In Loving Memory of
Robert Gordon Swan 11th December 1926 ~ 6th May 2015
The funeral service conducted on Monday 11th May 2015 At 1pm
ORDER OF SERVICE MUSIC IN MEMORY OF BOB ~ WELCOME
We have entrusted our brother Bob to God’s mercy, and we now, commit his body to be cremated: earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust: in the sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life through our Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our frail bodies that they may be conformed to his glorious body, who died, was buried, and rose again for us. To him be glory for ever. Amen.
~ OPENING PRAYER The death of someone we love and care about, is like the death of part of us. No one else will ever call out from within us quite the same responses, the same feelings or actions or ideas. Their death is an ending of one part of a story. Lord as we look back over Bobs life. We ask that what we have received, what we can appropriate, and continue on in our own lives, we will, and what must be laid to rest, we will lay those things down. Our love for Bob reminds us that our sharing in one another's lives brings both support and pain. Our being parted from him reminds us of our own mortality ......And that your love is enduring. We thank you that our love for Bob draws us together and gives us a new appreciation of one another, and of the beauty and fragility of relationships, which mirror your grace and goodness to us.
THE BLESSING May God give you his comfort and his peace, his light and his joy, in this world and the next; and the blessing of God almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be among you and remain with you always. Amen. ~ EXIT MUSIC ~ DONATIONS IN MEMORY OF BOB
Lord, time's tide may wash Bob’s footprints from the shore, but not our love for him nor the influence of his life upon our own. Nor the ways in which they will ever be a sign for us, of those things which really matter - which are eternal. Hear this prayer for your love's sake. Amen.
MAY ME GIVEN TO THE WORK OF FAST
THE LORDS PRAYER All: Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed by thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen. ~ COMMENDATION Let us commend Bob to the mercy of God, Our maker and redeemer. God our creator and redeemer, by your power Christ conquered death and entered into glory. Confident of his victory and claiming his promises, we entrust Bob to your mercy in the name of Jesus our Lord, who died and is alive and reigns with you, now and forever. Amen. ~
PRAYERS All: Lord, we come into your presence to remember Bob and to seek your comfort, for we know that nothing can separate us from your love and that you support us in our sorrow. We are sure that the souls of the righteous are with you and that nothing can harm them. Although they have died they are in peace. Give us your strength to rejoice that you have received Bob to be with yourself where he shall no more be in need. May we find life and peace and perfect joy with him in your presence; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen READING FROM SCRIPTURE 1 Corinthians 13 Vs 1-13 LOVE If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can
COMMITTAL The Lord is full of compassion and mercy, slow to anger and of great goodness. As a father is tender towards his children, so is the Lord tender to those that love him. For he knows of what we are made; he remembers that we are but dust. Our days are like the grass; we flourish like a flower of the field; when the wind goes over it, it is gone and its place will know it no more. But the merciful goodness of the Lord endures for ever and ever towards those that love him. and his righteousness upon their children's children.
fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is
patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Canon Henry Scott-Holland, 1847-1918, Canon of St Paul's Cathedral Death is nothing at all I have only slipped away into the next room I am I and you are you Whatever we were to each other That we are still Call me by my old familiar name Speak to me in the easy way you always used Put no difference into your tone Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow Laugh as we always laughed At the little jokes we always enjoyed together Play, smile, think of me, pray for me Let my name be ever the household word that it always was Let it be spoken without effort Without the ghost of a shadow in it Life means all that it ever meant It is the same as it ever was There is absolute unbroken continuity What is death but a negligible accident? Why should I be out of mind Because I am out of sight? I am waiting for you for an interval Somewhere very near Just around the corner All is well. Nothing is past; nothing is lost One brief moment and all will be as it was before How we shall laugh at the trouble of parting when we meet again! ~ A PERSONAL TRIBUTE IN MEMORY OF BOB