Celebration of Life: Jacqueline Scott Crowder

[Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] so [Music] so so and the first earth were passed away and there was no more sea and i john saw the holy city new jerusalem coming down from god out of heaven prepared as a bride adorned for her husband and i heard a great voice from heaven saying behold the tabernacle of god is with men he will dwell with them they shall be his people and god himself will be with them and will be their god and god shall wipe away all tears from their eyes and there shall be no more death neither sorrow nor crying neither shall there be any more pain for the former things are passed away he that sabbath upon the throne said behold i make all things new and he said unto me right for these words are true and faithful and he said unto me it is done i am the alpha and the omega the beginning and the end i will give unto him that is a thirst of the fountain of the water of life freely i want to welcome you this morning to the celebration of life for our dear sister jacqueline lynette scott crowder she meant a lot to us here at the tacoma park seventh-day adventist church and we are honored that you decided to make this the place for her celebration we are glad to have interacted with you as family over the last few weeks we hope that today's service as well as anything that we do will be a source of comfort and strength for you we pray god's blessing over you throughout this service we will follow the order as it is listed in your program today i will serve as your officiant my job is to be the bad guy i'm supposed to make sure that everything that the family wants to happen happens and that it happens well decently and in order so if you wouldn't mind following the program as you see it if you are on the program i want you to be ready we will not introduce every person i will not keep coming back to the microphone uh for for more than one reason one has to do with covet another reason is just redundant it will be easier if you just follow the program if you have a place that you're supposed to come be ready come to the microphone we have two microphones actually we just have one i'm sorry we have one microphone set up here on the floor if you do not want to navigate the steps that is fine that might be the most appropriate place for anyone who is giving a reflection but we do not have a problem if you do want to come up someone will help you up the steps and you'll be able to use this microphone that is in front of me here so we thank you for your cooperation today if you are on the program please keep your mask on when you come you can take it off so that we can hear you better uh we have ways to make sure that things will stay clean some will be coming behind you with some kind of uh what do you call them thing wipe i don't know why my brain is not working don't worry about that part we'll make sure we take care of that for you but so that we can hear you better you can take your mask off and then put it back on as you return to your seat today i think that's everything i believe so i'll ask pastor cheatham he will come now he will give us our prayer of comfort and then we will continue with the scripture readings from the old and new testament good morning family let's pray father i never want to come to you without thanking you first so lord we thank you we thank you for all that you've done we thank you for your grace we thank you for your mercy we thank you for the life of aunt jackie we thank you so much for allowing us to be around her for allowing us to experience her for allowing us to be able to feel her love each and every time we were around her but lord now that she is asleep we are asking that you would fill the hole that is in our hearts with your love that you would fill us with your peace lord you told us when you left you would send us the comforter and now we need that comforter more than ever but we know that you will do it lord because you said in your word that you would send him we are asking dear heavenly father that you would give us those that remain not only peace but also hope hope in knowing dear lord that because she fell asleep in you that we will see her again lord you said in your word that not even a sparrow falls out of the sky without you being there so lord because she was of more worth than that sparrow because she was of more value than that we know that you were with her when her eyes opened and when her eyes closed you valued her dear lord you valued her life and we were able to see those blessings each and every day so now dear heavenly father we are going to celebrate her life we are going to thank you for the things that you did for her and again we are asking that we would feel your presence as we go through this time be with us keep us allow us to grieve but help us to grieve as those that have hope that we will see her again in jesus name amen good morning family friends praise the lord praise the lord praise the lord hallelujah my sister was blessed with 89 years of life and she lived it she lived it as her savior jesus christ she shared love and it's the honor that i've been asked to come to share the scripture this morning i just have two things i'd just like to request and to share and one is i know many people have had losses over especially over the last two years with all the sicknesses going on worldwide so perhaps your morning or grieving or just going through so we want to share these scriptures that my family has asked me to share for my sister as we share them maybe they will reach your heart as well so we were sharing god's word and then the second thing i would like to ask those that are able here with us now and at home if you're able to stand please stand as we read from the word of god the word of god is powerful and effective to everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under the heaven a time to be born and a time to die a time to plant and a time to pluck up what which was is planted a time to destroy and a time to heal a time to break down and a time to build up a time to weep and a time to laugh a time to mourn and a time to dance a time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing a time to get and a time to lose a time to keep and the time to cast away a time to rend and a time to sow a time to keep silent and a time to speak a time to love and a