Death

From Madpriest:
SAD NEWS

I have just received the following. Please cut and paste to your own blogs.

Dear Jonathan,

It is with deep regret that I inform you of the passing of Elizabeth Kaeton's mother, Lydia.

I don't know if you have been told yet. Elizabeth will be flying directly to Massachusetts. Her mom had been ill on and off for the past year. Elizabeth has traveled up to visit her on several near death occasions. We ask all her friends for prayers.

Almighty God, Father/Mother of mercies and giver of all comfort; Deal graciously, we pray you, with all those who mourn, that casting every care of you, they may know the consolation of your love, Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

I lost my mother about 15 months ago, and even though I was expecting it and she had a full life, I had to live through the grief. Elizabeth is in my prayers.

This weekend, Liz and I are driving to Maryland to gather with some cousins for a memorial service for my Aunt Edith, who had a hard death just two weeks ago. As a child, Aunt Edith was confirmed in the Episcopal Church, and she ended her days as a Unitarian Universalist.

My grandmother wrote this verse in the back of her prayerbook, after her husband and her brothers had all died:

I should utterly have fainted, but that I believe verily to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Psalm XXVII, 15