GRACIOUS GOD WHOSE POWER AND LOVE SURPASS ALL MYSTERIES AND ALL UNCERTAINTY:

BE PRESENT AND ABIDE WITH THOSE WHO MOURN THE PASSING OF ONE PREMATURELY TAKEN FROM THIS EARTH, YET ALIVE WITH YOU IN HEAVEN. BE NEAR TO THOSE WHO MUST NOW ACCEPT THE UNACCEPTABLE AND CONCEIVE THE UNCONSCIONABLE AS ONE SO FULL OF LIFE WAS SO UNJUSTLY FACED WITH DEATH.

LOVING GOD, INCARNATE IN JESUS CHRIST, WORDS MUST FAIL, EVEN AS DO OUR HEARTS, AS WE WOULD TRY TO ARTICULATE FAITH IN THESE DAYS OF GRIEF, BUT WE ASK THAT YOU WOULD LIFT US BEYOND OURSELVES AND THE THINGS WE WOULD SAY, SO THAT LAID LOW IN THESE MOMENTS OF INTENSE TRAGEDY, WE WOULD BE TOUCHED WITH THE PROMISE OF YOUR KINGDOM. FOR THOSE WHO KNEW AND LOVED YOUNG ESTEE FROM THE DAYS PRECEDING HER BIRTH, GRANT THEM A SENSE OF YOUR PRESENCE WITH THEIR BELOVED, BEFORE SHE CAME TO BE AND AFTER SHE PASSED AWAY.

WE PRAY FOR TRUE HEALING IN THE HEARTS OF THE DEEPLY AND DESERVEDLY AGGRIEVED AND WE ASK THAT IN THE COURSE OF TIME THEY WOULD NEVER NEED TO ASSUAGE THE GRAVE INJUSTICE THAT HAS OCCASIONED OUR SERVICE TODAY BY DWELLING IN THE DECEPTIVE AND TURBULENT WATERS OF HATE. PROTECT THEM FROM THAT WHICH SEEMS SO APPROPRIATE AND UNDERSTANDABLE, YET WOULD THREATEN TO STEAL EVEN MORE LIFE THAN HAS ALREADY BEEN TAKEN.

EVEN AS THEY STRUGGLE TO MAKE THE INITIAL STEPS THROUGH THIS TERRIBLE TURN OF EVENTS, WE PRAY THAT ONE DAY YET AHEAD THE FAMILY OF ESTEE - HER MOTHER, FATHER, SISTER AND BELOVED FAMILY AND FRIENDS - WOULD SOON BE ABLE TO TAKE UP THE PATH OF LIFE WITH A SPECIAL JOY, NOT IN IGNORANCE OF PAIN, BUT IN THE AWARENESS THAT WE HONOR THE DEAD IN FULLY STRIVING TO LIVE. REMIND THEM THAT WE CANNOT ALLOW ACTS OF EVIL TO STEAL AWAY ANY MORE POTENTIAL FOR GOOD. FILL THEM WITH THE EMPOWERING HOLY SPIRIT THAT THEY MIGHT GRANT THEMSELVES PERMISSION TO PURSUE THEIR PERSONAL ENDEAVORS AS BEST AS THEY ARE ABLE, FOR SURELY THIS IS THE LIFE ESTEE WOULD WANT FOR THEM AND IT IS THE LIFE YOU CALL THEM TO.

ON THIS DAY LORD WE DO NOT SEEK A SIMPLISTIC EXPLANATION FOR THIS INCOMPREHENSIBLE LOSS, NOR DO WE SEEK TO ERASE GRIEF IN A MANNER THAT WOULD BE AN INSULT TO GREAT LOVE AND AFFECTION. RATHER, WE PRAY THAT IN THE PASSING OF THE SEASONS, SOMEHOW THERE WOULD BE A DEEPER MEANING BROUGHT TO BEAR ON THIS SENSELESS DISASTER IMPACTING NOT MERELY ONE SOUL, BUT A WHOLE COMMUNITY.

EVEN AS THEY HAVE BEEN BURDENED BY ENORMOUS ANGUISH, STRENGTHEN THESE YOUR PROFOUNDLY WOUNDED CHILDREN, AND ENABLE THEM TO PROUDLY LIFT THEIR HEADS AS THEY TRAVERSE THE VERY SAME PATH OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST. BEYOND WHAT CAN BE SEEN OR PRESENTLY IMAGINED, AS RESURRECTION FOLLOWED THE EVENTS OF CALVARY, SO MAY IT BE HERE IN THIS SANCTUARY AND IN THE HOMES AND HEARTS PRESENT AND REPRESENTED HERE TODAY.

MAKE US ALL MINDFUL LORD THAT WHERE DEATH HAS SPOKEN SO LOUDLY, IT IS YOU WHO WILL ALWAYS HAVE THE LAST WORD - THE WORD OF LIFE. MAY THIS DIVINE DECLARATION, INITIALLY INAUDIBLE TO THOSE OVERWHELMED BY SADNESS, BEGIN TO RESONATE AND REVERBERATE UNTO A NEW AND ETERNAL ASSURANCE THAT WILL ENDURE FOREVER, AS TEARFUL MOURNING IS SET IN BALANCE WITH PERFECT PEACE. AMEN.