Lamentations 3:22
God of all consolation, your Son Jesus Christ was moved to tears at the grave of Lazarus his friend. Look with compassion on your children in their loss; give to troubled hearts the light of hope, and strengthen in us the gift of faith, in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen. Lord have mercy.

Bible Passages: Simon

Psalm 121 KJV
I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.
My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.
He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber.
Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.
The Lord is thy keeper: the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand.
The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.
The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul.
The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.

Micah 6 v 6-8 NRSV
With what shall I come before the Lord,
    and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
    with calves a year old?
Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
    with ten thousands of rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
    the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
He has told you, O mortal, what is good;
    and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
    and to walk humbly with your God?

Romans  8 v 31-39 NRSV
What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? 32 He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else? 33 Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us. 35 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written,
  “For your sake we are being killed all day long;
   we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor 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.   Amen

Tribute: Andrew

Hymn: Amazing Grace

Prayers
Let us pray.

We thank you God for all those who cared for mum, especially in her last few years as Parkinson’s disease affected her.  We pray particularly for those who nursed her at Moorlands in her last weeks. We remember their skill and their kindness. We thank you for their watchful eye, their soothing hand.
We thank you for those who brought relief from pain, and shared our
burden with us.

Lord in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.

Family Prayers

Lord in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.

Eternal God, we pray for ourselves as we pray for your daughter Ann. We stand where earth and heaven meet, where life is brought to death, and death is made the gate to glory. Grant us that peace which the world cannot give, so that we, with Ann, may trust in you and find our life in you.
We make our prayer through Jesus Christ, our Saviour in life and death, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, One God for ever and ever. 

Lord in your mercy.
Hear our prayer.

Let us pray with confidence, as our Saviour taught us:

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name;
Your kingdom come, your will be done; on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread and forgive us our sins
As we forgive those who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.
For yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory,
For ever and ever
Amen.

God of mercy,
You know us, love us
And hear our prayers:
Keep us in the eternal fellowship of Jesus Christ our Saviour.

Amen

Commendation

God our creator and redeemer,
by your power Christ conquered death
and entered into glory.
Confident of his victory
and claiming his promises,
we entrust your daughter Ann to your mercy
in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen

Some words from Psalm 103:
The Lord is full of compassion and mercy:
slow to anger and of great goodness.
As a father is tender towards his children;
so is the Lord tender to those that fear him.

For he knows of what we are made;
he remembers that we are but dust.

Our days are like the grass;
we flourish like a flower of the field;
when the wind goes over it, it is gone;
and its place will know it no more.

But the merciful goodness of the Lord
endures for ever and ever –
and his righteousness upon their children’s children.

Committal

Father God, we have entrusted your daughter Ann to your mercy
and we now commit her body to the ground:
earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust;
in sure and certain hope
of the resurrection to eternal life
through our Lord Jesus Christ,
who died, was buried, and rose again for us.
To him be glory for ever.  Amen.

Memorial of single flowers

Sea Fever: Adam

I must down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by;
And the wheel’s kick and the wind’s song and the white sails shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea’s face, and a grey dawn breaking.

I must down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the seagulls crying.

I must down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gulls’ way and the whales’ way where the wind’s like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick’s over.

John Masefield

High Flight: Emily

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds, and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of – wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring there,
I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air…

Up, up the long, delirious burning blue
I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or ever eagle flew –
And, while with silent, lifting mind I’ve trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

John Gillespie Magee

Closing Prayers:

Jesus said, ‘Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.’
Loving God, we long for peace: peace to leave Ann with you,
peace to strengthen us for today and tomorrow, peace with ourselves,
with each other and with you.
Grant us that peace which the world cannot give:
through Jesus Christ, your Son.
Amen.

May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the rains fall soft upon your fields and,
until we meet again,
may God hold you in the palm of His hand. 
Amen.

Closing Music
Josh Groban, You Raise Me Up