The Rt. Rev. Eugene Taylor Sutton
Presider

The Chautauqua Choir

Joshua Stafford
Director & Organist

A Service of Remembrance

We invite you to quietly prepare your hearts for worship during the Prelude.

* Denotes that the congregation is invited to rise in body or spirit.It is our custom to sing the first and last verses of hymns in unison,the interior verses may be sung in parts.

Hymn

“Day is dying in the west”

Chautauqua, William Fisk Sherwin, 1877
Mary Lathbury, 1877

Day is dying in the west;
Heav’n is touching earth with rest;
Wait and worship while the night
Sets her evening lamps alight
through all the sky.

Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Hosts!
Heav’n and earth are full of Thee;
Heav’en and earth are praising Thee,
O Lord most high!

Opening Sentences

Mishkan T’filah

There are stars up above,

so far away we only see their light

long, long after the star itself is gone.

And so it is with people that we loved —

their memories keep shining ever-brightly

though their time with us is done.

But the stars that light up the darkest night,

these are the lights that guide us.

As we live our days, these are the ways we remember.

Hymn

“As stars adorn the night-veiled sky” 

Conditor Alme Siderum, Sarum plainsong, Mode IV, 9th c.
Carl P. Daw, 1987, alt.

As stars adorn the night-veiled sky,
arrayed like jewels rare and bright,
so shine God's saints in every age
to give the world new hope, new light. 

The light saints bear is not their own
but shines through them as gift and sign:
to show how God can use and bless
frail human means for ends divine. 

The saints inspire and challenge us
our holy calling to embrace:
to bear God’s light in our own day,
to be the vessels of God's grace.

Reading

Mishkan T’filah

It is hard to sing of oneness when the world is not complete,

when those who once brought wholeness to our life have gone,

and naught but memory can fill the emptiness their passing leaves behind.

But memory can tell us only what we were, in company with those we loved;

it cannot help us find what each of us, alone, must now become.

Yet no one is really alone:

those who live no more, echo still within our thoughts and words,

and what they did is part of what we have become.

We do best homage to our dead when we live our lives more fully,

even in the shadow of our loss.

For each of our lives is worth the life of the whole world;

in each one is the breath of the Ultimate One.

In affirming the One, we affirm the worth of each one

whose life, now ended, brought us closer to the Source of life,

in whose unity no one is alone and every life finds purpose.

Anthem

In Remembrance 

Clare Harner, 1934 
Eleanor Daley, 1993

Do not stand at my grave and weep.

I am not there, I do not sleep

I am the thousand winds that blow,

I am the diamond glint on snow.

I am the sunlight-ripened grain,

I am the gentle morning rain.

And when you wake in the morning’s hush,

I am the sweet uplifting rush of quiet birds in circled flight.

I am the soft stars that shine at night.

Do not stand at my grave and cry,

I am not there, I did not die. 

Reading

Isaiah 49:13–16

Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth; 

break forth, O mountains, into singing!

For the Lord has comforted his people 

and will have compassion on his suffering ones.

But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me; 

my Lord has forgotten me.”

Can a woman forget her nursing child 

or show no compassion for the child of her womb?

Even these might forget, 

yet I will not forget you.

See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands.

Prayer

adapted from Scott Smith

O God, though Isaiah used the image metaphorically, mothers and fathers do forget the children whom they have brought into the world. We pray for those whose loved ones suffer from Alzheimer’s, dementia, aphasia, and those other afflictions that take our loved ones while they are still with us. Grant them freedom to grieve their mounting sense of loss; the grace to accept the changes in their loved ones; and the power to stay as present as possible, when doing so becomes increasingly difficult. Grant them wisdom for each stage of the journey, trustworthy and compassionate medical care, and the necessary financial and emotional resources. Lastly, God, we pray that you will help all of us, impacted by memory loss, to treasure being known and remembered by you. If we should forget you, in our journey to life in the new heaven and new earth, we will never outlive your love and grace for us. Amen.

Hymn

“When memory fades” 

Finlandia, Jean Sibelius, 1899
Mary Louise Bringle, 2000

1 When memory fades and recognition falters,
when eyes we love grow dim, and minds, confused,
speak to our souls of love that never alters;
speak to our hearts by pain and fear abused.
O God of life and healing peace, empower us
with patient courage, by your grace infused.

2 As frailness grows and youthful strengths diminish
in weary arms that worked their earnest fill,
your aging servants labor now to finish
their earthly tasks, as fits your mystery’s will.
We grieve their waning, yet rejoice, believing
your arms, unwearied, shall uphold us still.

3 Within your Spirit, goodness lives unfading.
The past and future mingle into one.
All joys remain, unshadowed light pervading.
No valued deed will ever be undone.
Your mind enfolds all finite acts and offerings.
Held in your heart, our deathless life is won!

Prayer

George McDonald, Celtic Daily Prayer

Do not hurry
as you walk with grief;
it does not help the journey.
Walk slowly, pausing often:
do not hurry
as you walk with grief.
Be not disturbed
by memories that come unbidden.
Swiftly forgive;
and let God speak for you
unspoken words.
Unfinished conversation
will be resolved in God.
Be not disturbed.
Be gentle with the one
who walks with grief.
If it is you,
be gentle with yourself.
Swiftly forgive;
walk slowly,
pausing often.
Take time, be gentle
as you walk with grief.

Hymn

“God weeps with those who weep and mourn” 

Moshier, Sally Ann Morris, 1995
Thomas H. Troeger, 1996

This hymn began as a wordless tune composed upon reading the obituary of Thomas Layton Moshier, a friend who died from AIDS. Several months later the tune was sent to the author, who created this text incorporating a reference to Romans 12:15.

