Private Committal Service at Cloister Chapel

Entrance Music: Gymnopodie by Eric Sarte

We are gathered here today to say goodbye to our loved one. Chris was many things to we who are gathered here. Husband, stepdad, grandpa, great grandpa, uncle and friend.

He was also a fellow traveller in this life with whom we shared time and experiences. As we gather although Chris is physically gone, he remains with us through our shared moments.

Gathering as Christians we also believe Chris has not gone forever but like he has done, one day it will be our turn to cross from this life to the next. At that point though we will be separated from loved ones still here we shall be reunited with loved ones who have gone before. Chris will no doubt be waiting for us.

In the strength of that hope, we gather here to say our goodbyes.

For thousands of years believers have found comfort in the Christian scriptures and we turn to them now as we read Psalm 23.

Psalm 23.

The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul.

 He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.

Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff they comfort me.

  You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

 Those words of comfort have sustained people for millennia. They remind us that even when things in this world are difficult we still have a loving God in heaven who truly wants the best for us.

Chris is experiencing that now. He has no more angina, no more pains and no more frailties. As difficult as it was watching his friends pass before him, he will now be reunited with all those he knew. He may even be catching fish or playing bowls.

So our farewell is sadness coloured by hope.

We are going to have a more thorough recollection of Chris’s life when we get to the church. For this part of his memorial though, some of the family would like to share the following thoughts and memories…..

[Read and shared thoughts and memories]

Andrew

 From Colehouse in 2016. Sitting inside just me and Chris watching Hibs play Rangers in the Scottish Cup final. Both watching for different reasons: me as a Hearts fan wanting Hibs to lose, Chris having never seen Hibs win the Scottish cup (they last won it 28 years before he was born).

 When Hibs scored the winner in the last 3 minutes, I’ve never seen Chris get up as quickly as he did, and I’ll never forget the smile on his face or his laugh of triumph at full time. It was very very difficult to be annoyed that they’d won seeing this wonderful man so happy

 Katy

 I have so many amazing memories of the lovely man that is my Gramps. When I was wee and we had Rosie, he always used to tease me and say “she’s not a real dog!”. He loved her and knew it wound me up, which is of course why he did it!

 Only once Rosie died did he give her the title of a real dog. Then along came Mabel, and so it started again!

 Another from when I was an adult, was down at Colehouse and a few of us were going to the pub.

 We came across Gramps walking Tess down the lane and asked him to join us – he said he shouldn’t as grandma wouldn’t know where he was, we assured him we’d let her know and bundled him into the car – pretty much kidnapping him and taking him along to The Duke of York where he had a few pints and took in the atmosphere, listening to his mad family around him.

 I feel completely honoured to have had 31 years with him, and so lucky to have got to know him as an adult as well

Cameron

 One of my memories of Grandpa is when Grandma and Grandpa used to clean the church, they would pick me up from Granton nursery across the road  and take me to the bakery to get a chocolate doughnut. That doughnut would set me up nicely for a nap on the table in the church office.

 Grandpa would lay his coat round the edge so I wouldn’t fall off whilst they went off around the church cleaning best naps ever!

 He also used to always let me eat the last thing on the sharing platter whenever we ate out, not just because I’d put my grubby mitts all over it, just because he was that kind of man

 Lyndsay

 I have so many fond memories of my Grampa, of the gentle, kind and caring man he was. I treasure the memories of my funny, sarcastic Grampa with his dry sense of humour, who knew just how to wind me up.

 Our love/hate relationship was since I was small, he knew just what buttons to press! I remember him telling me at about 7 years old to stop sucking my thumb, as when he was born and living in Leith, his family were too poor to afford thumbs!

 This horrified me as a child, which I think gave him much amusement. My Gramps was a lovely man and always there for me, to lend advice and have a chat with.

 He wouldn’t give his advice and opinions willy-nilly, he always thought deeply about what he was going to say. Grampa was a constant presence in my life and him and grandma were a great support to me, especially during my mums illness, for which I am forever grateful. I couldn’t have wished for better grandparents.

