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Last Father-Son Bible Lesson

My Reading at Dad's Memorial Service

SON TO FATHER

Dad,

I've been looking over the Psalm you would like me to read at your Memorial Service. As you may know, I am not very well versed in psalms. Could you tell me why you chose this one of all the psalms you know and cherish? What does it say to you that you want me to make sure I get across in the reading of it? Are there parts that you would emphasize in tone or inflection? And you mentioned that I might only read part of it, not the whole thing. If so, is there a part that you would like most to be read aloud? If this is too much of a detail for you given where you are right now, and I completely understand. But if you have any gems that would convey the power you intend for it at your service, I'd be most grateful. Here is a copy of it. Feel free to make inline notes if you want.

Psalm 139

Yahweh, you have examined me, and know me

You know all, whether I sit down or rise up

You have discerned my thoughts from afar.

You have traced my journey and my resting places

and are familiar with all my paths.

For there is not a word on my tongue

but you, Yahweh, know them all.

You have kept close guard before me and behind

and have spread your hand over me.

Such knowledge is beyond my understanding

so high that I cannot reach it.

Where can I escape from your spirit [your Awe]?

Where can I flee from your presence [your Awesomeness]?

If I climb to the heavens [the sky], You are there.

If I make my bed in Sheol [Eternal oblivion] again I find You.

If I take my flight to the frontiers of the morning,

or dwell at the limit of the western sea,

Even there your hand will meet me,

Your right hand will hold me fast.

If I say, “Surely darkness will steal over me,

night will close around me.,

darkness is no darkness for You

night is as luminous as day,

to you both dark and light are one.”

You It was who fashioned my inward parts,

You did knit me together in my mother’s womb.

I will praise You, for You fill me with Awe.

Wonderful You are, and wonderful are Your works.

You know me through and through,

my body is no mystery to You,

how I was.secretly kneaded into shape,

and patterned in the deeps of the Earth.

You saw my limbs unformed in the womb—

and in Your book they are all recorded—

day by day they were fashioned,

not one of them was late in growing.

How deep I find Your thoughtfulness, oh my God.

how inexhaustible Your themes!

Can I count them. They outnumber the grains of sand:

to finish the count, my years must equal Yours.

Love,

David

FATHER TO SON

Dear David,

These verses convey the plain simple truth that we all have an intimate relation with the Ground of our Being.

We are cared for in the womb. in our childhood, adolescence, adulthood, old age, and death.

My limbs were not late in growing. I came out with all 10 fingers and all 10 toes.

This is a sweet way to introduce the God-Relation, the Land of Mystery relation built into our biology.

Don't try too hard to make this poetry meaningful. It is meaningful. Just let it be its meaning.

Love,

Dad

Order: Ecumenical, EI, & ICA Colleagues, 

We would like to invite you to the online memorial service of Gene Wesley Marshall, our father of 61 to 71 years and our step-mom Joyce's husband of almost 50 years, on September 20, 12 noon Central. Please click on the link below to register, so we can see who's coming. It will last 60-90 minutes, with a little formal structure to begin followed by attendee contributions.

https://kaizen-marketing.com/gene-marshall-memorial

Grace, Peace, & Love,

Wayne, David, Kathy, and Teresa Marshall

Joyce Marshall