August 6, 2024
We met with Sister Pam this morning at my church to discuss the details about John’s funeral service.
Pam is Bishop Clarke’s sister and responsible for handling all the funerals for First Church. She’s a very gregarious woman with a great sense of humor and made me smile the moment we sat down in spite of the tremendous heartache I’m feeling right now.
She apologized for having to reschedule our meeting and expressed her sincere condolences for the death of my son. She went on to say she doesn’t know how I’m standing because if it were her son, she wouldn’t be able to get out of bed. My eyes welled with tears as I said,” It’s God.”
After a few minutes of casual conversation, I began to feel less emotional and more comfortable, so she got down to business by explaining that First Church has a standard order of service for every funeral. There would be a hymn of faith to begin the service and two additional musical selections within the program. She then asked if I knew which songs I wanted in the program and I said yes, I wanted “Blessed Assurance” as the Hymn of Faith, “I can Only Imagine” for the second musical selection and “Precious Lord” for the third. I also wanted “I’ll Fly Away” playing when John’s casket is leaving the sanctuary.
She passed me a tissue as I began to cry, and I dabbed my eyes.
I then asked who would be delivering the eulogy because I knew Bishop Clarke was on vacation the entire month of August. Although Bishop was on vacation, he took the time to call me on August 2nd to offer his condolences and pray with me. That was so kind of him to check in on me during my greatest time of need when he should have been resting and relaxing but that’s how Bishop Clarke is. He truly loves his congregation.
Sister Pam replied “Our Youth Pastor, Rev. George Schultz will deliver the eulogy.”
I’ll be honest, while I totally understood, I was still disappointed Bishop wasn’t able to give the eulogy. His sermons are excellent, and I love how he not only preaches but also teaches within the sermon as well. He’s a very tall man with a booming voice but has such a kind and caring soul. As disappointed as I was, I knew I was still in good hands with Rev. Schultz.
It’s funny how things come into full circle. First Church of God Youth Pastor Jimmy Terry led John to Christ when he was a child and now the current Youth Pastor will deliver the eulogy. John always thought so highly of Pastor Jimmy and his wife Joyce. Sister Joyce was our beautiful Minister of music and had the voice of an angel. John had a crush on her when he was a teenager and whenever I would tease him about it, he would blush and say “Moooommm, stop it.”
In the middle of the meeting, I saw our associate pastor, Rev. Kelley, walking by the room. He stopped and popped his head in to offer his condolences. Rev. Kelley would be presiding over the services, so he said he’ll see me in a few days.
We continued discussing the program and getting the repast information for after the service which would be held at the church. Sister Pam then asked if we were able to give the pictures to the funeral home for the video tribute which I said yes. I then mentioned that the song I wanted to accompany the video wasn’t included on the list, so I had to pick a few other songs. She asked what song it was, and I began to explain I’m a lifelong Michael Jackson fan, so I wanted the song “Gone Too Soon”. She wasn’t familiar with “Gone Too Soon” and said that most songs like that have copyright issues which means they cannot be played in public without permission. She saw the look of disappointment on my face and said,
“I’ll speak to our music ministry director to see what I can do and let you know as soon as I can.”
“Thank you, that song means the world to me.” I replied
Before the meeting ended, I asked if the funeral home had given them any information in regard to the manner of John’s death when they were coordinating the service, and she said no.
She then asked, “Was John sick?”
I shook my head no, and the tears started to flow, I looked down at the table and said “John was murdered. He was an innocent victim and shot several times”
She immediately said, “Oh my God, Sister Shari. I’m so sorry.” and gave me a hug.
I just felt she needed to know.
After a few more words of condolences and encouragement, she hugged me again and said, “Be sure to check your email for confirmation about ‘Gone Too Soon’.” She said it in a tone which let me know she would find a way to make it happen.
Everyone has been so kind but all I could think about when we left was, I’ll be saying my final goodbye to John in just two days.
Leave a Reply