To aid us in our reflection we are now going to quietly listen to the following music. The Parting Glass (instrumental).

This is an opportunity to remember your journey with Chris and give thanks.

As we proceed to the committal can I ask that out of respect for Chris you stand if you are able.

In the strength of these promises we lay Chris to rest. We now commit his body to be cremated, ashes to ashes, dust to dust, in the surety of the resurrection to eternal life, through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died, was buried and rose again.

Let us pray,

Heavenly Father you have not left us without hope. You have promised that one day you shall come again and we shall all be united, those alive at the time and those who have gone on before. Help us to live in the strength of that promise and to keep its hope alive in us for the rest of our days. For this we ask in the name of he who is our hope, Jesus Christ. Amen.

And now may the love of God, the grace mercy and peace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all, both now and evermore, Amen.

Let us now retire to the church where we shall gather with others for the memorial service.

Exit Music: Ae Fond Kiss by Eddi Reader

Memorial Service for Christian (Chris) Hansen – Granton Parish Church

We are gathered here today to celebrate Chris’s life and remember times spent with him. At times like these we look to God who is our strength and in whom is our hope, for we are promised life does not end with death. So, let us worship God and give thanks, first of all through the hymn: Be still my soul

Prayers      

Our Father in heaven, we your children call out to you now because we need you. So much happens in this world that we do not understand, that seems to have no point, no logic to it. We are confused and angry at what is so unfair.

We ask you to be with us today. Hear us as we open our hearts to you, look at us in our grief and give us your comfort. May your compassion and your faithfulness draw us close to you in our deepest need.

You are our creator, the place you have for your people is a very special one. You despise nothing which you have made. Today look into our hearts and bring rest where there is none.

Remind us that when everything seems so wrong and we are full of doubts that you have not changed towards us; you still love and care for us.

For Father you are the only one who can do that.

Help us to listen for your words in these scriptures. In them you have given us promises to hold onto when life seems to have no anchor. Father your love is stronger than death. Help us as we hear your promises to believe them and to receive the comfort they offer.  Fill us with hope and peace in believing so that we may have hope through the power of your Holy Spirit. Amen

We will now hear from the very well poem written by David Harkins.  You may recognise the words and have heard this before.

You can shed tears that he is gone

Or you can smile because he has lived

You can close your eyes and pray that he will come back

Or you can open your eyes and see all thatshe has left

Your heart can be empty because you can’t see him

Or you can be full of the love that you shared

You can turn your back on tomorrow and live yesterday

Or you can be happy for tomorrow because of yesterday

You can remember him and only that he is gone

Or you can cherish his memory and let it live on

You can cry and close your mind, be empty and turn your back

Or you can do what he would want: smile, open your eyes, love and go on.

We turn to the Christian scriptures as we read some verses that embody our hope for the future.

Ecc 3:1-15 (Dani)

(1)  Everything that happens in this world happens at the time God chooses.

(2)  He sets the time for birth and the time for death, the time for planting and the time for pulling up,

(3)  the time for killing and the time for healing, the time for tearing down and the time for building.

(4)  He sets the time for sorrow and the time for joy, the time for mourning and the time for dancing,

(5)  the time for making love and the time for not making love, the time for kissing and the time for not kissing.

(6)  He sets the time for finding and the time for losing, the time for saving and the time for throwing away,

(7)  the time for tearing and the time for mending, the time for silence and the time for talk.

(8)  He sets the time for love and the time for hate, the time for war and the time for peace.

(9)  What do we gain from all our work?

(10)  I know the heavy burdens that God has laid on us.

(11)  He has set the right time for everything. He has given us a desire to know the future, but never gives us the satisfaction of fully understanding what he does.

(12)  So I realized that all we can do is be happy and do the best we can while we are still alive.

(13)  All of us should eat and drink and enjoy what we have worked for. It is God’s gift.

