The Burial of the Dead

Dearest God,
we offer you our prayer for all the dead,
and for our sister Katrina:
Wipe the tears from their eyes and welcome them home.

And we offer you our prayer for the living:
Help us build liberty and justice
for all women, for all children, and for all men,
in America and around the world.

The Rev. Merrill Bittner, the Rev. Alison Cheek, the Hon. Rev. Emily Hewitt, the Rev. Dr. Carter Heyward and the Rt. Rev. Chilton Knudsen will honor Swanson’s wish that at her funeral her sister priests and the bishop will stand together as equals at God’s altar. This may be the first time that priests and a bishop have celebrated mass in this way.

Grand Choeur dialogué Eugène Gigout

Rhosymedre Ralph Vaughan Williams

Anthems I and II are said as the body is borne into the church:

Anthem I

Alison I am Resurrection and I am Life, says our Saviour.

Carter Whoever has faith in me shall have life,
even though she die.

Chilton And everyone who has life
and has committed herself to me in faith,
shall not die for ever.

Emily As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives.

Merrill And at the last day my Redeemer will stand upon the earth.

Alison After my awaking, my Redeemer will raise me up;
and in my body I shall see God.

Carter I myself shall see, and my eyes will behold God
who is my friend and not a stranger.

Chilton For none of us has life in herself.

Emily And none of us becomes her own ruler when she dies.

Merrill For if we have life, we are alive in Jesus.

Alison And if we die, we die in Jesus.

Carter So, then, whether we live or die,
we belong to Jesus.

Chilton Happy from now on
are those who die in Jesus!

Emily So it is, says the Spirit
for they rest from their labors.

Anthem II

Anthem II is said immediately after Anthem I. The People’s response is sung to Hymn S 102

Merrill In the midst of life we are in death.

Alison From whom can we seek help?

Carter From you alone, O God,
who by our sins are justly angered.

People Holy God, Holy and Mighty,
Holy Immortal One, have mercy upon us. Hymn S 102

Chilton Blessed Saviour, you know the secrets of our hearts.

Emily Shut not your ears to our prayers
but spare us, O God.

People Holy God, Holy and Mighty,
Holy Immortal One, have mercy upon us. Hymn S 102

Merrill O worthy and eternal Judge,
Do not let the pains of death
turn us away from you at our last hour.

People Holy God, Holy and Mighty,
Holy Immortal One, have mercy upon us. Hymn S 102

The Collect

The Celebrants then say

God be with you.

People And also with you

Celebrants Let us pray.

All may say the following collect:

Almighty God, look mercifully upon this broken world. Give Katrina and all who die a place at your heavenly banquet. And while we live, help us, in the name of Jesus, to free our oppressed sisters and brothers from every evil; through the same Jesus Christ, our Saviour, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen

The Liturgy of the Word

A Reading from Isaiah [25:6-8]

PAUSE

On this mountain,
Yahweh, the God of Hosts, will prepare for all peoples
a banquet of rich food, a banquet of fine wines
of food rich and juicy, of fine strained wines.

On this mountain Yahweh will remove
the mourning veil covering all peoples,
and the shroud enwrapping all nations.

Yahweh will destroy Death forever.

Yahweh our God will wipe away
the tears from every cheek;
and will take away the shame of God’s people
everywhere on earth,
for Yahweh has said so.

PAUSE

The Word of God.

Thanks be to God.

Air from Suite in D Johann Sebastian Bach

Jonathan Dubay, violin; Julia Morris-Myers, organ

A Reading from the Book of Revelation [21:5-7]

PAUSE

Then I heard a loud voice call from the throne, “You see this City? Here God lives among people. God will be at home among them; they shall be God’s people. God will wipe away all tears from their eyes; there will be no more death, and no more mourning or sadness. The world of the past is gone.”

The One sitting on the throne spoke: “Now I am making the whole of creation new. Write this: that what I am saying is sure and will come true. It is already done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give water from the well of life free to anybody who is thirsty.”

PAUSE

The Word of God.

Thanks be to God.

Christ, Our Mother

Antiphon Christ, our mother, from you flows encouragement for sinners. To You be blessing forever. Repeat after each verse.

You gather your chickens under you wings;*
this dead chicken of yours comes back under those wings.

By your gentleness the frightened are comforted;*
by your sweet smell the despairing are revived.

Your warmth gives life to the dead;*
your touch pardons sinners.

Mother, recognize again your dead children,*
both by the sign of your cross and by the voice of our confession.

Warm us, your chickens; give life to us, your dead children;*
pardon us, your sinners.

Let us, your terrified children, be comforted by you.*
In your unending grace let us be born by you again.

Words: St. Anselm Music: George Swanson 1982 In memory of my mother, Leta Brown Swanson.

A Reading from “The House of Prayer” by Florence Converse.*

* These are the eight books that have influenced how I live my life. Katrina+

PAUSE

The young boy had spent happy hours with an angel in a little chapel in the woods. Now he had to say goodbye to the angel, perhaps forever.

“You say that our Saviour will some day celebrate the Eucharist here, in this little chapel that I call mine?—I may call it mine?”

“Yes,” the angel answered. “Someday Jesus will come here. You will be older then. —Yes you may call this little chapel yours.”

“If I might be here then?” faltered Timothy. “If I might come to the altar when all the others come who are hungry? —when I am older? Oh, I will try not to be disappointed if I cannot be here when the days comes for that Service. But I am going away. Good-bye dear Verger!” He put his arms up to the angel.

