The Lord be
with you
and
also with you.
As the new
heavens and the new earth, which I will make,
shall remain before me, says the LORD;
so shall your descendants and
your name remain.
Isaiah 66:22
As the rain
and the snow come down from heaven,
and do not return there until they
have watered the earth,
making it bring forth and
sprout,
giving seed to the
sower and bread to the eater,
so shall my
word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that
which I purpose,
and succeed in the
thing for which I sent it.
Isaiah 55:10-11
As the earth
brings forth its shoots,
and as a garden causes what is sown in
it to spring up,
so the Lord
GOD will cause righteousness and praise
to spring up before all the nations.
Isaiah 61:11
The boundary
lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
I have a goodly heritage.
Psalm 16:11
Let us pray.
God, our
Father, at the dawn of creation you placed your children in a garden to find
delight in their work and worship:
Be
present with us as we walk in this garden, and open our eyes to the beauty of
your creation.
Jesus, our
Companion, on many occasions you withdrew with your friends to a garden for
quiet and refreshment:
Be
present with all who come to seek your company in this place, and renew them in
their stillness before you.
Jesus, our Redeemer, you
suffered anguish and betrayal in a garden, and there you submitted to your Father’s will:
Be
present with all who come in sorrow and pain to this place, and give them the
grace of knowing your redeeming love.
Jesus our Saviour, after your crucifixion your body was laid in a tomb in a garden, and
there you first revealed
yourself to your friends after you rose from the dead:
Be
present with all who come to this place when all seems lost, and awaken them to
new life by your resurrection power.
Holy Spirit
of Truth and Power, our Advocate and Friend,
Be
present with all who come to this place seeking direction and strength, fill
their hearts with the love of God, and send them out in witness to Jesus.
We now
dedicate this Memorial Garden to the glory of God and the memory of all whose lives are honoured here, in the name of the Father, and
of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Let us give
thanks.
For the
beauty of your creation and for this place of peace and refuge
We give you thanks.
For
treasured memories of those who once journeyed with us
We give you thanks.
For the solace
and comfort of friends who still surround us
We give you thanks.
For the
promise of resurrection life for all who are in Christ
We give you thanks.
For those
who made this Memorial Garden possible
We give you thanks.
May it remind
us of your everlasting goodness.
Amen.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
and the love of God,
and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit,
be with us all evermore. Amen.
The first memorial
wall and garden was erected in Monken Hadley in 1981. Three decades later it
was clear that within a few years no space would be left for adding plaques. An
extension was proposed in 2015 which was to be funded in memory of Jessica
Yorke who had grown up in the church and died in her thirty-seventh year in
April 2014. It took about four years from conception to realisation of the new
garden and wall. The story is told in the February and March 2019 editions of
the parish magazine.