(14)  I know that everything God does will last forever. You can’t add anything to it or take anything away from it. And one thing God does is to make us stand in awe of him.

(15)  Whatever happens or can happen has already happened before. God makes the same thing happen again and again.

1Co 13:1-13 (Gillian Macintosh)

(1)  I may be able to speak the languages of human beings and even of angels, but if I have no love, my speech is no more than a noisy gong or a clanging bell.

(2)  I may have the gift of inspired preaching; I may have all knowledge and understand all secrets; I may have all the faith needed to move mountains—but if I have no love, I am nothing.

(3)  I may give away everything I have, and even give up my body to be burned —but if I have no love, this does me no good.

(4)  Love is patient and kind; it is not jealous or conceited or proud;

(5)  love is not ill-mannered or selfish or irritable; love does not keep a record of wrongs;

(6)  love is not happy with evil, but is happy with the truth.

(7)  Love never gives up; and its faith, hope, and patience never fail.

(8)  Love is eternal. There are inspired messages, but they are temporary; there are gifts of speaking in strange tongues, but they will cease; there is knowledge, but it will pass.

(9)  For our gifts of knowledge and of inspired messages are only partial;

(10)  but when what is perfect comes, then what is partial will disappear.

(11)  When I was a child, my speech, feelings, and thinking were all those of a child; now that I am an adult, I have no more use for childish ways.

(12)  What we see now is like a dim image in a mirror; then we shall see face-to-face. What I know now is only partial; then it will be complete—as complete as God’s knowledge of me.

(13)  Meanwhile these three remain: faith, hope, and love; and the greatest of these is love.

Romans (Norman Smith)

Rom 8:35-39

(35)  Who, then, can separate us from the love of Christ? Can trouble do it, or hardship or persecution or hunger or poverty or danger or death?

(37)  No, in all these things we have complete victory through him who loved us!

(38)  For I am certain that nothing can separate us from his love: neither death nor life, neither angels nor other heavenly rulers or powers, neither the present nor the future,

(39)  neither the world above nor the world below—there is nothing in all creation that will ever be able to separate us from the love of God which is ours through Christ Jesus our Lord.

Address

Chris was born on 23^rd October 1930 to Powell and Netty Hansen. His father worked in the wireworks and his mother was a housewife. There were not the same opportunities afforded women in those days as now.

He joined the family when his sister Nancy was 5.

Although pronounced Powell his dads name was actually Paul. They were from Norwegian and Danish extraction and that’s how they pronounce it there.

The family were not well off but made ends meet.

Originally living in Elbe street which Chris used to pronounce El-Bay to make it sound posher. It was suggested by his dads boss they should move closer to the Wireworks because his dad had started to be promoted and it was deemed beneficial to be closer to his place of work.

So it was they moved to Royston when the whole areas was new build.

Many families came to Granton and Royston from Leith. Chris therefore attended Royston Primary School.

In 1939 when he was 9 he and Nancy were evacuated to Broughton. This lasted only a couple of weeks before they returned home. Although Chris enjoyed his time away from Edinburgh he agreed with his sister that ‘a day out of Leith was a day wasted’.

Interestingly it was when he was in Broughton he first went fishing, a future love of his.

Secondary school was Leith Academy. In 4^th year Chris and another lad were called to go see the rector. He advised them they didn’t really have an academic future and should go and get a job. 

Chris and the other lad did this, and is so doing proved the rector wrong over the years to come, as we shall see.

His first job was in Bruce Peebles where he stayed for his entire working life of 47 years, though not doing the same job; initially training as a welder before ending up in senior management. After going to night school to get his city and guilds he went on to become head of the drawing room and a qualified mechanical engineer. So proving his rector wrong all those years before.

The reason he got the job at the beginning was his Scout Master who personally vouched for him as he saw the value in Chris.

In 1947 at 17 years old he was called up for National Service and found himself in the RAF.

Whilst serving Chris managed to acquire a push bike which he would use to return to the camp after being allowed out. But for some reason, cycling in camp was prohibited and one night when he was coming back he was caught. His punishment was jankers, being on guard duty and cleaning toilets.

