Service
of Thanksgiving
for
the life of
Rev
Sidney N. Pearson
18
January 1916 – 24 January 2003
Service
in St John’s Methodist Church, Arbroath,
on
Thursday 30 January 2003 at 1.45 pm,
thereafter
at Dundee Crematorium at 3.30 pm
We’ll praise Him for all that is past
And trust Him for all that’s to come
Welcome: Rev Mary Patterson, Methodist
Minister at Arbroath who will conduct the service
Scripture sentences
Hymn: This,
this is the God we adore,
Our faithful,
unchangeable friend,
Whose love is as great
as his power
And neither knows
measure nor end:
‘Tis Jesus, the first
and the last,
Whose Spirit shall guide
us safe home;
We’ll praise him for all
that is past,
And trust him for all
that’s to come.
Prayer
Scripture Readings: Romans 8: 28, 31b-35, 37-39 Keith, son of Rev Pearson
John 14: 1-6,
27 Fiona, Keith’s elder daughter and
granddaughter of Rev Pearson
Hymn: O Love that wilt not
let me go,
I rest my weary soul in
thee:
I give thee back the
life I owe,
That in thine ocean
depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.
O light that followest
all my way,
I yield my flickering
torch to thee:
My heart restores its borrowed ray,
That in thy sunshine’s blaze its day
May brighter, fairer be.
O joy that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to thee:
I trace the rainbow through the
rain,
And feel the promise is not vain,
That morn shall tearless be.
O cross that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from thee:
I lay in dust life’s glory dead,
And from the ground there blossoms
red
Life that shall endless be.
Tributes Freda and Alistair MacDonald –
long-time friends and fellow missionaries in West Africa
Headmaster of Prempeh College
Hymn And can it be that I
should gain
An interest in the
Saviour’s blood?
Died he for me, who
caused his pain?
For me, who him to death pursued?
Amazing love! How can it be
That thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
‘Tis mystery all: the Immortal dies!
Who can explore his strange design?
In vain the first-born seraph tries
To sound the depths of love divine.
‘Tis mercy all! Let earth adore,
Let angel minds enquire no more.
He left his Father’s throne above –
So free, so infinite his grace –
Emptied himself of all but love,
And bled for Adam’s helpless race.
‘Tis mercy all, immense and free;
For, O my God, it found out me!
Long my imprisoned spirit lay
Fast bound in sin and nature’s night;
Thine eye diffused a quickening ray –
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light,
My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed thee.
No condemnation now I dread;
Jesus, and all in him, is mine!
Alive in him, my living Head,
And clothed in righteousness divine,
Bold I approach the eternal throne,
And claim the crown, through Christ, my own.
Prayer of Thanksgiving Rev David Firth, Superintendent Minister of the Angus
Dundee and Perthshire Methodist Circuit
Hymn: Thine be the glory, risen, conquering Son,
Endless is the victory thou o’er
death hast won;
Angels in bright raiment rolled the
stone away,
Kept the folded grave-clothes where
thy body lay:
Thine be the glory, risen,
conquering Son,
Endless is the victory thou o’er
death hast won.
Lo, Jesus meets us, risen from the
tomb;
Lovingly he greets us, scatters fear
and gloom;
Let the church with gladness hymns
of triumph sing,
For her Lord now liveth, death hath
lost its sting:
No more we doubt thee, glorious
Prince of Life;
Life is nou
