Extending Our Roots to One Another
Last week, I attended a memorial service for a student who recently passed away. I arrived early, planning to take a seat and pay my respects to a student who always made everyone around them better, asking about others even while they were dealing with the decline in their own health and physicality. When I entered the space, I expected to just sit and wait for the memorial to begin; however, when I entered, the choral group, consisting of current students and recent graduates were rehearsing the song they would sing during the memorial.
I listened to students I have grown to know over the past few years sing Daniel Gawthrop’s “Sing Me to Heaven,” and as they sang, I looked at each of them on stage and realized that while I had expected to keep it together during the memorial I may not be able to because seeing each of them, standing on stage and singing to pay respects and remember a friend gone way to soon, I may not be able to keep it together. I watched and listened as they sang,
Sing me a lullaby, a love song, a requiem
Love me
Comfort me
Bring me to God
Sing me a love song
Sing me to heaven
The memorial commenced, and as the program progressed, I kept thinking about the students, and I also kept thinking about our need for community and communal grief and remembrance. I am a solitary person. I have no issue being alone all…