time to dislike a time to struggle and a time of peace may the lord add a blessing to the reading and application of his word and thank you all for letting me share it's truly an honor good afternoon everyone and i'll be reading from the new testament first john 4 11 and 12. beloved beloved if god so loved us we ought also to love one another no man has seen god at any time if we love one another god dwelleth in us and his love is perfected in us may god that's the reading of his word [Music] blessed assurance jesus is mine [Music] oh what a foretaste of glory divine air of salvation the purchase of god born of his spirit washed in his blood perfect submissions of rapture now burst on my side angels descending bring from above echoes of mercy whispers of love this is my story this is my song praising my savior all the day long this is my story this is my song praising my savior all the day long [Music] perfect submission all is at rest i in my savior am happy and blessed watching and waiting looking up off filled with his goodness lost in his love this is my story this is my song praising my savior all day long this is my story this is my song praising my savior all the day long this is my story this is my song my savior all the day long this is my story this is my song praising my savior all the day long praising my savior all the day long praising my savior all the day long hello family you know um back in the day way way back historically african americans would have someone to read the life story of the person who had passed because there weren't many folks in the room who could read so i know we all can read and so today it's just an honor to be here to to read this and and when aunt mary sent it to me i thought there's just not enough paper it's just not enough paper so i'm so honored to do this today and uh since you use my own i'm going to take a little bit of liberty and add a little something here and there not much jacqueline lynette scott crowder also known by her loved ones as jackie passed away peacefully at home surrounded by family on may 15 2021 she was born to lawrence henry scott senior and dorothy elizabeth still scott on october 26 1931 in farmville virginia the family later relocated to forest glen maryland when she was a young girl jackie loved learning and excelled academically she was educated in the public school system of maryland and the district of columbia achieving outstanding scholastic awards at banneker's junior high and cardoza high school after high school she attended margaret murray washington career school where she became a licensed practic practical nurse she graduated with a bachelor's degree in education from d.c teachers college and a bachelor's degree in nursing from howard university and a masters of teaching from trinity college she was awarded a national science foundation grant to study at the university of california berkeley at the lawrence hall of science and just a note here when kelsey went to san francisco for graduate school she told kelsey oh that is my place [Laughter] and she was planning on had it not been for the pandemic she was planning on being at kelsey's graduation to show her some of her places she was a primary clinical nurse unit coordinator at the national institutes of health ironically i have a grant now with the national institutes of health later she became lead teacher of the district of columbia public school nursing program jackie was lauded by her peers and received mirad awards during her career jackie believed in the power of service some of her most prized volunteer experiences included her time as the health and temperance coordinator during the founding years of the breath of life seventh-day adventist church in which many of us are founding members she also became a dawson at the national museum of health and medicine at the at the walter reed army medical center and served as chairperson of the 40th anniversary of her alma mater the margaret murray washington career school which is now the margaret murray washington vocational high school and is listed on the national registry of historic places since 2011. jackie was her family's genealogist and role model that line right there i just thought i just needed more time she loved attending both the still and branch family reunions and took pride in sharing her family legacies in washington d.c fairfax and alexandria public schools beyond her love for her family jackie made it her life's work to be a caregiver to every person she encountered to family friends and even acquaintances she never hesitated to provide encouragement when needed and was always only a phone call away jackie loved the lord and exemplified his character through sharing her love with others for years several years she was a member of the breath of life 7th adventist church in fort washington maryland and for the past 30 years she has been a member of the tacoma park seventh day adventist church jackie filled her life to the brim with love and adventure she documented her travels domestically and internationally creating a vicarious experience for her younger siblings and her nieces and nephews and everyone through volumes of cherished memories i was looking for the picture with her and sammy davis jr jackie was a generous hostess throwing many memorable birthday parties baby showers christmas celebrations and sabbath dinners she brought her teaching spirit to science experiments at home with her siblings nieces nephews and others she is preceded in death by her brother james wilson scott uncle jerry and stepson dennis a crowder she is survived by her loving husband james l crowder three sisters mignon palmer flack hale dorothy ray still scott and dr mary gaskins married to melvin dr melvin gaskins uncle chuck three brothers robert alexander scott senior and i'm pat lawrence henry scott jr and my mother laurita and dr rudolph thomas scott senior and adoring aunt bernice wright first cousins aaron wright jr alexander datrawright k wright johnson stepson's daryl crowder and his wife joy adrian crowder and thomas chambers and a host of niece's nephew's cousins and very special friends to know on jackie was to love her and to feel blessed to have been a part of her life we feel blessed to have been a part of her life she remains an inspiration to many and will forever be remembered forever be remembered as a joyous ageless