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<span style="margin: 0px; font-size: 14pt; line-height: normal">Dick, see what you and Sally are giving birth to!</span></p>
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<span style="margin: 0px; font-size: 14pt; line-height: normal">This listserve has often been used to announce the passing of a loved one. It is fitting that now it gives birth to a forum for those of us still living to contemplate and prepare for the death
of our loved ones and of ourself. It is likewise fitting that those of us who have spent a lifetime together serving people and planet, now claim promises for the years and centuries ahead and in fact use our remaining moments to do all we can to bend history
toward truth, love and justice, and to grieve this time of chaos and collapse. As someone has said, to live is to die, and to die is to live. <span> </span></span><span style="margin: 0px; font-size: 16pt"><span style="margin: 0px; font-size: 14pt; line-height: normal"> </span><span style="margin: 0px; font-size: 14pt; line-height: normal"> </span><span style="margin: 0px"> </span></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:11pt">Recent book: <i>A Compassionate Civilization: The Urgency of Sustainable Development and Mindful Activism - Reflections and Recommendations</i> </span><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/1546972617" class="OWAAutoLink" style=""><span style="font-size:11pt">https://www.amazon.com/dp/1546972617</span></a></p>
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<span style="font-size:11pt">Blog: </span><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-size:11pt"><a href="https://compassionatecivilization.blogspot.com/" class="OWAAutoLink" style="font-size: 16pt;"><span style="font-size:11pt">https://compassionatecivilization.blogspot.com/</span></a><a href="https://compassionatecivilization.blogspot.com/" class="OWAAutoLink" style=""></a></span><a href="https://compassionatecivilization.blogspot.com/" class="OWAAutoLink" style=""></a></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:14.6667px">LinkedIn: </span><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertsonwork/" class="OWAAutoLink" style="font-size: 14.6667px;">https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertsonwork/</a><br>
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<span style="font-size:11pt">Facebook: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/compassionatecivilization/" style="">https://www.facebook.com/compassionatecivilization/</a> </span><span style="font-size:11pt"></span></p>
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<div id="divRplyFwdMsg" dir="ltr"><font face="Calibri, sans-serif" color="#000000" style="font-size: 11pt;" data-ogsc=""><b>From:</b> OE <oe-bounces@lists.wedgeblade.net> on behalf of Ruth via OE <oe@lists.wedgeblade.net><br>
<b>Sent:</b> Tuesday, December 17, 2019 9:08 AM<br>
<b>To:</b> Order Ecumenical Community <oe@lists.wedgeblade.net>; Richard Alton <richard.alton@gmail.com><br>
<b>Cc:</b> Ruth <ruthhgilbert@gmail.com>; ica-dialogue@igc.topica.com <ica-dialogue@igc.topica.com><br>
<b>Subject:</b> Re: [Oe List ...] Birthday Witness</font>
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<div class="" style="word-wrap:break-word; line-break:after-white-space">Dick,
<div class="">Ken remembered reading this poem by Willam Bryant in his junior high English class. While it might have been beyond all their experience at that time, I re-read it aloud yesterday and found it a good reflection on the general state of affairs
of all of us. </div>
<div class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div class="">It is long and best read aloud. I also send you all of my memories of riding in a car with you to recruit RS-I in Denver many years ago!! :)</div>
<div class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div class="">Ruth</div>
<div class=""><br class="">
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<div class="x_c-feature-hd" style="margin:0px 0px 4px; padding:0px; border:0px; font-size:22px; font-family:adobe-garamond-pro; vertical-align:baseline">
<h1 class="x_c-hdgSans_2 x_c-mix-hdgSans_inline x_c-hdgSans" style="margin:0px; padding:0px; border:0px; font-size:1.75rem; font-style:inherit; font-family:canada-type-gibson; vertical-align:baseline; display:inline; line-height:1.231">
Thanatopsis</h1>
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<div class="x_c-feature-sub_vast x_c-feature-sub" style="margin:0px 0px 33px; padding:0px; border:0px; font-size:22px; font-family:adobe-garamond-pro; vertical-align:baseline">
<div class="" style="margin:0px; padding:0px; border:0px; font-style:inherit; font-family:inherit; vertical-align:baseline">
