Gathering of Rememberance

Hi Friends,

Tomorrow at 4 PM we are having a gathering at church - I am fighting for it to not be called a service, because my hope is that it will be more about connecting with others in community than a formal service.  I wrote a brief welcome for the gathering, which I thought I'd include below.

"Though it [loss] is a solitary experience we must face alone, loss is also a common experience that can lead us to community.  It can create a community of brokenness.  We must enter the darkness of loss alone, but once there we will find other with whom we can share life together." Jerry Sittser

Dear friends,

First of all, thank you for all of your love for us - some of you have known us for many years, some for the past few, but your presence here is a reminder of all the dear friends and family that the Lord has surrounded us with as we have walked this road - not a road we ever would have chosen, and one which has been for sure dark at times (and still is, at times), but a road that in that darkness the Lord has used you to love us, and that is a huge encouragement.
 

Thank you for joining us - in Brandi's absence, our gathering to remember her and to share both grief and loss and memories is the very thing that she would have loved and longed for.  My hope and prayer for our time today is that we would be able to share together as a community of brokenness - broken because we have, together, lost one whom we loved so much.  I hope you will feel the freedom to share not only memories of Brandi, but also of your experience of losing her, whether sadness, regret, anger, confusion, or joy, gladness to know her and remember how she was a blessing to you, ways that her life changed yours.

In sharing together these things, may the Lord build us into a community of love that Brandi so longed for in her own life and for our church.  In an ideal world, we would be gathering in a living
room, with tea and hot chocolate on the sideboard, comfy cushions to sit on, and a fire in the fireplace...that is the kind of gathering Brandi loved.   We may not have the setting, but we can bring the heart.  Thank you for being here.

with love

Matt

I also found, in the back of Brandi's last journal, a list of songs and books that were important or encouraging for Brandi in the last few years.  If you are interested, here are the lists:

Shattered Dreams - Larry Crabb
To the Golden Shore - Courtney Anderson
Rose from Brier - Amy Carmichal
Free Grace and Dying Love - Susanna Spurgeon
When Life and Beliefs Collide - Carolyn Custis James
Comfort from the Cross - Elyse Fitzpatrick
The Pursuit of Holiness - Jerry Bridges
When I Don’t Desire God - John Piper
My Heart in His Hands - Sharon James
The Shadow of the Almighty - Elisabeth Elliot

One other book that she loved and I have read and given to others on her behalf:
Stepping Heavenward - Elizabeth Prentiss

Songs:

Blessings – Laura Story
By Faith – Keith and Kristyn Getty
I Will Praise Him Still – Fernando Ortega
These are Written – The Lockwoods
Speak O Lord – Getty’s
I Will Rise – Chris Tomlin
10,000 Reasons – Matt Redman
Broken Hallelujah – The Afters
Before the Throne of God Above - (we like the Sovereign Grace rendition)
In Christ Alone - Stuart Townend
Come to Me – Bethel Music
Desert Song – Hillsong United
While I’m Waiting – John Waller
Oceans (When Feet May Fail) – Hillsong United
Blessed Assurance – (I like the Steven Curtis Chapman version on Deep Roots)
And Can it Be? – (We liked the Sovereign Grace rendition)
It is not Death to Die – Sovereign Grace
How Firm a Foundation – (We love the Fernando Ortega rendition)
My Anchor holds – Lifepoint Worship
Christ is Risen – Matt Maher
Immovable our Hope Remains – Sovereign Grace
He will hold me Fast – Matt Merker

I hope this is encouraging for you.  Tomorrow I will share a quote from Brandi's last journal days...

Love

Matt