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

[Isobel & Jim Bishop]

Hello Jim,
We appreciate so much your description of the Memorial Service for Ruthe. 
Thank you for the pictures and words.

On the subject of Native American Education, we are in awe at the efforts 
some of you have been making all these many years. Here in Australia some 
visionary people have connected up with the Native American leadership in 
Canada to try and right some of the wrongs afflicted on the indigenous 
Australian community. A sorry story here.
We send you and Oliveann our warmest good wishes for this years work to 
increase Children's Rights and Education for C21. Thinking of Lucille as she 
conducts her Workshop at the IAL Conference this week .
Grace and peace,
Isobel Bishop.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "J&OSlotta" <slottaglobalnews at earthlink.net>
To: "Lynda Cock" <llc860 at triad.rr.com>
Cc: "Order Ecumenical Community" <OE at wedgeblade.net>; "Ruth Reames" 
<renREAMES at aol.com>
Sent: Sunday, January 08, 2006 2:52 PM
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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