<span class="x_c-txt x_c-txt_attribution" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 0.875rem; font-style: inherit; font-family: canada-type-gibson; vertical-align: baseline; display: inline-block; letter-spacing: 1.4px; text-transform: uppercase; color: rgb(73, 73, 73);">BY <a href="https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.poetryfoundation.org%2Fpoets%2Fwilliam-cullen-bryant&data=02%7C01%7C%7C4931cb4ccf184bde9d5908d782fa9e66%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637121885233752978&sdata=MnkLdzGMocTMJng6fWPaNHrXpSCLI5jEHqBDrW2lXnY%3D&reserved=0" originalsrc="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/william-cullen-bryant" shash="gNHupQCb01bdswrx8COEEKQ9HL14XJXmQfjuzgXKQ5E3VVs4n84/3i4BbcMiqbh5aDSa91bg+rqWMBep0rrTMp0AM8/jpqiMY5DE7Xh+hQ4lC+EKbjaQC3m+Xink1Fys/NEFHr8S+8PDTOsyfP/5AJpNk8jJRpctr9WzR0EmGqI=" class="" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">WILLIAM
CULLEN BRYANT</a></span></div>
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<div class="x_isActive x_o-poem" style="margin:0px; padding:0px; border:0px; font-size:inherit; font-style:inherit; font-family:inherit; vertical-align:baseline">
<div class="" style="margin:0px; padding:0px 0px 0px 1em; border:0px; font-style:inherit; font-family:inherit; vertical-align:baseline; text-indent:-1em">
To him who in the love of Nature holds <br class="">
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Communion with her visible forms, she speaks <br class="">
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<div class="" style="margin:0px; padding:0px 0px 0px 1em; border:0px; font-style:inherit; font-family:inherit; vertical-align:baseline; text-indent:-1em">
A various language; for his gayer hours <br class="">
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She has a voice of gladness, and a smile <br class="">
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And eloquence of beauty, and she glides <br class="">
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Into his darker musings, with a mild <br class="">
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And healing sympathy, that steals away <br class="">
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<div class="" style="margin:0px; padding:0px 0px 0px 1em; border:0px; font-style:inherit; font-family:inherit; vertical-align:baseline; text-indent:-1em">
Their sharpness, ere he is aware. When thoughts <br class="">
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Of the last bitter hour come like a blight <br class="">
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Over thy spirit, and sad images <br class="">
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Of the stern agony, and shroud, and pall, <br class="">
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And breathless darkness, and the narrow house, <br class="">
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Make thee to shudder, and grow sick at heart;— <br class="">
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Go forth, under the open sky, and list <br class="">
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To Nature’s teachings, while from all around— <br class="">
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Earth and her waters, and the depths of air— <br class="">
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Comes a still voice— <br class="">
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Yet a few days, and thee <br class="">
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The all-beholding sun shall see no more <br class="">
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In all his course; nor yet in the cold ground, <br class="">
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Where thy pale form was laid, with many tears, <br class="">
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Nor in the embrace of ocean, shall exist <br class="">
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Thy image. Earth, that nourished thee, shall claim <br class="">
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Thy growth, to be resolved to earth again, <br class="">
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And, lost each human trace, surrendering up <br class="">
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Thine individual being, shalt thou go <br class="">
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To mix for ever with the elements, <br class="">
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To be a brother to the insensible rock <br class="">
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And to the sluggish clod, which the rude swain <br class="">
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<div class="" style="margin:0px; padding:0px 0px 0px 1em; border:0px; font-style:inherit; font-family:inherit; vertical-align:baseline; text-indent:-1em">
Turns with his share, and treads upon. The oak <br class="">
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Shall send his roots abroad, and pierce thy mould. <br class="">
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Yet not to thine eternal resting-place <br class="">
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Shalt thou retire alone, nor couldst thou wish <br class="">
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Couch more magnificent. Thou shalt lie down <br class="">
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With patriarchs of the infant world—with kings, <br class="">
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The powerful of the earth—the wise, the good, <br class="">
