Yesterday morning Agnes Strickland died. She was one of our first charter members. Aggie had been ill for some time and most recently was taken from the hospital to Hospice of the Golden Isles. We held a brief memorial service for her family last evening at Our Savior and the funeral service Aggie helped plan for herself will be held in February.
While Aggie was in the hospital growing weaker each day, she would slip in and out of awareness of her surroundings. When I visited her I would usually ask her family members to join me in praying The Lord's Prayer, and somehow Aggie would often muster the strength to join in at some point in the prayer.
The most powerful evidence that she would have peace and a holy death came last Wednesday. When I visited I was sitting there praying prayers for the sick out of The Book of Common Prayer. Then I handed the book to Aggie's son and asked if he would like to read a Psalm or some prayers. He turned to Psalm 23 and began reading. Aggie had not spoken a word for some time, but when her son got to that point of Psalm 23 that says, "though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me . . ." Aggie chimed in and quoted along with him as he read those words.
May she rest in peace, and may light perpetual shine upon her.
In peace,
Linda+
The Rev. Linda McCloud
Pastor
The Episcopal Church of Our Savior at Honey Creek
http://www.oursaviorhoneycreek.org/
http://oursaviorhoneycreek.blogspot.com/
912-267-0333
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
My prayers are with the family. I'm sure your presence was such a comfort to them.
Post a Comment