courageous quintessential unique elegant lovely intellectual noble excellent sophisticated woman of god that she was thank you thank you again for letting me read that i forgot i still had the mask on good morning everyone my name is ali latimer and i've known jackie for seven centuries i first met jackie when she was a still a teenager going to margaret i used to call it margaret washington school jackie was had one word that if someone asked me to describe well who is she i would have to tell them that jackie that one word would be love jackie loved life she loved her family she loved her people that she worked with and helped every day of her life i'm one of those recipients of jacket's love because she would call me sometimes every morning to ask me aly how you doing when i first met jackie she was a little bit shy but she had a stillness about her to let you know that i'm here and i am somebody and so i would took the call that she was sending out and we became the best of friends for 70 years one of the things that i remember about jackie was that she was able to part her life and give part of that life to those that she loves and those that she considered a friend now make no mistake jackie could determine of an acquaintance from a friend she only accepted you if you accepted her for who she was what she wanted to do and she was a different breed of cat when she would say no that's not what i'm talking about i'm talking about something else and so today i just want to in a brief way to say that jackie a steadfast love for everyone i remember one time i invited her to go with another friend and we went to cuba she loved learning she loved new things she loved travel and so when jackie got down there it was a fabulous thing i was attending a international judicial association and the chief justice of cuber was the host so we got the chance to meet everybody in cuba that meant anything jackie had her camera and her recorder she liked to take things that she was really interested in and use those for memories because memories and experiences are different happiness for her was the thing and that happiness was her memories and so today i want to say to the family that jackie was ready she was she understood jim called me to tell me what had happened she took the phone from him and said i want to tell her i'll tell her myself and so i say to the friends as we say in uh in psalm 107 1 that says oh give hers to the lord um to the lord for he is god and the steadfast love lives and endures forever to the family and the friends and those of us who were recipients of that love that steadfast love just remember jack is up there looking down on us and saying don't worry don't grieve life is too short i'm still here and i'll be looking out for you and still sharing my love thank you very much um hello everyone i'm ernest conner and and i speak to you on my behalf but also on behalf of my whole family my recently deceased wife a daughter son grandchildren jackie was a wonderful and effective part of all of our lives and i first met zaki 60-plus years ago when she was a student she was overly concerned about a degree not a degree but a course in physics and she met my wife at a social outing and my wife was interested in going to miners and talk to jackie and my wife's name was natalie and she just happened to mention that i was a physicist which is a little bit of an overstatement i have a degree in physicists you're not a physicist simply because you get a degree and she really acted as sponsor for jacket to get me to work with her we agreed i agreed to do that and um laid out a plan with jacques as to how we would get it done and made it clear to her there would be no blackboards i wouldn't stand before her talk down to her as professor usually did but we would work together and in our apartment there wasn't a lot of room but we could work at the kitchen table we could work on the card table and uh it became apparent from those discussions that she was a learner and that uh she would apply herself and we got that opportunity very quickly when the professor passed out a sheet of about five to eight pages of problems they might work on doing a year and he asked students to take the first ten and jackie worked on them on her own she got six correct and i asked her to go back and work on the others without any help from me other than discussion and she did and she got three so nine out of 10 is not a bad score and from that point of view she went on to live out the types of things you have seen in the obituary and that obituary is very well done characterized to the t and when she ended up with an a in the class she gave me undue credit and i was trying to let her know that it was her and not me because she faced all of the horrors that many students do when they hear the word physics it is a demanding field but it is not impossible and for the past 60 years she has always been there for us uh as a volunteer and the thing that strikes me that you don't hear too much about is the quality of her work across the board and you don't hear too much about what i would call a servant and she was the person who served and she did it well and she could navigate through all levels of washington society it didn't matter whether it was the bottom or the top she was herself and she impressed people and i cannot give you words to say how grateful my family is and how much i appreciate having known her and about four weeks ago she called and said no can i stop by and i said of course and there's no one here but me she said that's okay i'll just talk to you there and she brought up the subject of the pandemic and how grateful she was for the support that we gave her and i pointed out it wasn't me it was my daughter who took the torch and did for jackie and jim what she had done so much for other people and for us so i feel blessed to be here and talk to you personally this is just the end of physical life the spiritual life can be carried on and i will do that as long as i live she will always have a special place with me and i will she's one of the people who's deceased i will ask the question what would jackie do when i'm in a vine and i think that will be helpful to me and i would like to say i think her family he's very very blessed and a gift i would appreciate her put it this way to our family she was a gift of and that speaks for itself we are all