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Fair forms, and hoary seers of ages past, <br class="">
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All in one mighty sepulchre. The hills <br class="">
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Rock-ribbed and ancient as the sun,—the vales <br class="">
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Stretching in pensive quietness between; <br class="">
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The venerable woods—rivers that move <br class="">
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<div class="" style="margin:0px; padding:0px 0px 0px 1em; border:0px; font-style:inherit; font-family:inherit; vertical-align:baseline; text-indent:-1em">
In majesty, and the complaining brooks <br class="">
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<div class="" style="margin:0px; padding:0px 0px 0px 1em; border:0px; font-style:inherit; font-family:inherit; vertical-align:baseline; text-indent:-1em">
That make the meadows green; and, poured round all, <br class="">
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<div class="" style="margin:0px; padding:0px 0px 0px 1em; border:0px; font-style:inherit; font-family:inherit; vertical-align:baseline; text-indent:-1em">
Old Ocean’s gray and melancholy waste,— <br class="">
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Are but the solemn decorations all <br class="">
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<div class="" style="margin:0px; padding:0px 0px 0px 1em; border:0px; font-style:inherit; font-family:inherit; vertical-align:baseline; text-indent:-1em">
Of the great tomb of man. The golden sun, <br class="">
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<div class="" style="margin:0px; padding:0px 0px 0px 1em; border:0px; font-style:inherit; font-family:inherit; vertical-align:baseline; text-indent:-1em">
The planets, all the infinite host of heaven, <br class="">
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<div class="" style="margin:0px; padding:0px 0px 0px 1em; border:0px; font-style:inherit; font-family:inherit; vertical-align:baseline; text-indent:-1em">
Are shining on the sad abodes of death, <br class="">
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Through the still lapse of ages. All that tread <br class="">
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The globe are but a handful to the tribes <br class="">
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<div class="" style="margin:0px; padding:0px 0px 0px 1em; border:0px; font-style:inherit; font-family:inherit; vertical-align:baseline; text-indent:-1em">
That slumber in its bosom.—Take the wings <br class="">
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<div class="" style="margin:0px; padding:0px 0px 0px 1em; border:0px; font-style:inherit; font-family:inherit; vertical-align:baseline; text-indent:-1em">
Of morning, pierce the Barcan wilderness, <br class="">
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Or lose thyself in the continuous woods <br class="">
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Where rolls the Oregon, and hears no sound, <br class="">
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Save his own dashings—yet the dead are there: <br class="">
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And millions in those solitudes, since first <br class="">
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The flight of years began, have laid them down <br class="">
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In their last sleep—the dead reign there alone. <br class="">
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So shalt thou rest, and what if thou withdraw <br class="">
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In silence from the living, and no friend <br class="">
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Take note of thy departure? All that breathe <br class="">
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Will share thy destiny. The gay will laugh <br class="">
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When thou art gone, the solemn brood of care <br class="">
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Plod on, and each one as before will chase <br class="">
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His favorite phantom; yet all these shall leave <br class="">
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Their mirth and their employments, and shall come <br class="">
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And make their bed with thee. As the long train <br class="">
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Of ages glide away, the sons of men, <br class="">
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The youth in life’s green spring, and he who goes <br class="">
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In the full strength of years, matron and maid, <br class="">
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The speechless babe, and the gray-headed man— <br class="">
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Shall one by one be gathered to thy side, <br class="">