“Oh, but I shall see you at the station,” said the angel, in the most matter-of-fact tones; “8.15, isn’t it? I’m going too, you know.”

Timothy gave a real shout of joy, and hugged the angel tumultuously.

“Oh, I believe you will never stop surprising me!” he cried. Oh, Verger! If you are going too, then I am not really leaving the little chapel am I? For you can fly me back to it always, as often as I like!”

“Yes,” said the angel, smiling, “as often as you like.”

PAUSE

Let us bless the Creator of heaven and earth.

Thanks be to God.

Psalm 91, Verses 1-9 Joseph Gelineau

1. One who dwells in the shelter of the Most High,
and abides in the shade of the Almighty
says to Yahweh, “My Refuge,
my stronghold, my God in whom I trust!”

2. It is Yahweh who will free you from the snare
of the fowler who seeks to destroy you;
Yahweh will conceal you with feathers
and under God’s wings you will find refuge

3. You will not fear the terror of the night,
nor the arrow that flies by day
nor the plague that prowls in the darkness
nor the scourge that lays waste at noon.

4. A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand fall at your right,
you, it will never approach;
God’s faithfulness is buckler and shield.

5. Your eyes have only to look,
to see how the wicked are repaid,
you who have said: “Yahweh, my Refuge!”
and have made the Most High your dwelling.

6. Upon you no evil shall fall,
no plague approach where you dwell.
For you has God commanded the angels,
to keep you in all your ways.

7. They shall bear you upon their hands
lest you strike your foot against a stone.
On the lion and the viper you will tread
and trample the young lion and the dragon.

8. Your love you set on me so I will rescue you,
protect you for you know my name.
When you call I shall answer: “I am with you.”
I will save you in distress and give glory.

9. With length of life I will content you,
I shall let you see my saving power.
To Creator, Redeemer, and Holy Spirit
give praise for ever. Amen.

A Reading from “Man’s Search for Meaning” by Victor Frankl.*

PAUSE

One day, a few days after the liberation, I walked through the country past flowering meadows, for miles and miles, toward the market town near the camp. Larks rose to the sky and I could hear their joyous song. There was no one to be seen for miles around; there was nothing but the wide sky and the lark’s jubilation and the freedom of space, I stopped, looked around, and up to the sky—and then I went down on my knees. At that moment there was very little I knew of myself or of the world—I had but one sentence in mind—“I called to the Lord from my narrow prison and He answered me in the freedom of space.”

How long I knelt there and repeated this sentence memory can no longer recall. But I know that on that day, in that hour, my new life started. Step by step I progressed, until I again became a human being.

PAUSE

Let us bless the Creator of heaven and earth.

Thanks be to God.

Day by Day Words: St. Richard of Chichester Music: Stephen Schwartz

Day by day, Day by day, O dear Christ, three things I pray:
See you more clearly, love you more dearly, follow you more nearly,
Day by day.

After the 4^th time: Day by Day by Day by Day by Day.

A Reading from “A Town Like Alice” by Nevil Shute.*

Jean returns to the village near her war time prison and speaks to the women who had helped her in those painful days.

“Now, having money of my own for the first time in my life, I thought more of you here in Kuala Telang than ever before, and of your kindness to us when we lived with you as prisoners. And it came to me that I should give a thank offering to this place, and that this thank offering should be a present from a woman to the women of Kuala Telang, nothing to do with the men.”

There was a pleased and excited little buzz amongst the women who surrounded her. Old Zubeidah said, “It is true, the men get everything.” One or two of the women looked shocked at this heresy.

“ I have thought many times,” Jean said, “that there should be a well in this place, so that you should not have to fetch fresh water from the spring morning and evening, but you could walk out of your houses only fifty paces at the most and there would be a well of fresh water with a bucket that you could go to and draw water at any time of the day whenever you had the need of cool, fresh water.” There was a buzz of appreciation again.

That evening Jean sat opposite Mat Amin on the small verandah before his house, as she had sat so many times before when matters that concerned the women had to be discussed.

“I have come to talk with you because I want to give a thank offering to this place, that people may remember when the white women came here, and you were kind to them.”

He said, “The wife has been talking of nothing else all day, with the other women. They say you want to make a well.”

Jean said, “That is true. This is a thank offering from all the English mems to Kuala Telang, but because we are women it is fitting that it should be a present for the women of this place. When we lived here it was a great labour morning and evening, to fetch water from the spring and I was sorry for your women when I thought of them, in England, fetching water all that way. That is why I want my thank offering to be a well in the middle of the village.”

He said, “The spring was good enough for their mothers and their grandmothers before them. They will get ideas above their station in life if they have a well.”

She said patiently, “They will have more energy to serve you faithfully and kindly if they have this well, Mat Amin.

He said, “God disposes of the lives of women as well as those of men.”

She smiled gently, “Do I have to remind you, Mat Amin, that it is written, ‘Men’s souls are naturally inclined to covetousness; but if ye be kind towards women and fear to wrong them, God is well acquainted with what ye do.”

He laughed and slapped his thigh. “You said that to me many times when you lived here, whenever you wanted anything, but I have not heard it since.”

“It would be kind to let the women have their well,” she said.

He replied, still laughing, “I say this to you, Si-Jean; that when women want a thing as badly as they want this well that you have promised them, they usually get it. But this is a matter which concerns the village as a whole, and I must consult my brothers.”