In July of that year Chris attended he very first Blair Athol Scout jamboree. It was a fantastic occasion, giving him memories he never forgot. Decades later, in 2018 Chris was in the Ye Olde Inn, Davidson’s Mains when he overheard some people next to him talking about organising the current Blair Athol Jamborie.

They were absolutely delighted to be in the presence of a man who had actually been to the first one 70 years before.

That encounter went on to become a Facebook story that gathered over 1,000 likes.

In 1950 Chris returned from National Service to find his job was still there but his bedroom wasn’t. Whilst he was away his sister Nancy had given birth and mother and baby Jennifer were firmly ensconced in his bedroom.

Any good Scout learns to adapt and that’s what Chris did.

In the early 1950’s Chris, who had returned to the scouts went on a trip with the Rover Scouts to Norway. The Evening News got wind of this and that his family originally came from there so ran a story titled ‘Christian returns to homeland.’

Being a young man who loved the outdoors and loved being active it will come as no surprise that he played squash, rugby, cricket and golf. Yet you would never know because he wasn’t the type to boast or draw attention to himself.

When we come to the early 1960’s we find Chris much more of a young man making his way in the world. Doing things young men did, activities like meeting regularly with his dad for a pint in Spiers bar on Sundays.

Or buying his first car, a Wolsley 444 with the registration LFS 933. The car did well, especially when he sold it to his brother in law for more than he bought it.

Cars were not so common then and his having one gave the family mobility. Jennifer remembers “Uncle Chris had a car – Netty would make sandwiches on the off chance that Chris would offer the family a run out. If not, they would have the sandwiches for lunch.

In 1964, one of Chris’s pals, Andrew Cockburn, was in the highlands and came across the Scourie Hotel, a place Chris was to fall in love with.

His first fishing trip there was with Andrew and another pal, Dougie Groat. Chris continued this annual tradition of two weeks in the Scourie Hotel right up till 2018.

He has also left a lasting legacy there because the hotel being a fishing and shooting type of place has lots of record fish stuffed and mounted on the walls. Two of them were caught by Chris Hansen, a magnificent achievement.

Move on to the 1970’s and he continues his interest in Scouting, passing it on to the next generation. As well as hobbies like football, being a Hibbie. Though his real passion was rugby, having played many years for County Rovers.

On one family holiday to Crieff Hydro, Chris taught Peter and Robert (nephew and nephew-in-law) to play squash. His motived were not altruistic, turns out he taught them so that he could beat them.

Only a few years ago, he and I were talking about golf. He was very clear it was not the taking part that counts, it was the winning. He never lost his competitive streak.

On 29^th December 1982 Chris married Una, inheriting his first stepfamily. Iain and Judith whom Chris took great delight in and then Lindsay who was the apple of eye.

Sadly Una passed away on 5^th February 1986. Chris naturally was devastated, and continued to play the role of step-dad to Iain and Judith and then later grampa to Lindsay. He was very proud of her as she took her steps out into the world and became a nurse.

When tragedy befalls it is never easy and tragedy does befall in life, anyone who lives long enough knows the truth of that.

For some second chances happen, and that is the case with Chris. On 16^th January 1988 Chris married Elizabeth and they have been together ever since.

In love Lindsay says Chris had a ‘type’.

He could definitely be described as a late starter in marriage. Although Jennifer remember a few ladies who were around the worlds most eligible bachelor.

When his best friend, and Scout Patrol leader, Jimmy (Curly) Gowans died, Chris became close to his wife Una and the pair eventually got married in 1982.

When Una sadly died in 1986, Chris felt drawn back to Granton Parish Church.

Although always a member, it was now that he became more involved, serving on the property committee and starting the Men’s Recreational Club when he retired.

In January 1987 he was invited to become an Elder, at the same time as Elizabeth, and it was then that a spark seemed to ignite between them.