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By those, who in their turn shall follow them. <br class="">
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The innumerable caravan, which moves <br class="">
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To that mysterious realm, where each shall take <br class="">
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His chamber in the silent halls of death, <br class="">
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Scourged to his dungeon, but, sustained and soothed <br class="">
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By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave, <br class="">
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Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch <br class="">
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About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams.</div>
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<div class="">On Dec 14, 2019, at 4:57 PM, Richard Alton via OE <<a href="mailto:oe@lists.wedgeblade.net" class="" style="">oe@lists.wedgeblade.net</a>> wrote:</div>
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<p class=""><span class="" style="font-size:12pt; font-family:Cambria"><b class=""><u class="">Death up Close</u></b></span></p>
<p class=""><span class="" style="font-size:12pt; font-family:Cambria">It has been a rough year. Late in 2018 I fell off my bike and headed to the doctor to make sure I was okay. From a CT scan discovered two lung spots- four months of CT scans, a PET scan
and a biopsy, (which caused a collapsed lung) to find out it was nothing the doctors were concerned about. But it generated a lot of thinking about my end of life, and death. Even went to a Church class on sharing what you have done or need to do to get ready
for your funeral.</span></p>
<p class=""><span class="" style="font-size:12pt; font-family:Cambria">Then Jim Stovall, Sally’s brother (10 years in the Order), came down with stage 4 cirrhosis of the liver. They worked on a liver replacement, but Jim’s body became toxic and he died in April
of this year. Then in May, Sally (significant other for 14 years) had a major stroke and died- just to give you a feel for this death up close:</span></p>
<p class=""><span class="" style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Cambria; font-style: italic; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">Sally, nothing basically wrong...just general 70-year health problems... a little issue with high blood pressure but controlled by pills. She
was getting ready for a meeting and I came into the bedroom and she was on the bed- said she got dizzy in the bathroom and just barely made it to the bed. She said she had a headache (her speech was a little slurred) and wanted two aspirins- I gave them to
her and left her on the bed for 15 minutes- came back and she wanted to eat something- sure- but she could not get up except her left arm- I grabbed her arm but she was not able to make it up- I called ambulance-we got to the hospital- she had a massive stroke
with major brain bleeding... from local Western Suburban Hospital took her downtown by ambulance to Rush (Chicago stroke Hospital). Arrived at Hospital by 10:30pm and they determined she had lost most of her brain function. We kept her on a breathing tube
until her sister and daughter arrived the next day and pulled tube after a prayer service with her pastor Marti, Pam Bergdall, Carol (sister), Teresa (daughter), George Emerick (Teresa’s father) and myself. Sally lasted about 15 minutes. In a way it was great,
it was quick. She was unconscious almost immediately at 730pm Monday night and pronounced dead at 4:27pm the next day, May 21st.. a great life</span></p>
<p class=""><span class="" style="font-size:12pt; font-family:Cambria">But I wasn’t prepared for the HOLE that was blown in my life with the loss of my partner of 14 years. And in the midst of this emotional loss, I have had to spend the last 7 months taking
care of the aftereffects of Sally’s death and re-organizing my life. So, my learnings from these 3 death experiences (I count my lung problem as a near death):</span></p>
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<p class=""><span class="" style="font-size:12pt; font-family:Cambria">1) In all 3 events I was struck how unprepared we are for death both in handling others deaths or our own. We are overwhelmed by the loss of our loved one to deal with what is the most
important event of our or their lives. How can we pay so little attention to expressing the meaning and purpose of this glorious life we have had?</span></p>
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<p class=""><span class="" style="font-size:12pt; font-family:Cambria">2) Second, death is usually hidden and then burst into our lives. Death is wicked how fast it comes and how it is all consuming and leaves little room for preparation or even thought. Sally’s
stroke was unannounced, and she was gone in less that 12 hours. Jim Stovall was in a hospital fighting a losing battle for his life and Sally and his family were totally consumed with his </span><span class="" style="font-family:Cambria; font-size:12pt">care.
