Celebration of Life - Dr Theodore Johnson

Описание: PRELUDE
Schmücke dich, O liebe Seele J. S. Bach
(Deck thyself, my soul, with gladness)

Nimrod, from Enigma Variations, E. Elgar, arr. W.H. Harris

Wenn wir in höchsten Nöten sein. J. S. Bach
(When we are in our deepest need)

GREETING Rev. Jane Rowe

OPENING READING Rev. Bob Janis (insert)
Mountaintop Religion by Waldemar Argow
Religion is ethics, yes, and sociology and social action. It is reason and rationality and the scientific search for truth. It is philosophy, certainly, and perpetual questions and tentative conclusion. It is unending concern for freedom and justice and human welfare.

But religion is far, far more than these alone. It is a hunger for beauty and love and glory. It is wonder and awe, mystery and majesty, passion and ecstasy. It is emotion as well as mind, feeling as well as knowing, the subjective as well as the objective.

It is the heart soaring to heights the head alone will never know; the apprehension of meanings science alone will never find; the awareness of values ethics alone will never reveal. It is the human spirit yearning for, and finding, something infinitely greater than itself which it calls God.

This much is required of every good and worthy man: that he climb at least to the timber line. But what a tragedy if he climbs no farther! To know the high mountain grandeur of religion in all its sweep and scope and glory, a man must climb the whole way to the summit and let the great winds beat upon him until he feels the presence of something which is from everlasting to everlasting, world without end.

CHORAL OFFERING
Blackbird Lennon/McCartney, arr. King Singers CONCORA

UNISON AFFIRMATION Rev. Bob Janis Adapted from L. Griswold Williams
Love is the doctrine of this church,
the quest for truth is its sacrament,
and service is its prayer.
To dwell together in peace,
to seek knowledge in freedom,
to serve humankind in fellowship,
to the end that all souls shall grow in harmony,
thus do we covenant with each other and with All.

HYMN Let All the Beauty We Have Known (insert)

WORDS OF REMEMBRANCE Nancy Johnson, Lindsey Johnson, Althea McDonald, Caroline Genners

CHORAL OFFERING Lida Rose, The Music Man Meredith Wilson. arr. Stickles CONCORA

READING FROM THE NEW TESTAMENT 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a

MEDITATION Rev. Jane Rowe & Rev. Bob Janis

CHORAL OFFERING What a Wonderful World Weiss/Thiele, arr. Brymer Ellen Materne, soloist, and CONCORA

RESPONSIVE READING Rev. Bob Janis (insert) We Remember Him by Roland B. Gittelsohn

Leader: In the rising of the sun and in its going down, we remember him.

People: In the blowing of the wind and in the chill of winter, we remember him.

Leader: In the opening of the buds and in the rebirth of spring, we remember him.

People: In the blueness of the sky and in the warmth of summer, we remember him.

Leader: In the rustling of leaves and in the beauty of autumn, we remember him.

People: In the beginning of the year and when it ends, we remember him.

Leader: When we are weary and in need of strength, we remember him.

People: When we are lost and sick at heart, we remember him.

Leader: When we have joys we yearn to share, we remember him.

People: So long as we live, he too shall live, for he is now a part of us, as we remember him.

HYMN For the Beauty of the Earth

BENEDICTION Words of Rev. Frederick Gillis

POSTLUDE Trumpet Voluntary Jeremiah Clarke Ian Suddarth (grandson), trumpet Concerto in G: Johann Ernst, arr. J. S. Bach Mvt. 1, Allegro