... eternal life with those they love.

This morning we have the funeral for an old friend of my mother’s, Helen Hill. She and Tony were long members of Holy Nativity Episcopal Church. Helen loved to sew, which gave her and my mother a warm connection that lasted as long as mama lived. The service is ten o’clock at Wilson Funeral Home on Airport Road.

Just before bedtime last night, while reminiscing through the contents of my desktop computer upstairs, I came across another death notice, that of Sam Cox of Port St. Joe, who was killed when he lost control of his truck seven years ago this very weekend. Sam was 17, a student at Port St. Joe High School, a popular young man and a beautiful son. With his girlfriend who was my parishioner, Sam came to church at St. Thomas by the Sea, Laguna Beach while I was priest there. They were a striking couple, she pretty with long brown hair, Sam with thick black curls, and my mental image is of a Sunday morning during my sermon, noticing them sitting snuggled together staring at each other, remembering myself what it was like to be that age and so in love. At the Peace halfway through the service, I looked around to greet them, and they had slipped out together.

Helen Hill was 89. She and Tony met in Jacksonville, where he was a young sailor. They married two weeks later and were together 67 years. I am reminded of a prayer in our burial service that asks, “Give courage and faith to those who are bereaved, that they may have strength to meet the days ahead in the comfort of a reasonable and holy hope, in the joyful expectation of eternal life with those they love.” 

I pray that it will be so. Give courage, faith and strength to those who are bereaved.

TW+