It is hidden in that we do not want to even consider this end or admit to our finitude and mortality. The hiddenness from death, from this final power cuts us off from our journey leaves us shocked and disoriented in thinking/preparing to have a meaningful
ending</span></p>
<p class=""><span class="" style="font-family:Cambria; font-size:12pt">3) What happens is professionals that deal a lot with death step in and organize the readings, the message, the music, the witness, the reception as the family and friends are frozen in
losing a beloved one. When you read Matthew’s The Time My Father Died and Matthews gets mad at what the funeral home had done to his father. The issue is not the funeral home but rather Joseph had not thought through his father’s death.</span></p>
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<p class=""><span class="" style="font-size:12pt; font-family:Cambria">In the case of Sally, since I had been thinking about my own death- I asked ICA’s Seva Gandhi to do one of the Memorial Services witnesses to Sally’s life. I asked her to reflect on Sally’s
time in the Order, the Ecumenical Institute and Institute of Cultural Affairs. Seva did a great job capturing Sally’s thankfulness for being in a religious community and how she engaged herself as being part of a global servant force that was out to care for
the poorest of the poor. I was so pleased that it seemed to hold the depth, wonder and uniqueness of her existence;</span></p>
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<li class=""><span class="" style="font-family:Cambria; font-size:12pt">Sally loved the religious house and the community, interaction, structures it brought her life.</span><br class="">
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</span></li><li class=""><span class="" style="font-family:Cambria; font-size:12pt">Sally loved the town meetings and her engaging the small towns across Utah. She had an amazing memory of those small town meetings and especially the songs.</span></li><li class=""><span class="" style="font-family:Cambria; font-size:12pt"><br class="">
</span></li><li class=""><span class="" style="font-family:Cambria; font-size:12pt">It was clear that Sally had found purpose in her life and was sent to make a difference in this world. Others sensed this too. Was pretty obvious when she died on a Tuesday and the next
day, Wednesday, we held a prayer service with 100 people showing up and talked and talked about what Sally meant to their lives. And then that Saturday at her Memorial Service 250 people showed up many unknown to us... people were standing in the Church aisles</span></li></ul>
<p class=""><span class="" style="font-family:Cambria; font-size:12pt">But my lesson learned through all of this is that we need to take ownership of our death and the message (word) it brings to others. I have worked on my funeral: like to have the Daily Office
liturgy, DH Lawrence’s Not I, Not I But a New Wind Blowing Through Me read, decided what I like to have read from the NT and the OT and who and what would like have sung plus a witness-one being the ICA. For Sally’s Memorial Service her children pulled together
a slide show that was fabulous. Need to do that.</span></p>
<p class=""><span class="" style="font-size:12pt; font-family:Cambria">I think the basic message is that we need to get our deaths thought through.<br class="">
So 3 deaths (actually Sally’s sister died the year before) and a funeral class has</span></p>
<p class=""><span class="" style="font-size:12pt; font-family:Cambria">made death up close as a reality. Overwhelming experience; need to bring intentionality and attentionally to our deaths and the death needs to speak the “Word”. So from this experience and
dialogue I have joined with others to form a “Death Team” (Pam Bergdall and Seva Gandhi- who says death is always on her mind), We are proposing a quarterly death webinar or more like a death sharing </span><span class="" style="font-family:Cambria; font-size:12pt">circle
to get our deaths in shape...it has been said that facing up to death also makes for a better life. What think you?</span></p>
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<p class=""><span class="" style="font-size:12pt; font-family:Cambria">Dick Alton, RS-1, 1968, born December 14, 1941</span></p>
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<div class="">Richard H. T. Alton</div>
<div class="">One Earth Film Fest ( OEFF)</div>
<div class="">Green Community Connections</div>
<div class="">Interfaith Green Network</div>
<div class="">T: 773.344.7172</div>
<div class=""><a href="mailto:richard.alton@gmail.com" target="_blank" class="" style="">richard.alton@gmail.com</a></div>
<div class=""><b class=""><font size="2" class="">*Save the Date! One Earth Film Festival 2019, March 1-10</font></b></div>
<div class=""><font size="2" class="">http:<a href="https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.oneearthfilmfestival.org%2F&data=02%7C01%7C%7C4931cb4ccf184bde9d5908d782fa9e66%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637121885233772994&sdata=Yk1LUlsKL4TdUTlvNroko8abLgYVAy2R52eLphQnoNo%3D&reserved=0" originalsrc="http://www.oneearthfilmfestival.org/" shash="G7xjjPD57OPXiUIYqKjMbv5BF5ejz2MTzBCVm58qmvxYJUicstz6ebnitp4HTIIddiWRLN/WB2//mzHj5ANBwqKxF9m5S7Kf9t/YqzYCbFDEyhvoJNYO6CBKDWNHotaf4HO0WMYvxmh2R5sFHn3s7HTb1ENEhrIKoBqQ7X81CM4=" target="_blank" class="" style="">www.oneearthfilmfestival.org</a></font></div>
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<div class=""><font size="2" class="">Make Plain the Vision, Habakkuh 2:2</font></div>
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<span id="x_cid:f_k466emht0"><Death 2.pdf></span>_______________________________________________<br class="">
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