Sorry for your trouble

This evening we had our annual Remembrance Service for those who died in the parish in the past twelve months and whose funerals were celebrated in our four churches.  We remember as well, family members who may have died elsewhere during the past year.  It is one of the very special gatherings we have during the year and I am always pleased to see how people turn out to remember their loved ones.

I had asked one of our Pastoral Council members to lead a Reflection before the end and when searching for something earlier, I remembered some words I had written a few years ago.  They were on the theme of “Sorry for your trouble”, that phrase we so often use at funerals.  He read it really well and I thought that as we face the end of November, I might include the words here.

With a thought for anyone reading these lines who is grieving the loss of a loved one at this time.  God grant them rest, and you peace.

Sorry for your trouble

You stood with family but seemed alone
The evening of a long drawn out day
Stretching my hand towards yours
“sorry for your trouble” was all I could say.
The man in the line before me
Those were his words as well
And the girl moving behind me
She’d say them too, I could tell.

You said them yourself to others
and wondered like me why you did
there was so much more we could say
but behind the old cliché we hid
“Sorry for your trouble”, with a tilt of the head
and a squeeze of your cold trembling hand
what do these words really mean
as we whisper do we really understand?

Sorry for your trouble is more than words
a message of grief spoken true
We have seen you cry in this chapel
And wish there was more we could do
As a friend we don’t welcome your pain
Or the loss that has come to your door
We would love to wind back the clock
Leaving people and things as before

But sadly time is not ours to control
nor the journey of the heart and its beat
and tonight, down the road from that night
We gather our words to repeat.
In quiet and dark but flickering light
We gather, bended knee and in prayer
Hands joined not handshakes this evening
As with you these minutes we share

Yes, we are sorry for your troubles
And with you we seek to move on
Not forgetting but cherishing forever
The names of loved ones passed on.
So let this night bring us closer
To Faith in the Lord’s promise to all
Not one of those the Father gave me
Have I lost to this day or let fall.

Lord, we call on your mercy
As we pray for the Faithful Departed
We pray you move through this place
Bringing comfort to the broken-hearted
And if on this night of gathering
You bring hope and a kindling of light
Then our handshake and words of the past
Were, in truth, both timely and right.

The choir sang Christie Hennessy’s wonderful “Remember Me”.  You are remembered Christie, R.I.P.