Before heading off on his annual Scouri trip in June that year, Chris asked Elizabeth to do him a favour and visit the members of his district whilst he was away.

On his return, to thank her, he brought her a large trout he had caught, thankfully already gutted. Elizabeth was bemused and asked her sister Jean for advice. They decided to cook it and invite Chris to join Jean and Andrew for dinner at Fraser Crescent, where Elizabeth stayed.

Must have been some fish to feed 4 grown adults!!!

After that they quietly dated without anyone knowing, going public in October that year. In January 1988 they were married in Granton Parish Church.

In addition to his previous family, he now took on the role of stepdad to Linda and Gillian.

On reflection, Gillian comments, “Great that he joined us but he must have thought he had joined the circus”

One of the great things about Christ was how he held all the family together. Those who originally knew him as Chris and in time became grampa Chris, including Andrew and Christopher.

For Katie and Cameron he was always grampa having been there since they were born.

For all the kids over all the years, Chris enjoyed filling the role of a good grampa. Dishing out wise advice, ribbing mercilessly with a smile and being there for them as they took their place in the world.

Chris and Elizabeth’s paths had crossed on numerous occasions prior to their dinner date. One such being in 1964 at the wedding of Andrew and Anne Cockburn.

Another was at Lauriston Farm many years later in the evening where they were sitting at tables next to each other. There was a bit of a fuss going on because the waiter had spilt a drink down his future brother in laws back.

Chris was a great dog lover. When he was a child the family had a fox terrier called Nippy, who had to be put to sleep after it was traumatised by a bombing raid in Pilton during the war.

When he met Elizabeth he also inherited Eber, a mad boisterous boxer. After Eber came Emma, Buster and Tess but they took Mabel and Rosie on holiday too. Chris used to tease Katie and Cameron that Rosie wasn’t a real dog like Eber.

When we come to the 2000’s Chris and Elizabeth had retired so they were free to take many trips and holidays. Places such as Nethy Bridge, Arran, Cruben Mor, Tenerife, Scourie, Australia, Corfu and many more.

It’s fair to say Chris was never keen on hot holidays but put up with the sweltering heat on a number of occasions to please Elizabeth. She returned the sentiment by spending many, many hours in a survival bag by remote Scottish loch, fighting midges and reading books while Chris fished.

On 23^rd October 2000 Chris was celebrating his 70^th birthday with a family meal. He commented that of all those gathered round the table only one out of 15 was a blood relative and all the rest had been picked up throughout his life.

Around this time in his life, he used to tease Lindsay, Katy and Cameron, about his time in the RAF. On a visit to the Museum of Flight with her Grandpa, Lindsay told one of the staff, proudly, that her Grandpa had once jumped out of a plane without a parachute.!

The lady quite naturally wanted to meet this brave individual, and it was only then that Chris admitted that plane he jumped out of was actually on the ground.

Alas, in all his time with the RAF, he never actually flew.

By the time we reach the 2010’s Chris and Elizabeth are in full flow enjoying retirement. Actively involved in Granton Parish church and all its activities, still going abroad to Corfu, Tenerife and Portugal. Continuing to play a pivotal role in the life of the ever extending family.

In 2017, when Chris was 86, he and Elizabeth headed out with Tess the chocolate lab into the hills above Scourie for a day’s fishing. By lunchtime the mist rolled in, and before long visibility was down to almost zero. Chris’s inclination was to sit tight and let the mist clear. Elizabeth on the other hand was having none of it.

She had heard horror stories of people being trapped on the hills for days, so she insisted on heading back down the hill, aided by Chris’s trusty Silva compass.

After hours of walking in the mist, they eventually found the road – separated only by a 7ft deer fence. Even at 86, Chris reckoned he could scale the fence, but neither of them thought they could get Tess over.

By this time they had a phone signal. So they phoned Marie-May, a friend who lived in Beauly because they had her number but didn’t have the hotels. She in turn phoned the hotel and a rescue party was sent out for them.