It took them two days to make up their minds that the well would be a good thing to have, and that the Wrath of God would not descend upon them if they put the work in hand.

[While waiting for the well to be finished] Jean spent much of the time with the fishermen on their boats, or sitting on the beach and playing with the children. She taught them to build sand castles and to play Noughts and Crosses on a Chequer drawn with the finger in the sand; she bathed and swam a good deal, and worked for a week in the rice fields at the time of harvest. She had lived so long with these people that she was patient about the passage of time. She waited there for three weeks in idleness and she did not find it tedious.

PAUSE

Let us bless the Creator of heaven and earth.

Thanks be to God.

A Ugandan Folksong Phineas Gitta

Okujja n’ okuwangula kwa walumbe.

The coming and conquering of death.

A Reading from The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom

PAUSE

As our eyes adjusted to the gloom we saw there were no individual beds at all, but great square piers stacked three high, and wedged side by side and end to end. We crawled up into a second tier. Suddenly I sat up, striking my head on the cross-slats above. Something had pinched my leg.

“Fleas!” I cried. “Betsie, the place is swarming with them! How can we live in such a place/”

“Show us. Show us how.” It was said so matter of factly it took me a second to realize she was praying. More and more the distinction between prayer and the rest of life seemed to be vanishing for Betsie.

“Corrie!” she said excitedly. “He’s given me the answer! Before we asked, as He always does! In the Bible this morning. Where was it? Read that part again!”

I glanced down the long dim aisle to make sure no guard was in sight, then drew the Bible from its pouch. “Here it is: ‘Comfort the frightened, help the weak, be patient with everyone. See that none of you repays evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to all . . .’” It seemed written expressly to our prison camp.

“Go on,” said Betsie. “That wasn’t all.”

“Oh yes: ‘. . . to one another and to all. Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus-----’”

“That’s it, Corrie! That’s His answer. ‘Give thanks in all circumstances!”

“Such as?” I said.

“Such as being assigned here together.”

I bit my lip. “Oh yes, Lord Jesus!”

“Such as what you’re holding in your hands.”

“Yes. Thank you dear Lord, that there was no inspection. Thank you for all the women here who will meet you in these pages.”

“Yes,” said Betsie. “Thank You for the very crowing here. We’re packed so close that many will hear.” She looked at me expectantly “Corrie!” she prodded.

“Oh, all right.’ Thank You for the jammed, crammed, stuffed, packed, suffocating crowds.”

“Thank You,” Betsie went on serenely, “for the fleas and for---“

The fleas! This was too much. “Betsie, there’s no way even God can make me grateful for a flea.”

“’Give thanks in all circumstances,’” she quoted. “It doesn’t say, ‘in pleasant circumstances.’ Fleas are part of this place where God has put us.”

And so we gave thanks for fleas. But this time I was sure Betsie was wrong.

Months later I returned to the barracks from gathering wood scraps under the snow. Betsie was waiting for me, as always, so that we could wait through the food line together.

“You’re looking extraordinarily pleased with yourself,” I told her.

“You know we’ve never understood why we had so much freedom in the big room,” she said. “Well—I’ve found out. During a big argument a supervisor refused to come into the room. She said, ‘That place is crawling with fleas!’”

PAUSE

Let us bless the Creator of heaven and earth.

Thanks be to God

From Chapter13, Ravensbruck and Chapter 14, The Blue Sweater

Learn Your Lesson Well From Godspel by Stephen Schwartz

1. I can see a swath of sinners settin’ yonder and they’re acting like a pack of fools.
Gazing into space they let their minds all wander stead of studying the Good Lord’s rules.
You better pay attention, your comprehension. There’s gonna be a quiz at your ascension.
Not to mention any threat of hell, but if you’re smart you’ll learn you lesson well.

2. Every bright description of the Promised Land means you can reach it if you keep alert.
Learning every line in every last commandment may not help you, but it couldn’t hurt.
First you gotta read ‘em. Then you gotta heed ‘em. You never know when you’re gonna need ‘em.
Just as old Elijah said to Jezebel, “You better start to learn you lesson well.”

A Reading from “The Power and the Glory” by Graham Greene

Priests were outlawed after the Mexican Revolution. A police lieutenant keeps his captive, one of the last priests, in a hut overnight on the way to jail and a firing squad.

PAUSE

They lay quiet for a while in the hut. The priest thought the lieutenant was asleep until he spoke again.

“You never talk straight. You say one thing to me – but to another man, or a woman, you say, ‘God is love.’ But you think that stuff won’t go down with me, so you say different things. Things you think I’ll agree with.”

“Oh,” the priest said, “that’s another thing altogether – God is love. I don’t say the heart doesn’t feel a taste of it, but what a taste. The smallest glass of love mixed with a pint pot of ditch-water. We wouldn’t recognize that love. It might even look like hate. It would be enough to scare us – God’s love. It set fire to a bush in the desert, didn’t it, and smashed open graves and set the dead walking in the dark. Oh, a man like me would run a mile to get away if he felt that love around.”

The Lieutenant: “You don’t trust him much, do you? He doesn’t seem a grateful kind of God. If a man served me as well as you’ve served him, well I’d recommend him for promotion, see he got a good pension --- if he was in pain, with cancer, I’d put a bullet through his head.”