1 God weeps with us who weep and mourn;
God’s tears flow down with ours, 
and God’s own heart is bruised and worn
from all the heavy hours
of watching while the soul’s bright fire 
burned lower day by day, 
and pulse and breath and love’s desire
dimmed down to ash and clay.

2 Through tears and sorrow, God, we share
a sense of your vast grief:
the weight of bearing every prayer
for healing and relief,
the burden of our questions why,
the doubts that they engage,
and as our friends and loved ones die,
our hopelessness and rage.

3 And yet because, like us, you weep, 
we trust you will receive
and in your tender heart will keep
the ones for whom we grieve,
while with your tears our hearts will taste
the deep, dear core of things
from which both life and death are graced
by love’s renewing springs.

Responsory

The Book of Common Worship

Eternal God,

we acknowledge the uncertainty of our life on earth.

We are given a mere handful of days,

and our span of life seems nothing in your sight.

All flesh is as grass;

and all its beauty is like the flower of the field.

The grass withers, the flower fades;

but your word will stand forever.

In this is our hope,

for you are our God.

Even in the valley of the shadow of death,

you are with us.

O Lord, let us know our end and the number of our days,

that we may learn how fleeting life is.

Turn your ear to our cry, and hear our prayer.

Do not be silent at our tears,

for we live as strangers before you,

wandering pilgrims as all our ancestors were.

But you are the same

and your years shall have no end.

Inscribing Names in Books of Memory

As the following anthem is sung,you are invited to come forward to the stage toinscribe the names of those loved ones whom you have lostin books of memory.

Anthem

Johannes Brahms, Ein Deutsches Requiem, 1867

How lovely is thy dwelling-place, O Lord of Hosts.
For my soul, it longeth, yea, fainteth for the courts of the Lord,
my soul and body crieth out, yea, for the living God.
O blest are they that dwell within thy house;
they praise thy name evermore.

-Psalm 84:2–3, 5

Hymn

“My Shepherd will supply my need” 

Resignation, American folk melody
Isaac Watts, 1719, alt.

1 My shepherd will supply my need; 
Jehovah is his name. 
In pastures fresh he makes me feed, 
beside the living stream.
He brings my wandering spirit back
when I forsake his ways,
and leads me, for his mercy's sake,
in paths of truth and grace.

2 When I walk through the shades of death
your presence is my stay;
one word of your supporting breath
drives all my fears away.
Your hand, in sight of all my foes,
does still my table spread;
my cup with blessings overflows;
your oil anoints my head.

3 The sure provisions of my God 
attend me all my days;
O may your house be my abode,
and all my work be praise.
There would I find a settled rest,
while others go and come;
no more a stranger, or a guest,
but like a child at home.

Reading

Revelation 21:1–4

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,

“See, the home of God is among mortals.
He will dwell with them;
they will be his peoples,
and God himself will be with them and be their God;
he will wipe every tear from their eyes.
Death will be no more;
mourning and crying and pain will be no more,
for the first things have passed away.”

Anthem

Going Home 

Antonin Dvořák, 1893
text and adaptation by William Arms Fisher, 1922

Going home, going home,
I’m a-going home;
quiet-like, some still day,
I’m just going home.

It’s not far, just close by,
through an open door;
work all done, care laid by,
going to fear no more.

Mother’s there, expecting me,
Father’s waiting too;
lots of folk gathered there,
all the friends I knew.

Nothing lost, all is gain,
no more fret nor pain,
no more stumbling on the way,
no more longing for the day,
going to roam no more!

Morning star lights the way,
restless dream all done;
shadows gone, break of day,
real life just begun.

There’s no break, there’s no end,
just a-living on.
Wide awake, with a smile,
going on and on.

Concluding Prayers

Mishkan T’filah

We think of our loved ones

whom death has recently taken from us,

those who died at this season in years past,

and those whom we have drawn into our hearts with our own.

May their memory be a blessing. Amen.

Hymn

“Now the day is over”  

Merrial, Joseph Barnby, 1868
Sabine Baring-Gould, 1865

Now the day is over, night is drawing nigh,shadows of the evening steal across the sky.

O God, give the weary calm and sweet reposewith thy tend’rest blessing may our eyelids close.

When the morning wakens, then may I arisepure, and fresh, and sinless in thy holy eyes. Amen.

Postlude

Largo

George Frederick Handel, 1738
from the opera Xerxes

Use of this piece to close the Sunday evening service has been Chautauqua’s tradition since the dedication of the Massey Memorial Organ on August 6, 1907. Part of the custom has been to remain in our seats until the piece is finished. It is a gesture that we treasure, and one in which you are invited to join. We invite you to leave the Amphitheater silently — without applause.

JOIN THE CHAUTAUQUA CHOIR
Thursday 6:15 p.m. Rehearsal at Smith Wilkes Hall
Friday 6:15 p.m. Rehearsal at Lenna Hall
Saturday 6:15 p.m. Rehearsal at Lenna Hall

We invite you to join us and sing with the Chautauqua Choir this season. This group is open to anyone who has experience singing in choirs and the ability to read music, and requires members to attend at least one out of three weekly rehearsals, though two or more rehearsals are preferred. Our preference is for members to sing both Sunday Morning and Sunday Evening services, though it is possible to sing only one. Questions can be directed to choir@chq.org or by calling the choir library at 716-357-6321. Click here to register ahead of rehearsals.

CHAUTAUQUA INSTITUTION
Department of Religion

Melissa Spas
Vice President of Religion

The Rt. Rev. Eugene Taylor Sutton
Senior Pastor

Rafia Khader
Director of Religion Programs

Joshua Stafford
Director of Sacred Music & The Jared Jacobsen Chair Organist

Rees Taylor Roberts
Organ Scholar

Owen Reyda
Organ Scholar

Carolyn Snider
Administrative Assistant

Annie Leech
Student Minister