Alan, the hotel owner apparently asked Chris’s permission to put his hand on Elizabeth’s bottom to help her over the fence, then dug a hole to allow Tess through. They returned to the hotel – soaked to the skin and wellies full of water. No one was hurt but the rescue was slightly tinged with sadness – Chris’s Silva Compass disintegrated in the climb over the fence.

Over the years Chris and Elizabeth enjoyed many family gatherings in rural Devon, staying with Gavin and Louise at Colehouse farm.

Chris especially loved visits to the local pub – the Duke of York – where he matched the younger members of the family pint for pint of proper Devon ale

By the time we come to the 2020’s Chris has said goodbye to too many friends. He felt old, felt stretched but the good Lord kept giving him more days and he kept enjoying the chance to see his family continue to grow.

He drove until he was 90 – when he admitted that “his reflexes weren’t as good as they were.

There was an upside to not driving as it meant when he visited Fraser Crescent, the answer to the question “would you like a wee dram” was always -”oh well – yes (usually on the second asking, but he didn’t take much persuasion.

In the last month he became very keen on the Isle of Raasay whisky – with connections to a long-standing family friend.

On July 9 at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, suddenly but peacefully after a short illness, Christian (Chris) Hansen beloved husband of Elizabeth and the late Una Gowans, much loved stepfather to the late Ian and Judith, Linda and Gillian. Cherished Grandpa to Andrew, Christopher, Katy, Cameron and Lindsay and a much loved Great Grandpa. Dear cousin, uncle, father in law, brother in law and dear friend to many, said goodbye to this world and entered the next.

We are all gathered here to commemorate his life and to celebrate the journey shared with him.

We are gathered in a Christian church in recognition of the Christian faith held so dearly by Chris and the faith that tells us we will see him again.

Each one of us has out own memories.

Stacey, part of the extended family in Western Australia, remembers as follows:

The special memories of one of Nature’s Gentlemen- Chris Hansen include his arrival to Western Australia on a beautiful ‘mild’ summers day but us getting told (in no uncertain terms) when he stepped out of the airport that we had ‘tricked’ him that it wouldn’t be hot here.

Our drive around Perth and special visit to the WACA (WA Cricket ground) where Chris got to walk on the pitch and pocket some grass!!

Him sitting on the beach in a deck chair covered from head to toe to keep our sun off him while Elizabeth swam in the blue ocean!

The lovely times both here and when we visited Edinburgh of dinner conversations, walks, laughter and just good times have always been lovingly remembered and will continue to be

Thinking of you all but not in a sad way – more a grateful way for having had such a kind and wonderful man as part of your (and our) family. Here’s to you Chris…

Gillian has many memories of Chris, amongst them being that:

Chris loved his dogs and many in church today will have lasting memories of him in church with old Daisy who is as slow as he was, and now wonders where her Grandpa has gone!

Chris would often say, when the kids were being slightly cheeky “I would never speak to my grandfather like that”.

In some ways Chris was a very private person. When he was a young man living at home, the family were instructed “don’t disturb Uncle Chris – leave him in peace.

Later in life, when faced with the noise and rowdiness around the table, or when he was infuriated by something Elizabeth had said, he would simply roll his eyes.

Chris was very computer literate from the early days of home computers, and this interest paid dividends during the lockdown periods when we were all ‘confined to barracks’

He loved Zoom Church, and was always up for a family catch up session on Zoom – this format appealed to Chris as he could remain muted and just take it all in.

He was a man with stories to be told, and with many, many interests.

Fishing (Champion fisherman with 2 record-breaking stuffed fish hanging in the Scourie hotel), Rugby, Bowling – long standing member at Wardie Bowling Club, Golf,

Squash,  Sunday night used to meet up with Drew from the squash crew until covid

Scouts – he inherited the 82nd Scout Troop in the 1950s when the keys to the Scout Hut were popped through his letterbox with a note saying “you’re in charge”.