“Listen,” the priest said earnestly, leaning forward in the dark, pressing on a cramped foot, “I’m not as dishonest as you think I am. Why do you think I tell people out of the pulpit that they’re in danger of damnation if death catches them unawares? I’m not telling them fairy stories I don’t believe myself. I don’t know a think about the mercy of God: I don’t know how awful the human heart looks to Him. But I do know this – that if there’s ever been a single man in this state damned, then I’ll be damned too.” He said slowly, “I wouldn’t want it to be any different. I just want justice, that’s all.”

PAUSE

Let us bless the Creator of heaven and earth.

Thanks be to God.

Our Founding Fathers Words: George Swanson Music: Thomas Tallis, The Third Tune Hymn 170

Our Founding Fathers, they forgot the women in their lives.
They fought for liberty and justice for men just like themselves.
White men of wealth and property, their dream was brave and small.
O God, their dream has slowly grown. And it is growing still.

Strong women fought for liberty and justice for the slaves.
To break their chains and set them free, they taught a nation how
to change its laws, to change its heart. America has grown.
O God, the dream is growing still. And now it is our turn.

Real liberty and justice, they belong to women too.
Brave Alice Paul, she knew the truth: Our Constitution grows.
Abigail Adams and Katrina Swanson were not free.
God help us to build a world of peace, where everyone is free.

The words are dedicated to the women, children and men who found little liberty and justice in the New Orleans disaster. Try an internet search “Bradshaw & Slonsky” to see armed police preventing victims from escaping.

A Reading from “The Healing Light” by Agnes Sanford.

PAUSE

The healing light of God is registered in different ways in different people. Most of us grown people have become so dull in spiritual perception that we do not feel it at all, even though it works toward a healing. But children nearly always perceive it, either as heat or as a force that they cannot describe but often compare to electricity.

Once I was called to see a baby girl ill with pneumonia. I knelt beside her crib in silence, laid one hand upon the small, congested chest and slipped the other one beneath her back, and asked God to come into her. Soon the waxy frame of the baby was filled with a visible inrushing of new life. Even the hands and feet vibrated, as if an electric current were entering into her. A look of tension on the tiny face was smoothed away and she passed from a semi-conscious condition into a natural sleep. Two hours later her doctor came into the room. He stopped at the threshold, eyes staring, jaw dropped in surprise. For he had come to report his hospital arrangements for the child and he beheld his small patient, bright-eyed and cheerful, sitting up in bed.

“Mine doctor,” said she, “can I have a cookie?”

“My God!” exclaimed the doctor, startled out of his bedside manner. “What happened to her?”

He was quite right. It was his God who had intervened—that was what had happened to her.

PAUSE

Let us bless the Creator of heaven and earth.

Thanks be to God.

Golden Bells Dion De Marbelle

Ralph Stanley and Friends

1. There’s a land beyond the river, That we call the sweet forever,
And we only reach that shore by faith’s decree;
One by one we’ll gain the portals. There to swell with the immortals,
When they ring those golden bell for you and me.

Chorus: Don’t you hear the bells now ringing.
Don’t you hear the angels singing?
Tis the glory hallelujah Jubilee.
In that far-off sweet forever,
Just beyond the shining river,
When they ring those golden bells for you and me.

2. We shall know no sin or sorrow, In that haven of tomorrow,
When our barque shall said beyond the silver sea;
We shall only know the blessing of our Saviour’s sweet caressing,
When they ring those golden bells for you and me.

3. When our days shall know their number, When in death we sweetly slumber, When our God commands the spirit to be free.
Nevermore with anguish laden, We shall reach that lovely Aiden,
When they ring those golden bells for you and me.

A Reading from “The White Witch” by Elizabeth Goudge

PAUSE

There was joy in Froniga's heart as she came behind with Jenny and Will, for through the whole of her sensitive being she was aware of blessedness. It was the same sort of awareness that came to her sometimes on a winter's night in the middle of a storm. She would go to her window, draw back the curtains and see that the driving clouds had parted as though a hand had drawn them aside like a curtain, and in a pool of tranquil sky she would see a few stars gleaming. The storm was not over, it would rage on until it had blown itself out, but the depth of mercy beyond had shown itself. That pool of sky held all the springtimes of the world. And so it was with the storms that men in their wickedness chose to let loose upon the world. They must spend themselves. But now and then, through them and in spite of them, mercy shone, imposing some pattern upon the flux of things. Froniga knew now, as the children had known for some while, that this was to be a happy Christmas.

PAUSE

Let us bless the Creator of heaven and earth.

Thanks be to God.

I’ll Fly Away Albert E. Brumley

Ralph Stanley and Friends

1. Some bright morning when this life is over, I’ll fly away
To a home on God’s celestial shore, Ill fly away.
I’ll fly away, O Glory, I’ll fly away, in the morning.
When I die, Hallelujah, by and by, I’ll fly away.

2. When the shadows of this life have grown, I’ll fly away
Like a bird that prison bars has flown, I’ll fly away.

A Reading from Black Elk Speaks

PAUSE

You have noticed that everything an Indian does is in a circle, and that is because the Power of the World always works in circles, and everything tries to be round. In the old days when we were a strong and happy people, all our power came to us from the sacred hoop of the nation, and so long as the hoop was unbroken, the people flourished. The flowering tree was the living center of the hoop, and the circle of the four quarters nourished it. The east gave peace and light, the south gave warmth, the west gave rain, and the north with its cold and mighty wind gave strength and endurance. This knowledge came to us from the outer world with our religion. Everything the Power of the World does is done in a circle. The sky is round, and I have heard that the earth is round like a ball, and so are all the stars. The wind, in its greatest power, whirls. Birds make their nests in circles, for theirs is the same religion as ours. The sun comes forth and goes down again in a circle. The moon does the same, and both are round. Even the seasons form a great circle in their changing, and always come back again to where they were. The life of [every person] is a circle from childhood to childhood, and so it is in everything where power moves. Our tepees were round like the nests of birds, and these were always set in a circle, the nation’s hoop, a nest of many nests, where the Great Spirit meant for us to hatch our children.

