[Oe List ...] Emailing: index.htm A Prison Carol

[John Cock]

Thank you, Jim, and Denver colleagues.

John 

-----Original Message-----
From: OE-bounces at wedgeblade.net [mailto:OE-bounces at wedgeblade.net] On Behalf
Of J&OSlotta
Sent: Saturday, January 07, 2006 10:53 PM
To: Lynda Cock
Cc: Order Ecumenical Community; Ruth Reames
Subject: Re: [Oe List ...] Emailing: index.htm A Prison Carol




On Saturday, January 7, 2006, at 06:57  PM, Lynda Cock wrote:

> Thought of our colleague Eric when I read this and all the persons 
> incarcerated at this season.  I hope you will be able to visit with 
> him soon and counsel him a bit.  Sounds like he might need some anger 
> management skills.
>  
> Thinking also of our colleagues Ruthe and George today as they have 
> memorial service for Ruthe.  Wonder if George able to attend.
>  
> Care to you dear folks.   Lynda
>  
>


Care to you as well, Lynda.

Lynda, I'm replying without scrolling down to experience the 'Prison Carol',
which I know will be profound. Not much time right now, though, so want to
let you know that George indeed attended the service.


I'm sending this to the OE listserve as well. (If Lynda decides to share "A
Prison Carol with the listserve, she will.) Others of us may not know the
Eric that Lynda speaks of above; he is Eric Webb, son of Craig, a Giant of a
Local Colleague, a fact known by those who befriended him and were fortunate
to know him.

Eric, like Craig, has led a troubled life. He is now imprisoned for many
years, and several of us correspond regularly with him. Partially out of
respect for Eric's Dad, but also because we see greatness within this man of
circumstance, this imprisoned soul brother.

But this memo is not about Eric, but about the completed life of Ruthe Yost,
a more well-known Colleague. I do not want my descriptive words to be the
last said about the question raised by Lynda, which I take to
be: "Please say some words about Ruthe's Memorial Service for those many of
us who could not attend but were there in spirit."

Clarence and Shirley Snelling officiated--Shirley at Ruthe's insistence!
Songs from the Methodist Hymnal, in the order they were
sung:

Hymn #89, "Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee", Stanzas 1 & 4 Hymn # 145,
"Morning has Broken", Stanzas 1 & 3

(Special Music: "The Rose", sung by a daughter and her friend w/
guitar--Amazing affect!)

Hymn #657 (sung antiphonally), "This is the Day"--"This is the day that the
Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it"--Clarence sang his lines
with deep elegance.
Hymn #117, "O God, Our Help in Ages Past", Stanzas 1, 4, & 5

Clarence read the Beatitudes, saying that the translation was "his". He
brought the verses into the present tense, consistent with the theme of the
service--that Ruthe, a, and George, but especially Ruthe, lived every day in
the realization that it was all she (they) had. Living the moment.

A reception in the Fellowship Hall of Grace UMC, following the ceremony and
Committal of Ruthe's ashes in their Columbarium, allowed all of we gathered
to mingle and experience community directly impacted by Ruthe's Living
Spirit.  We recessed to the Columbarium to the tune "When the Saints Go
Marching In" played in a "jazz" motif--very moving.

George powered his own wheelchair. He was reserved, conscious of those
approaching him, and in my opinion in close communication with his dear
wife.

The morning was over far too quickly. We parted group by group, intuiting
that this had been an unrepeatable experience.  A final gift to us from
Ruthe is the reminder that  this day is the only day that counts for us, and
we must use it accordingly.

I do not want my words to be the only ones said about today in Denver, but
if they are, I render them up as that.

Jim Slotta


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