The first time I was aware of Chris was sitting in church one Sunday and Derek mentioned that a gentleman he knew had been recently widowed. I leant forward to look along the row, my eyes being met with the twinkliest blue eyes and I thought what a lovely man. Those blue eyes twinkled right up to the end and I shall miss them terribly.

Linda remembers…

He was so much more than just a stepdad – he made the choice to love us when he didn’t have to. We weren’t “step”. We weren’t “half”. We were just family. Chris had an understanding heart, he was a source of quite strength and support, right from the very start. We loved him.

Closing remarks of the memory

Each of us has a certain amount of time before we pass. We don’t get to choose when we pass, we only get to choose how we use our time.

Chris chose to go through life making as few ripples as he could. Yet in so doing he connected with far more people in a deeper way than even he imagined.

We honour those connections and we hold him in our memories where he will not be forgotten. We now commit him to God and to the promises of God that life goes on and we will see and be with our loved on again.

So we let him go in the sure and certain hope we shall see and be with him again.

To aid us all in our reflections we are now going to listen a reflective piece of music that should be recognisable to you all. As Chris was originally a Leither, we are going to listen to Sunshine on Leith. Please use this time to remember the journey that you shared with them.

Let us pray.

Gracious God we praise you for all that you have done through Jesus Christ. In your love for the world you gave him to be our Saviour, to live our life, to bear our grief’s, to die our death upon the cross. You brought him back from death with power and glory and gave him full authority in heaven and on earth.

We thank you that he conquered sin and death for us and opened to us the gate of everlasting life. We praise you for the great company of the faithful whom he brought through death to behold your face in glory.

For the assurance and hope of our faith, and for those whom you have received into your eternal joy, we give you thanks and praise.

For those who have shared this earthly life with us, especially Chris we thank you. We thank you for all the memories he leaves behind.

Now that you have called him to yourself help us to be content to release him into your care.

God and Father of us all, by all your dealings with us, whether of joy or sorrow, bring us closer to one another and to you. Help us to walk amid the things of this world with our eyes wide open to your glory.

Make us sure in every sorrow that you still love us, sure in every darkness that you still guide us.

As the creator and upholder of all things, your ways are not our ways, nor your thoughts our thoughts; your wisdom is unsearchable; your purposes cannot fail.

Humbly we worship you and as trusting children we come to you, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and our Father.

Don’t let our hearts be troubled, neither let us be afraid.

Comfort us in the grief of parting, and help us to bear ourselves as Christian  men and women, for whom death is swallowed up in victory.

Gracious God, strengthen and support those whose love for Chris was dearest, whose loss is greatest.

We especially think of Elizabeth, Chris’s soul mate of all these years. Together through so much, we ask you will be a close companion with her in the days to come.

We remember Linda and George, Gillian and Charles, for whom Chris was an inspiration throughout the years.

We bring before you Andrew and Katie, Christopher and Michelle, Katie, Cameron and Danni, and Lindsay for whom granmap has always been a constant in their lives who though now passed leaves them with wonderful memories to hold onto.

Be with Bella, Arthur, Marcie Jo and Finn who will miss being with Chris in the years to come.

We ask you to be close to Jennifer and Robert who will miss uncle Chris going forward and Christine and her family, his last surviving cousin.        

We remember all the wider family and circle of friends. Be a support to them in the coming days.

In these particular times we think of all those who can not be physically here today. We feel their connection and we honour their friendship with Chris over many years.

For all who mourn, set their troubled hearts at rest, banish all their fears, and hold them in the comfort of your peace which is found in Jesus Christ our Lord.

For all friends, who mourn his passing; be with them and give all your comfort this day. Amen.

Closing Remarks

On behalf of the family can I extend their thanks for your coming here today. Your being here means a lot to them. They will also be delighted to meet you through in the church hall after the service. You don’t need to go out the church, you can reach the hall through the door to my right.

Once again, thank you for being here today.

We are now going to sing in one of the great hymns of the faith. Thine be the Glory

Now may the love of God, the grace mercy and peace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you now and for ever more.

Amen.