On 9/11, 2010 marked the passing of my father Mariano G. Espiritu. Six months later on March 13, following an intense bout with cancer, my wife Melissa would go on to be at home in eternity with the Lord. On what would have been Melissa’s 50^th birthday weekend in July our family celebrated our youngest child Sara Joy’s 7^th birthday near the Golden Gate Bridge in the San Francisco Bay area where Melissa and I had spent some wonderful times together early on in our marriage. And on the 23^rd anniversary of our wedding in August afterward, our six daughters and I remembered their mother upon our arrival in the capital of the Philippines where I was born. These are among the milestones and memory markers we have been enduring through our shared journeys of faith over the past year.

During our time this month in the land of my birth, we visited a museum honoring some recent martyrs for the cause of liberty and justice through peaceful democratic reforms opposing a previous dictatorial regime’s human rights abuses. One of the names listed on the memorial stone wall there was that of my mother’s older brother. My uncle Francisco, an outspoken leader for freedom in his township, had been tortured and killed when abducted by some henchmen of one of the Marcos regime’s political cronies on the eve of the snap election(s) that had been apparently rigged in favor of the incumbent dictatorship a few decades ago. It was at this place of honored remembrance that we found another, for us, notable name recorded among the earlier vocal leaders speaking out against the then emerging dictator’s crimes against humanity. At a time when other ecclesiastical leaders among the clergy in the Philippines were silent, the Rev. Cirilo A. Rigos voiced opposition against the oppression of what would later manifest as martial law.

Before Melissa and I ever met, this Presbyterian pastor who ministered to my sister and me and our parents during my early childhood in Manila had also ministered with Melissa, her parents and sisters while having had his training in ministry at their childhood church in Rochester, New York. Upon reading of his justice work in the plight of the Filipino people, we so very much sensed the Lord’s Providence in our lives together through the generations as God’s will continues to be worked out for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.

Not unlike I would imagine the greatest generation’s remembrances of seminal events in the North Atlantic theater of World War II might be along the beaches of Normandy and elsewhere in Europe, our family spent significant times toward the end of our last week along the shores of Subic Bay and the island of Corregidor remembering the remarkable events of WWII in the theater of the South Pacific among the waters between Asia and Australia. After touring an old lighthouse and presiding over a brief memorial service at an old Spanish mission’s island chapel, it was there by the dock at the end of the pier on the south side beach of Corregidor that we were blessed to share in solemn solitude the spreading of my father’s ashes upon the wind over the waters at the mouth of Manila Bay near the South China Sea. It was more heartening for me than I had expected or could ever dream for us to experience honoring the memory of my father and his service during WWII in this way at this time and place. We were blessed with such good weather and people with us on that special day among all the days of our travels.

Thank you, Beloved, for your prayers and support of our family in the work of grief and faith this year. In the words of General Douglas MacArthur, not only “I shall return,” but we are glad to have returned home. In God’s Grace and Peace, with you and yours, together we continue

Pastor Rex

is

a deep dull ache

as far down

as the ocean’s depth

the towering tip

of a tremendous iceberg

submerged

in immensely vast seas

of utter grief

No place else to be

will not ever be forgotten

not to be lost for ever more

a colossal displacement

a huge void

an infinite, unfulfilled emptiness

a large, inestimable volume of silence

an unspeakable expanse

the extent of which is unfathomable, unknown

Yet

there

is

One Who is, was, and is to come

able

Immeasurably more

Exceedingly, abundantly

Far above, all

any could

ask, think, even imagine

glorious, holy, anointed, mighty

to save, heal, fill, restore

blessing, power, glory and honor forever and ever

Now and not yet

Description

A Celebration of Women

an evening dedicated to the life of

Melissa Espiritu

All mothers, daughters, sisters, friends

please join us!

First Presbyterian Church, New Castle, IN

Monday, May 10, 2010 at 5:00 p.m.

Salad pitch-in with chocolate fountain of goodies provided for dessert!

Music by John Lansinger

Speaker: Annette Goggin

For reservations, please contact the church

office@NewCastleFPC.org

              765.529.3703         765.529.3703

http://NewCastleFPC.org

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that exists in empty nothingness

