Music at Entry: You raise me up
Words of welcome and prayer (led by Rev. Caroline Homan)
Abide with me
1 Abide with me; fast falls the eventide; the darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide; when other helpers fail, and comforts flee, help of the helpless, O abide with me.
2 Swift to its close ebbs out life's little day; earth's joys grow dim, its glories pass away; change and decay in all around I see; O thou who changest not, abide with me!
3 I need thy presence every passing hour; what but thy grace can foil the tempter's power? Who, like thyself, my guide and stay can be? Through cloud and sunshine, O abide with me.
4 I fear no foe, with thee at hand to bless; ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness; where is death's sting? Where, grave, thy victory? I triumph still, if thou abide with me.
5 Hold thou thy cross before my closing eyes; shine through the gloom, and point me to the skies; heaven's morning breaks, and earth's vain shadows flee; in life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.
Henry Francis Lyte (1793–1847)
Psalm 116: My delight is in the Lord.
1 I love the Lord, because he has heard my voice and my supplications. 2 Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live. 3 The snares of death encompassed me; the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me; I suffered distress and anguish. 4 Then I called on the name of the Lord: ‘O Lord, I pray, save my life!’
5 Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; our God is merciful. 6 The Lord protects the simple; when I was brought low, he saved me. 7 Return, O my soul, to your rest, for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.
8 For you have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling. 9 I walk before the Lord in the land of the living. 10 I kept my faith, even when I said, ‘I am greatly afflicted’; 11 I said in my consternation, ‘Everyone is a liar.’
12 What shall I return to the Lord for all his bounty to me? 13 I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord, 14 I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people. 15 Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his faithful ones. 16 O Lord, I am your servant; I am your servant, the child of your serving-maid. You have loosed my bonds. 17 I will offer to you a thanksgiving sacrifice and call on the name of the Lord. 18 I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people, 19 in the courts of the house of the Lord, in your midst, O Jerusalem. Praise the Lord!
Address
Today, we are together because of two things: acceptance that at the age of 85, a remarkable lady, Marilyn Dimond has died and thanksgiving that such a faithful woman has been part of our lives. I say faithful because for me, two meanings of that word made Marilyn the person she was: her strong faith in God and especially in Jesus and the constancy of her service to other people.
The psalm that you chose for us to listen to, is so appropriate for her and for us to remember: ‘I kept my faith’ and ‘What shall I return to the Lord for all his bounty to me’ and then ‘O Lord I am your servant…You have loosed my bonds. I will offer to you a thanksgiving sacrifice.’ Those phrases are true to Marilyn: they are what she believed, they are how she lived.
In her typical organised and self-effacing way, Marilyn wrote an account of her life when she was 80. In it, she gives thanks for so many people and in it she tells of the tough times in her life too. She believed fervently, that God used those dark times and the final line of her lengthy essay is, ‘But the Lord will bear my spirit home.’ We have come to say, ‘Yes Marilyn, that which you wished for has come to pass, you are now safe with your Lord and we are thankful for all that you were, the disciple and the person who knew how to be grateful and the woman who served the world in so many good ways.
Marilyn was born in 1937, in Cardiff, the only child of Cyril and Hilda. Her childhood was not easy and it troubled her for many years. She found support from her aunt, Maureen, whose daughter is here today and her father’s cousin Gayna. In her mid-teens, her friend, Beryl Wensley, encouraged her to put her trust, in a very fraught world, into the person of Christ. She found the stability she needed and felt two lines from a hymn expressed this:
What a wonderful change in my heart has been wrought
Since Jesus came into my heart.
She found a home in Rhiwbina Methodist Church and after a while working with Cardiff’s Library Service, she went to teacher training in London at Westminster College. She spent 7 years teaching, using her spare time to preach, to study for her A Levels and then a London B.A. She was convinced God wanted her to work overseas and in 1965 she became a teacher of Religious Education, French and Music at Wesley Girls High School, on the Cape Coast in Ghana. She had a busy productive life, starting a school choir, preparing the preaching group and making solid friendships which were to last a life-time, including Janice Ratcliffe who has remained steadfast and is here today.
She was a much loved teacher, the old girls recall,’ There was never a dull moment at choir practice. Miss Dimond would take us by surprise by coming up with what we at the time would consider a “weird” tune to sing in place of the regular and more familiar one. She always got over our initial reluctance by constantly egging us on and willing us to get the hang of the new, unfamiliar tune.
She was House Mistress for Wrigley House and many of the Old Girls, on learning of her demise, shared their memories of her, they show the typical combination in Marilyn of compassionate good-humoured woman and strict enforcer of dormitory rules. Those of us who knew her in later life could also, I suspect, see these same two traits in her, it was an unusual and wonderful mix. Please do take home the full text of their tribute it is beautiful and will be available when we share stories and refreshments after this service.
On her return to the UK, she continued to teach, moving to Birmingham and becoming head of Religious Education at Selly Park Girls School and worshipping at Cambridge Road Methodist Church. She was always an ecumenist and her relationships with Methodism were a bit turbulent; she always remained so grateful to Shirley Wheeler who helped her during this time. As well as being organised and excellent at managing her time, Marilyn had a thirst for knowledge and she took several courses in pastoral theology and in counselling. She never lost her administrative skills and became Circuit Secretary for the local Methodist Church, working with Eric Locke, the minister at Selly Oak.
This may sound a bit dry but Marilyn was far from that: she was kind and helpful: during this time, she also took the bits and pieces of writing that a church member had written and typed them up for Donald Eadie so that they could be published as Grain in Winter. When Eric and Pat Locke were to leave Selly Oak, she took on the work of organising the Day Centre at Selly Oak, and that is how many of us will remember her, organising things so well, yes, but also making sure that all who were members were cared for, visiting them when they were unwell, listening to them when they needed to talk and ensuring the needs of older people were considered by the wider church. She was involved in so many things at Selly Oak, that I don’t think I can list them all: some will remember the Sharing and Learning Time, others the library, others ecumenical meetings, perhaps many of us too will remember her shy almost half smile. She continued to enjoy music, jigsaws, puzzles and gardening but at the heart of it all was that constant friendship that she had with her Christ. A friendship that never left her and now one that holds her fast as it ever has. A friendship which was solace in hard times and source of inspiration for her many, many acts of kindness. And so now it is our turn to say thank you. Thank you, Marilyn, for your abundant kindnesses, thank you for your faithfulness, thank you for your stoicism, thank you for having us in your life. And thank you God for Marilyn, a life well and long lived and now at peace, completely with you. Amen
Prayers concluding with the Lord’s Prayer (led by Rev. Philip Zaidi-Crosse)
Guide me, O thou great Jehovah (sung to Cwm Rhonda)
1 Guide me, O thou great Jehovah, pilgrim through this barren land; I am weak, but thou art mighty; hold me with thy powerful hand: Bread of heaven, Bread of heaven, feed me now and evermore; feed me now and evermore. 2 Open thou the crystal fountain whence the healing stream shall flow; let the fiery, cloudy pillar lead me all my journey through: strong Deliverer, strong Deliverer, be thou still my strength and shield; be thou still my strength and shield. 3 When I tread the verge of Jordan bid my anxious fears subside; death of death, and hell's destruction, land me safe on Canaan's side: songs of praises, songs of praises, I will ever give to thee; I will ever give to thee.
William Williams (1717–1791) translated by Peter Williams (1727–1796)
Commendation and committal p 457 – 8. A and D and Blessing A, Exit music Take me home OR Land of my Fathers
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