saints marching towards the kingdom yes we are all saints thanks to god's grace that amazing grace and i don't think i need to remind many of you here but i'll say it anyway as a testimony it is that same get you into the kingdom grace that saint making grace that will keep us in difficult times yes god's grace is amazing and it is sufficient let's just think for a few minutes now on grace and the kingdom [Music] so [Music] so [Music] so so so [Music] so good morning pray for me this is bittersweet my heart is filled with joy seeing my family it's been a while but it just feels good to be here surrounded by your love and i thank you all for asking me to do this i'm honored jackie lived a full and beautiful life and i was only lucky enough to know her for 30 of them she taught us so much she taught us to know our history she would be in attendance to every family reunion and made sure we were in tow with matching t-shirts she taught us to be performance ready her doors were always open and when you walked through them you better be ready to showcase your talents as i got older she taught me just from watching her to always bring your bathing suit if there was a pool she was going to be in it whether it was here in maryland or eight hours away in kentucky where she would drive me and my brother to visit our dad and ultimately she showed us that you deserve to find love and be loved at any age thank you uncle jim i will say you don't get to choose your family yet i was blessed to call you aunt and i your niece i love you aunt jackie you are forever in my heart and for anyone here if you weren't sure i can emphatically say i love you thank you i am honored to be here today i want to read from hebrews 9 6 verse 19 and he says this hope we have as an anchor of the soul both sure and steadfast now how many nieces and nephew does aunt jackie have let me see him yeah there's a lot of you guys huh but guess what did y'all know that i'm her nephew too huh i am and i'll tell you how i became her nephew i got to know her in 1965. i came from korea i was adopted into the bliss family from korea i was seven years old at that time and uh i don't know how she and i was thrown together all i know is that all the scots my parents raised them through the years and i came in 65 and for some reason on jackie i just had a liking for me and she took me back and forth to school so that i could learn english i didn't know how to speak english but she would pick me up every morning in her thunderbird at that time which was unheard of for for a black woman to have even back in 65 but she picked me up and to me that that car was huge you know it's just just big you know as small as i was and i would look out the window she said i was so inquisitive i was just looking at everything everything around me and she said at some point i would go in the back of the back seat because i don't think they had that seatbelt law in place yet and i looked over the seat looking out the back a back window as she was driving you know so i think this went on for about two years that she and i would have this interaction she would drop me off i would have to learn english and i don't think my english is all that perfect yet and then she would pick me up and bring me back home and this is how i think my soul was anchored in hers okay not only that to this fact i know that on jackie had anchored her soul in so many of her siblings and mignon rudolph robert lawrence dorothy and of course mary as the years went by um i would always keep in touch with on jackie when i went in the marine corps she got a picture of me in my uniform and when i graduated from union high school she had that and when i got married she knew of my children and my siblings and my and my wife i met and when i went to oakwood she was happy that i had gone to oakland and uh we just kept in touch with each other all the time but you know as the years went by and you know phone technology changed i would call her and i would switch phones and i lost my phone number of hers and i hadn't called her in years you know lord and behold one day i get a call from my mignon and amignon said to me todd she said to me todd why have you not been calling me i'm like i lost your number that's what i did so so aminya gave me the number and she said i'm jackie want to talk to you too because she missed hearing from you as well so we got reconnected last year and uh yeah and why why does she do that my goodness uh i'm and ever since then i'm jackie and i have been inseparable you know that lady will call me uh two o'clock in the morning 12 o'clock in the morning and midnight seven o'clock in the morning and i said uh okay she said you sleep no you know i would sleep you know and uh and she said okay well tell me what you've been doing what's the latest technology in nursing because you know i'm a registered nurse she's a nurse and she was always worried that you know during the pandemic you guys were locked down but i wasn't i was everywhere you know home i'm a home health nurse so she said well did you put your mask on and did you wash your hands she's like a a mother you know just but i but i really enjoyed her she was such a joy to talk to and i don't care what time time of day or night it was i always made sure i had time for her and she loved me and she always told me that she loved me she loved me from the time that she met me at the age of seven and sometimes i still think she thinks i'm still seven you know but i always know one thing about i'm jackie whenever she got off the phone she i would say to her i love you and her favorite word was love love love love that's how she always greet you when you left the phone that's all i have to say and i'm going to miss her tremendously and i'm honored that the family let me talk today thank you hello everyone i will read to you the condolences and acknowledgments the family received a large volume of acknowledgements but we will only cover a few due to time okay so to you and your family jim so great a loss could never be comforted by so few words and yet these words are offered to you with hopes and in some small way they reach out and ease your sadness with heartfelt sympathy dear brother crowder i'm so sorry to hear about the passing of your wife please know that you are in our prayers may god give you peace to know you will see her again in peace sister betty jennings