But the Wasichus have put us in these square boxes. Our power is gone and we are dying, for the power is not in us any more. You can look at our boys and see how it is with us. When we were living by the power of the circle in the way we should, boys were men at twelve or thirteen years of age. But now it takes them very much longer to mature.

Well, it is as it is. We are prisoners of war while we are waiting here. But there is another world.

PAUSE

Let us bless the Creator of heaven and earth.

Thanks be to God.

From Chapter XVII, The First Cure

Hymn 671 Amazing Grace, John Newton

Ralph Stanley and Friends

Excerpt from a Letter Katrina wrote to a Friend

A friend was grieved to learn of Katrina’s imminent death, possibly in two months. The friend’s husband often tipped generously, hoping to help people avoid homelessness.

I think I am pretty relaxed about the prognosis. Maybe sometimes I get a bit impatient and wish the time would move along a little faster and then I think of all the things I’d like to get done before departure and yet quite a bit I say to myself, “You don’t need to divide those daffodils anymore, they will take care of themselves.” etc.

But what comes next? That seems to be a question for many. So I check with my Boss and this is what I come up with that works for me. (Luke, chapter 23, verses 39-43 and Matthew, chapter 25, verses 31-46.)

First of all in Luke the circumstances are so very gruesome (and I believe that Christ was killed by humanity – all of us human beings who were/are too busy being selfish and right to live a Godly open life. Christ was not killed by a small ethnic group of which he happened to be a part. Those representatives of us all just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.) But to me the glorious point of the Luke passage is the timing and the place. Today you will be in Paradise with me. Who knows if that criminal was Baptized or Christian, and it doesn’t matter!

Secondly in Matthew Jesus graphically spells out the Heaven and Hell part of the next life (but I must day, I think Jesus is such a forgiving God/person that there may be few if any who make it to Hell.) Note that verse 32 starts out that all the earth’s people will be gathered before the King. (These two passages, Luke and Matthew, lead me to believe that after earthly death we go to Paradise, as a happy comfortable Banquet “waiting room” until the Day of Judgment, when our earthly lives will be on review for all to see. Not such a happy occasion.) Evidently being a member of the club is not the ticket to this great place -- but actions like giving a double size tip rather than the minimum or not at all – sounds easy, but many a time I’m in too much of a hurry to stop and fish in my pocket for that little bit of change – or more. And yet the ticket is available to all. No one is too small or poor to be able to accomplish the price of the ticket to Heaven. In the inner city, it is usually the poorest who are the front edge of being there for their neighbors.

PAUSE

Let us bless the Creator of heaven and earth.

Thanks be to God.

Into Paradise

Antiphon Into paradise may the angels lead you. At your coming may the martyrs receive you, and bring you into the holy city Jerusalem.

Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and giving life to those in the tomb. Antiphon.

The sun of righteousness is gloriously risen, giving light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death. Antiphon.

Jesus will guide our feet into the way of peace having taken away the sin of the world. Antiphon

Christ will open heaven saying, Come, O blessed of my Father; inherit the dominion prepared for you. Antiphon.

Words: The Book of Common Prayer Music: George Swanson In memory of my wife, Katrina Martha Swanson

The Holy Gospel of our Saviour Jesus Christ
according to Luke [23:39-43]

Glory to you, O Christ.

PAUSE

One of the criminals hanging there abused Jesus, “Are you not the Christ?” he said. “Save yourself and us as well.” But the other spoke up and rebuked him. “Have you no fear of God at all?” he said. “You got the same sentence as Jesus, who has done nothing wrong. Jesus,” he said, “remember me when you come into your sovereignty.” “Indeed, I promise you,” Jesus replied, “today you shall be with me in paradise.”

PAUSE

The Holy Gospel of our Saviour Jesus Christ
according to Matthew [25:31-45]

Glory to you, O Christ.

When the Anointed One comes in glory, escorted by all the angels, and sits upon the throne of glory, then all nations will be assembled there before the throne. The Ruler will separate people one from another, as a shepherd separates sheep from goats – the sheep on the right and the goats on the left. Then the Ruler will say to those on the right, “Come you whom my Father has blessed, take for your heritage the realm prepared for you since the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you made me welcome; naked and you clothed me, sick and you visited me, in prison and you came to see me.”

Then the virtuous will say to the ruler in reply, “When did we see you hungry and feed you; or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and make you welcome; naked and clothe you; sick or in prison and go to see you?”

The Ruler will answer, “I tell you solemnly, in so far as you did this to one of the least of my sisters and to one of the least of my brothers, you did it to me.”

Next the Ruler will say to those on the left, “Go away from me, with your curse upon you, to the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you never gave me food; I was thirsty and you never gave me anything to drink; I was a stranger and you never made me welcome, naked and you never clothed me, sick and in prison and you never visited me.”

Then it will be their turn to ask, “Ruler, when did we see you hungry or thirsty, a stranger or naked, sick or in prison, and did not com to your help?”

