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Reality and Consoling Message Number Two:

  • Posted on May 20, 2020

You are not important but beloved

Dear Beloved of Emmanuel:  As I began to think about the second message of the Resurrection, I immediately thought about our historic cemetery Rose Hill.  On Holy Saturday, I officiated at the graveside service for Mick Hatter, Jakki Rogers’ brother. Mick was known to many of us.  He helped Miss Edie in the garden and was always a smiling presence when you saw him around town.  He took his mother, Miss Betty, to lunch almost every Sunday.  He is someone who many might say was not important in the worldly sense, but he was and is beloved of many.  So, as I remembered his service, I decided to go up to Rose Hill this past Tuesday.  I went to the top of the cemetery.  I saw the graves of Valerie Vrieze’s husband and of the Roque family.  I visited the Emmanuel Church section which remembers some of our clergy and families. (You can view my visit as part of my video sermon).  It was a visit of peace where I felt the presence of the communion of saints.  A cemetery is the sacred place where we remember those we love and see no longer–who are now no longer important in the world, but beloved to us always.  As I ended my visit, I came upon a small monument–easy to miss.  It was of a little stone lamb in memory of a ten-year old girl.  A lamb like all those who entered into larger life and are remembered at Rose Hill Cemetery.  Beloved of the Good Shepherd.  Eastertide blessings, Rev Martha

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