A PSALM OF REMEMBRANCE
by Alan Peters
A Litany in honor of those who perished in the Stalin inferno of the 1930's
written for the Mennonite Heritage Cruise
and said initially at moonrise on the shipdeck in Ukraine on July 21, 1997
and said again on September 25, 1997 and September 28, 1998
in a ceremony of the naming of names and the lighting of candles 
Leader:
Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.
Before the mountains were brought forth,
Or ever you formed the earth and the world,From everlasting to everlasting
you are God.
A Voice:
We lived and worked here in this land, struggling to raise our little ones in the fear of God.
We gathered here to worship, and trusted the Lord to fill our lives with goodness.
And even when the trouble came, and the darkness of evil surrounded us,
We committed our souls into the hands of our Creator.
Choir:
YOU, O LORD, ARE OUR ROCK AND OUR FORTRESS.
IN YOU WE FIND OUR REFUGE AND OUR HOPE.
All:
THE LORD UPHOLDS ALL WHO ARE FALLING,
AND RAISES UP ALL WHO ARE BOWED DOWN.
Leader:
Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am in distress;
my eye is wasted from grief,
my soul and my body also;
my strength fails because of my misery,
And my bones waste away.
A Voice:
The fertile fields were made desolate, and we had no tools to renew our lands.
We were forbidden to plant, and were abandoned to an unremitting hunger.
The little ones cried out for milk,
and we cried out, for we had none to give.
First our children, and then the older ones, surrendered to the hunger and the cold.
We committed our souls into the hands of our Creator.
Choir:
WHOM HAVE I IN HEAVEN BUT YOU?
THERE IS NOTHING I DESIRE ON EARTH BESIDES YOU.
YOU GUIDE ME WITH YOUR COUNSEL,
AND AFTERWARD YOU WILL RECEIVE ME TO GLORY.
MY FLESH AND MY HEART FAIL,
BUT GOD IS THE STRENGTH OF MY HEART,
AND MY PORTION FOREVER.
All:
THE LORD UPHOLDS ALL WHO ARE FALLING,
AND RAISES UP ALL WHO ARE BOWED DOWN.
Leader:
Out of my distress I called on the Lord;
the Lord answered me and set me free.
With the Lord on my side I do not fear.
What can people do to me?
A Voice:
The terror came by night. We opened our doors to robbers, thieves and the
secret police. Our men were taken away, our women and girls were
unspeakably mistreated, and our little ones were left to the mercy of the
merciless.
Choir:
GRIEF HAS EATEN UP MY LIFE, GROANS HAVE EATEN AWAY YEARS
THOSE WHO KNOW ME ARE AFRAID WHEN THEY HEAR MY NAME.
I HAVE BEEN FORGOTTEN LIKE A DEAD MAN WHO IS NOT CONSIDERED, LIKE A POT THAT IS BROKEN.
BUT ON THE DAY OF EVIL GOD WILL TAKE ME INTO HIS HOUSE.
GOD WILL HIDE ME IN HIS TENT,
GOD WILL LIFT ME ONTO HIGH ROCK,
THE LORD WILL SHELTER ME WITH HIS WINGS.
FOR YOU, O GOD, HAVE HEARD MY VOWS;
YOU HAVE GIVEN ME THE HERITAGE OF THOSE WHO DEFEND YOUR NAME.
Leader:
Lo, I tell you a mystery. We shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.
for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable.
What is sown is perishable, but what is raised is imperishable.
It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory.
It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power.
A Voice:
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want;
He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters;
He restores my soul.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I fear no evil, for you are with me;
Your rod and staff comfort me.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life:
And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Choir:
BEHOLD, THE DWELLING PLACE OF GOD IS WITH US.
GOD SHALL WIPE AWAY EVERY TEAR FROM OUR EYES,
AND DEATH SHALL BE NO MORE.
NEITHER SHALL THERE BE MOURNING NOR CRYING NOR PAIN,
FOR THE FORMER THINGS HAVE PASSED AWAY.
All:
THE LORD UPHOLDS ALL WHO ARE FALLING,
AND RAISES UP ALL WHO ARE BOWED DOWN.
Leader & Choir: THANKS BE TO GOD
Leader:
And now, as we recall family members who perished - grandparents, parents, brothers & sisters, uncles, aunts, cousins - we remind ourselves that they did not choose to go this way. Great evil overcame them. God is not the author of evil. God has entrusted their memory to us. Let them not be forgotten. Let us rather light candles in remembrance and say their names aloud to keep their stories alive in us.
(in a pause before the saying of the last words, the first candle is lit and given to the leader, who holds the candle as she/he says the words and having finished speaking, places it carefully in the special candle sand box)
Like the brightest stars in the deepest night, before the promise of rosy dawn, let their memory shine in us, to illuminate our path, even in darkness. And let their memory, like the candle flame, remind us there is no evil that can separate us from the eternal love, light and peace of Almighty God. Amen.
(Participants come forward, one at a time or in family groups, name the names of relatives who perished, and are each in turn given a lighted candle, which is carefully placed)
NGC 2366 - courtesy NASA
Send an E-Mail message to Alan Peters in Fresno

See also Remembrance by Elfrieda Heinrichs, an Introduction to the Memorial Service by Walter Unger, Gerhard Christian Hamm - my father, by Marguerite Bergman and The Widows' Trail by John W. Martens

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