Then the Ruler will answer, “I tell you solemnly, in so far as you neglected to do this to one of the least of these, you neglected to do it to me.”

PAUSE

The Gospel of Christ.

Praise to you, O Christ.

The Sermon The Rev. John Frederick Salmon, Jr.

All standing, the Celebrants may say

In the assurance of eternal life given at Baptism, let us proclaim our faith and say,

God, you are the almighty creator of heaven and earth. God, we trust you. We love you.

Jesus Christ, you are God’s only Child, our Leader. You were conceived by holy Spirit and born of Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, were crucified, died, and were buried. You descended to the dead. On the third day you rose again and ascended into heaven, and are seated at the right hand of the Creator. You will come again to judge the living and the dead. Jesus, we trust you. We love you.

Holy Spirit, we trust you. We love you.

Holy and undivided Trinity, one God, you gave us the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.

The Prayers of the People

For our sister, Katrina, and for all women on earth, let us pray to our Saviour Jesus who said, “I am Resurrection and I am Life.”

Jesus, you consoled Martha and Mary in their distress; as you draw near to those who mourn for Katrina, draw near to women in their oppression, and dry the tears of those who weep.
Hear us, Jesus.

You wept at the grave of Lazarus, your friend; as you comfort us in our sorrow, comfort all women who grieve for their children’s suffering.
Hear us, Jesus.

You raised the dead to life; as you give our sister, Katrina, eternal life, give life and liberty to our sisters on earth.
Hear us, Jesus.

You promised paradise to the thief who repented; as you bring our sister, Katrina, into the joy of heaven, bring all our sisters into the joy of freedom.
Hear us, Jesus.

Katrina was washed in Baptism and anointed with Holy Spirit; as you make her a sister among all the saints in heaven, draw all sisters and brothers into one family here on earth.
Hear us, Jesus.

Katrina was nourished with your Body and Blood; as you grant her a place at your table in heaven, give our sisters their place at the tables on earth.
Hear us, Jesus

Comfort us who grieve at the death of our sister, Katrina, and at the oppression of your daughters around the world; as our faith consoles us, lead us, Jesus, to free the oppressed.

The People may pray aloud during the silence.

The Celebrants conclude with the following prayer.

Alison Holy God, we pray to you for Katrina,

Carter for all whom we love and see no more,

Chilton and for everyone here on earth.

Emily Grant to the dead eternal rest –

Merrill Justice and liberty to the living.

Alison May light perpetual shine on the dead.

Carter Break the bonds of oppression for the living.

Chilton May Katrina and all the departed rest in peace.

Emily May our sisters and brothers here on earth live in freedom.

People Amen.

The Celebrants say to the People:

Let us pray for Katharine, our Presiding Bishop elect.

All may say the following prayer:

God, we offer Katharine to you to build with her and do with her as you will.

Deliver her from the bondage of self, that she may better do your will.

Take away her difficulties, that victory over them may bear witness to those she would help of you power, your love, your way of life.

May she do you will always.

The Peace

All stand. The Celebrants say to the People

The peace of Jesus Christ be always with you.

People And also with you.

Then the Ministers and People may greet one another in the name of the Jesus.

Remembrances of Katrina

Announcements

Hymn 550 The offering is for the life and work of St. Saviour’s Parish

The Great Thanksgiving As revised by Katrina and George 2004

Eucharistic Prayer

God’s People remain standing. The Celebrants face them and say

Alison God be with you.

People And also with you.

Carter Lift up your hearts.

People We lift them to God.

Chilton Let us give thanks to God.

People It is right to give God thanks and praise.

Then, facing the Holy Table, the Celebrants proceed

Emily It is right, and a good and joyful thing, always and every-where to give thanks to you, God Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth.

Merrill Through our Saviour, Jesus Christ; who rose victorious from the dead, and comforts us with the blessed hope of everlasting life. For to your faithful people, O God, life is changed, not ended; and when our mortal body lies in death, there is prepared for us a dwelling place eternal in the heavens.

Alison Therefore we praise you, joining our voices with Angels and Archangels and with all the company of heaven, who for ever sing this hymn to proclaim the glory of your Name:

Celebrant and People

Holy, Holy, Holy God, God of power and might,

heaven and earth are full of your glory.

Hosanna in the highest.

Blessed is one who comes in the name of God.

Hosanna in the highest.

God’s People stand or kneel. The Celebrants continue

Carter Holy and gracious God: In your infinite love you made us for yourself; and, when we had fallen into sin and become subject to evil and death, you, in your mercy, sent Jesus Christ, your unique and eternal Child, to share our human nature, to live and die as one of us, to reconcile us to you, the God and Creator of all.

Chilton As a self offering, with arms outstretched on the cross, Jesus became obedient to your will, a perfect sacrament for the whole world.

At the following words concerning the bread, the Celebrants are to hold it, or lay hands upon it; and at the words concerning the cup, to hold or place their hands upon the cup and any other vessel containing wine to be consecrated.

Emily On the night our Saviour was handed over to suffering and death, Jesus took bread; and after giving thanks to you and breaking the bread, gave it to the disciples, saying, “Take, eat: This is my Body, which is given for you. Do this for the remembrance of me.”

Merrill After supper Jesus took the cup of wine; and after giving thanks, gave it to them, and said, “Drink this, all of you: This is my Blood of the new Covenant, which is shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Whenever you drink it, do this for the remembrance of me.”