An unspeakably deep void

Where memories of a loved one

dwell, coalesce

For ever embedded in the recesses

of one’s mind

A timeless, untimely place, eternally

wanting, yearning, aching, numbing

A frontier-less space, vast as the cosmos

From whence eyes remain unlifted

Upon which ears stay unstopped

A motionless state of being, unmet

When all that is

dearly beloved and treasured

stands

still

speechless

Don’t ask me

how I am

Do not disturb

the fathomless depths

of unknowable peace

Dare not approach

the intimate cloud of unknowing

Immortal, Invisible, Inaccessible

welling up

with a bowl

of profound intercessions

in perpetuity

Stay with me

Pray with me

Belay with me

When words fail

Where sentiments assail

Whether unspoken or unexpressed

Let

silence

unsounded

be

Celebrate the Resurrection and the Life in memory of

Melissa Q. Espiritu

July 10, 1960 – March 13, 2010

Organ Prelude    Trumpet Voluntary    Jeremiah Clark

Andrea Hughes

Musical Offering    My Tribute/God is So Good

Ed Dimangondayao

His Eye is on the Sparrow

Sophie and Daniel Buchanon

Opening Words    Pastor Bob Maravalli

Prayer of Invocation

*Songs of Praise    Awesome God

Blessed Be Your Name

Amazing Grace/My Chains Are Gone

Old Testament Lesson    Psalm 118    Pastor Rose Niles

Personal Reflections    Carmen Cash

*Song of Thanksgiving    Great Is Thy Faithfulness

New Testament Lessons

John 14:1-6    Pastor Clark Hobbey

2 Corinthians 4:15-5:7        Pastor Jeff Gramza

*Hymn    It Is Well With My Soul

Romans 8:18-39

Musical Offering    With Hope    Steven Curtis Chapman

Levi Velasco    

 

Meditation “Is There Life After Life?” Pastor Bob
 

Prayer and The Lord’s Prayer

Offering of Music    You Raise Me Up

Levi and Diane Velasco

Ed Dimangondayao

Andrea and Bryan Hughes

Charge

Benediction

*Song of Assurance    In Christ Alone

Keith Getty and Stuart Townsend

*Declaration of Victory over Death

*Postlude    Tocatta    Widor

* Please stand as you are able.

Service of Witness to the Resurrection – Melissa Q. Espiritu (2 of 5) from Rex Espiritu on Vimeo.

Service of Witness to the Resurrection – Melissa Q. Espiritu (3 of 5) from Rex Espiritu on Vimeo.

Service of Witness to the Resurrection – Melissa Q. Espiritu (4 of 5) from Rex Espiritu on Vimeo.

We thought it was supposed to be

We had so many plans for you

We had so many dreams

And now you’ve gone away

And left us with the memories of your smile

And nothing we can say

And nothing we can do

Can take away the pain

The pain of losing you, but …

We can cry with hope

We can say goodbye with hope

‘Cause we know our goodbye is not the end, oh no

And we can grieve with hope

‘Cause we believe with hope

There’s a place where we’ll see your face again

We’ll see your face again

And never have I known

Anything so hard to understand

And never have I questioned more

The wisdom of God’s plan

But through the cloud of tears

I see the Father’s smile and say well done

And I imagine you

Where you wanted most to be

Seeing all your dreams come true

‘Cause now you’re home

And now you’re free, and …

We can cry with hope

We can say goodbye with hope

‘Cause we know our goodbye is not the end, oh no

And we can grieve with hope

‘Cause we believe with hope

There’s a place where we’ll see your face again

We’ll see your face again

We’ll see your face again

We have this hope as an anchor

‘Cause we believe that everything

God promised us is true, so …

We can cry with hope

We can say goodbye with hope

‘Cause we know our goodbye is not the end, oh no

And we can grieve with hope

‘Cause we believe with hope

There’s a place by God’s grace

There’s a place where we’ll see your face again

We’ll see your face again

We cry with hope, say goodbye with hope

We wait with hope

And we ache with hope

We hold on with hope

We let go with hope

(by Steven Curtis Chapman)

1 Thessalonians 4:13-14 / Hebrews 6:9, 10:23

Petals from a pool drifting

Imagine these in one pair of eyes

And this was my beloved

Strange spice from the south

Honey through the comb sifting

Imagine these on one eager mouth

And this was my beloved

And when she spoke and when she talked to me

Music! Mystery!

And when she moved And when she walked with me

Paradise came suddenly near

All that could stir All that could stun

All ’twas for my heart’s lifting, now aching…

Imagine these in one perfect one

And this was my beloved

Now this is my beloved

(adapted from the musical “Kismet” by Robert Wright and George Forrest)

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/prayers4melissa

On a recent album, lyrics from the title track resonated with certain themes in our devotions….

Out of these ashes… beauty will rise

and we will dance among the ruins

We will see Him with our own eyes

Out of this darkness… new life will shine…

and we’ll know the joy is coming in the morning…

in the morning…beauty will rise!

I can hear it in the distance

and it’s not too far away.

It’s the music and the laughter

of a wedding and a feast.

I can almost feel the hand of God

reaching for my face

to wipe the tears away, and say,

“It’s time to make everything new.”

(from “Beauty Will Rise” by Steven Curtis Chapman)

I am envisioning today’s service of witness to the resurrection and the life as a celebration, in part, in memory of my bride, but more part of the festive tribute of the Bride of Christ, looking forward to that Day of Christ Jesus when we, together with all the saints throughout time and space, will celebrate at the Great Wedding Banquet Table in eternity. Soli Deo Gloria!

Looking forward to worshiping our Awesome God on this awe-filled day that the Lord has made for us to rejoice and be glad in, I am

Persevering in the Grip of Grace,

Rex

Worthy is the Lamb!