Alison Therefore we proclaim the mystery of faith:

Celebrants and People

Christ has died.

Christ is risen.

Christ will come again.

The Celebrants continue

Carter We celebrate the memorial of our redemption, O God, in this sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving. Recalling Christ’s death, resurrection, and ascension, we offer you these gifts.

Chilton Sanctify them by your Holy Spirit to be for your people the Body and Blood of your Child, the holy food and drink of new and unending life in Christ. Sanctify us also that we may faithfully receive this holy Sacrament, and serve you in unity, constancy, and peace; and at the last day bring us with Katrina and all our loved ones and with all your saints into the joy of your eternal realm.

Emily All this we ask through Jesus Christ. By whom, and with whom, and in whom, in the unity of the Holy Spirit all honor and glory is yours, Almighty God, now and for ever. AMEN.

All And now, as our Savior Christ has taught us, we are bold to say,

People and Celebrants

Our Creator in heaven,

hallowed be your Name,

your realm come,

your will be done,

on earth as in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

Forgive us our sins,

as we forgive those

who sin against us.

Save us from the time of trial,

and deliver us from evil.

For the realm, the power,

and the glory are yours,

now and for ever. Amen.

The Celebrants break the consecrated Bread.

A period of silence is kept.

All One was broken -- So that many could become one.

God’s People come forward as the Celebrants say the following Invitation

All The Gifts of God for the People of God.

The ministers receive the Sacrament in both kinds, and then immediately deliver it
to God’s People with these words

The Body of Christ, the bread of heaven.

The Blood of Christ, the cup of salvation.

We will have communion stations so that the sacrament will be given to everyone without delay.

After Communion the Celebrants say

All Let us pray.

Celebrants and People

Almighty God, we thank you

that in your great love you have fed us
with the spiritual food and drink
of the Body and Blood of your child Jesus Christ,
and have given us a foretaste of your heavenly banquet.
Grant that this Sacrament may be to us a comfort in affliction,
a pledge of our inheritance in that realm where there is no death,
neither sorrow not crying, but fullness of joy with all your saints;
through Jesus Christ, our Saviour. Amen.

The Commendation

The Celebrants take their place at the body.

The anthem is said.

Alison Give rest, O Christ, to your servants with your saints,
where sorrow and pain are no more,
neither sighing, but life everlasting.

Carter You only are immortal, the creator and maker of all;
Chilton and we are mortal, formed of the earth, and to earth shall we return.
Emily For so did you ordain when you created me, saying,
Merrill “You are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
Alison All of us go down to the dust;
Carter yet even at the grave we make our song:
All Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Give rest, O Christ, to your servants with your saints,
where sorrow and pain are no more,
neither sighing, but life everlasting.

The Celebrants, facing the body, say

Into your hands, O merciful Saviour, we commend your servant Katrina, and all who have died. Acknowledge, we humble beseech you, sheep of your own fold, lambs of your own flock, sinners of your own redeeming. Receive them into the arms of your mercy, into the blessed rest of everlasting peace, and into the glorious company of the saints in light. Amen.

The Celebrants may bless God’s People.

All The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God, and of God’s Child, Jesus Christ, our Saviour; and the blessing of God Almighty, the Creator, the Redeemer, and the Sanctifier, be among you, and remain with you always. Amen.

The Deacon dismisses them with these words

Deacon May her soul and the souls of all the departed rest in peace. Alleluia. Alleluia.

People And may light perpetual shine upon them.
Alleluia. Alleluia

The body is carried to the place of burial in the churchyard.

Trumpet Tune in D Major David Johnson

The Consecration of the Grave

The Celebrants say the blessing of the grave.

O God, whose blessed Child was laid in a sepulcher in the garden: Bless, we pray, this grave, and grant that she whose body is to be buried here may dwell with Christ in paradise, and may come into your heavenly realm; through Jesus Christ, our Saviour. Amen.

The Committal

The anthem is said and sung as William places Katrina’s body in the earth.

Merrill In the midst of life we are in death.

Alison From whom can we seek help?

Carter From you alone, O God,
who by our sins are justly angered.

People Holy God, Holy and Mighty,
Holy Immortal One, have mercy upon us. Hymn S 102

Chilton Blessed Saviour, you know the secrets of our hearts.

Emily Shut not your ears to our prayers
but spare us, O God.

People Holy God, Holy and Mighty,
Holy Immortal One, have mercy upon us. Hymn S 102

Merrill O worthy and eternal Judge,
Do not let the pains of death
turn us away from you at our last hour.

People Holy God, Holy and Mighty,
Holy Immortal One, have mercy upon us. Hymn S 102

Then, while Katrina’s family and pall bearers cast earth upon the body, the Celebrants say these words

In sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life through our Saviour Jesus Christ, we commend to Almighty God our sister Katrina, and we commit her body to the ground; earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust. May God bless her and keep her, may God’s face shine upon her, may God look kindly upon her and give her peace. Amen.

The Deacon dismisses the People with these words.

Alleluia. Christ is risen.

People Christ is risen indeed. Alleluia.

Celebrants Let us go forth in the name of Christ.

People Thanks be to God.

Everyone may place some earth in Katrina’s grave on the way to the reception in the Parish Hall.

Notes by Katrina and George to the March Edition:

In early August of 2004 Katrina mentioned to her sister priest, Merrill Bittner, that Jonathan Appleyard, rector of St. Saviour’s, Bar Harbor, Maine, had invited her to celebrate and preach in recognition of the 30^th anniversary of the ordination to the Priesthood on 7/29/74 at the Church of the Advocate in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She happily acquiesced to Merrill’s request for a copy of the inclusive language service (including both women and men) edited by Katrina and Jonathan. However, after the service Katrina realized that there were some exclusive language portions that needed translation. As some of you know, Katrina’s been squawking about inclusive language for a very long time. “How I wish my ears had never been opened.” George & Katrina hope this liturgy will work for the remaining 15 irregulars and other folks who have shared the inclusive language journey with us.

The booklet is designed to contain everything needed for the service of Holy Communion in one continuous format. The revision tries, in a respectful, non-heretical and accurate manner to include all people as we worship together. This work on inclusive language has no intention of disrespecting our sisters and brothers who have felt respected and valued throughout their lives while working in the real world among men. Personally, for pastoral reasons while using very familiar prayers, Katrina sometimes says the exclusive “Father, Son, & Holy Spirit.” For us inclusion of all people rather than balance or “getting even” is desirable and fair. Our hope is to include 100% rather than 49% or 51% of people praising God, the Holy Trinity.

Rite II and Canon A seem to be the most popular of the various options in the Book of Common Prayer, 1979. That is the one we have chosen, keeping it as simple as possible when there are options. We selected propers that could be used during any season. So there would be a “constant” or “least change as possible” for familiarity sake: the propers of the Holy Trinity seem appropriate. This service therefore uses propers #1 of the Holy Trinity (Various Occasions BCP p.251 and 927) and offers an alternative on page 7 (written by George Gaines Swanson) to the preface for Trinity Sunday, p. 380.

Wherever Biblical passages have been used they are based on the Good News Bible—Today’s English Version. We appreciate the spirit of this version, and its mission to spread God’s good news as fully as possible to include all people everywhere, “and to Christ be the glory forever and ever!”

We decided to use hymns whose language already included all people.

Note by George, July 2006: This burial mass uses the Great Thanksgiving that Katrina and I edited in early 2005. Copies are available of the October 8, 2005 Requiem which used Katrina’s version of the mass in full, if you wish to have one.

Dear George,

Oh, how I wish I could be with you to celebrate the life of one of the church's pioneers! It sounds like you have put together a remarkable tribute to her life's work, work that is ongoing and will continue to flourish. My prayers will be with you that weekend. I am very much aware that I never could have embarked on my journey toward ordination in this church without the witness and the blood, sweat, and tears of Katrina and her sisters and brothers. May each of us be able to come to the judgment seat knowing that others are following behind us in the path of God.

Shalom, Katharine Jefferts Schori.

Celebrants: The Rev. Merrill Bittner, the Rev. Alison Cheek, the Hon. Rev. Emily Hewitt, the Rev. Dr. Carter Heyward and the Rt. Rev. Chilton Knudsen will honor Swanson’s wish that at her funeral her sister priests and the bishop will stand together as equals at God’s altar. This may be the first time that priests and a bishop have celebrated mass in this way.

Clergy: The Rev. Jonathan Appleyard, Rector of St. Saviour’s Parish and the Rev. Robert T. Coolidge, Deacon.

Altar Guild: Lucy Triplett, Julie Grindle, Geoffrey Schuller, Barbara Sunderland, Carmen Greene.

Acolytes: Geoffrey Schuller and Catherine Sharp

Chalice Bearers: John Stewart, Les Brewer, Marilyn Voorhies, and Lucy Triplett,

Pall Bearer: LaGreta Gitta.

Honorary Pall Bearers: John Burnham, Sarah Cleaves, Judy Flander, Elsa Gettleman, Alice Temple Hyslop, Barbara Reed, Suzanne Salmon, and Lydia Thayer.

Readers: The Very Rev. Harvey Guthrie, Lorraine Gherby, Susan Seavey, Hélène Swanson, Mary Jo Campbell, Susan Seavey, Carmen Greene, Jean Frost, Ruth Appleyard, Linda Palfrey, William Swanson, and the Rev. Robert T. Coolidge.

Prayers of the People: Billie Marshall

Ushers: Warren & Eva Davis, Doreen and Richard Wright.

Reception: Rachael Sharp, Eva and Warren Davis, Elsie Frost, Betsy Drake, Lucy Triplet, Gail Leiser, Sue Blaisdell, Carmen Greene, David Cuthbertson, Lee Garrett, Julie Grindle, Ty Lourie, Linda Carmen, Mary Belle Smith, Ruth Lyons, Charlotte Proctor, Ruth McFarland, Eleanor Raynes, and Ruth Appleyard

Musicians: Julia Morris-Myers, Parish Music Director, organ. Jonathan Dubay, violin. Phineas Gitta, guitar. George Swanson, piano.

Ralph Stanley & Friends: Ralph Stanley, Wilbur Wolf, Jim Vekasi, Skip Fraley, David Towle, Brian Stewart, Bob Winglass, Keith Davis, Ruth Grierson, Dick Atlee, Susan & Diehl Snyder, Fred Benson, & George Swanson.

Registrar Sharon Stephenson

Sound; Todd McLeod, Steve Bohrer

All around this orbiting planet, in America, Maine, Hancock County, and this whole island – people have loved us so much: Katrina, Olof, William, Hélène and me. All we can say is Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia. God continue to bless you and bring you home safe. George