and family promises of god's comfort and hope what a life jackie's life is was a life well-lived she was a loving wife a caring sister aunt cousin and friend but more importantly she was the epitaph of a christian jackie's love and compassion touched so many lives we will always be grateful and remember her because she included us may her soul be at peace where there is sadness love plants a colorful and beautiful garden of memories wishing you tender reflections of your precious wife and sending heartfelt sympathy your way we feel your loss and we love you willie and lois davis in times of sorrow when words of comfort are needed most it seems they are most difficult to say may god continue to bless and keep you love and blessings so sorry for your loss joyce carter with sympathy sympathy family and and jim when someone you love becomes a memory the memory becomes a treasure thinking of you my prayers are with you cousin dolores the only reason we feel such profound loss is because we had such a profound blessing with deepest sympathy caleb j king our love and prayers are with you blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted dear uncle jim aunt jackie truly was an earthly angel loved her family and adopted her friends as family she truly lives in our hearts and she is now enjoying her reward she blessed me with her love and concern for me and my loved ones rest at peace love janet and fred roberts thank you okay [Music] amen oh great is thy faithfulness oh god father there is no shadow turning with thee [Music] thou thou changes not thy compassions they fail not as thou though will be summer summer and winter and springtime in their courses above joined with all nature in [Music] [Applause] [Music] faithfulness mercy and love oh great great is thy faithfulness oh great great is god's faithfulness morning morning boy [Music] [Music] is on to me [Music] [Music] oh to go straight forward [Applause] [Music] is [Music] we say is you lord great great each of your faithfulness oh every time every time i wake up [Laughter] [Music] oh is [Music] is [Applause] glory god bless you thank you for that janice it's just as jackie would have wanted you to present her faith in god's righteousness so thank you so very much i will thank the lord at all times my mouth will always praise him my soul will boast about the lord those who are oppressed will hear it and rejoice praise the lord's greatness with me psalms 34 verses 1-3 praise be to the god and father of our lord jesus christ the father of compassion and the god of all comfort who comforts us in all our troubles second corinthians 1 verses 3 and 4 the new international version jacqueline lynette scott crowder was my beautiful loving sweet compassionate gifted and talented classy energetic accomplished sister she loved each of us in a very special way and she was a source of inspiration to us she instilled in us the value of hard work and perseverance and carrying out whatever responsibilities we were given i just adored jackie and i just said i have to be like my big little sister jackie so i tried to just follow her footprints jackie pursued a career in teaching science she encouraged me to attend the district of columbia teachers college her alma mater jackie knew that i was going to be responsible for paying for my tuition and it was less expensive to attend dc teachers and i would also receive an excellent education i earned my bachelor's degree in elementary education this is an aside some of the classes that i took like physics which was my worst grade jackie received an a at the teacher's college and the professor knew we were sisters and he said well what had happened to you i said i'm doing the best i possibly can now the hard work comes in jackie always worked while taking college courses i don't think jackie went to a back to to pursue her bachelor's degree until she was 28 years old and after that she just kept soaring i worked as a nurse's aide while completing my bachelor's degree she taught me so many things in life and they're still with me today and she taught me the social graces etiquette how to dress appropriately and tastefully whenever i was invited to any special event she blessed me with clothes from her wardrobe i would go to her apartment and she would say na mignon we have to do something with your hair so she knew exactly how to comb my hair and get me prepared for whatever that event was and you know i she took me to my first presidential concert at at one of the venues in washington dc and that was really something big for me at that time she was our family family genealogist and historian her passion to research our family legacy led us to attend the still family reunions at in lawnside new jersey the two of us attended the still family reunion since 1990 we celebrated the 151st steel reunion virtually last august 2020. jackie and i also attended the branch cousins reunions and these were hosted in virginia and maryland one of the largest branch cousins reunion was in farmville virginia jackie's birthplace on eli street and the birth my father's birthplace most of my siblings attended that reunion there were over 300 relatives there from all over the country and i think that we occupied or all of the hotels in the cit in the town and outside of farmville jackie created several family picture displays to share the reunion and she was very involved with our cousins at that time in preparing the reunion four years ago she entrusted me with her family displays to share at future branch reunions and i want you to know that i'm passing them on to the next generation when the time comes i'm not quite ready to release them yet in february 2020 mary and i drove to farm boat with took jackie to farmville to visit the archive at longwood university to further research our branch family legacy we were warmly greeted by the green greenwood library akathist the branch family legacy is a part of the greenwood library special collections jackie was a lifelong student and learner she possessed an insatiable desire to learn about new things and so she wanted to learn to use the latest technology she purchased the following items an iphone a laptop and an ipad and so mary knew that she would have to help both of us and so this is what occurred after that she purchased all of these things and mary guided us through it since the fall of 2020 and you know the pandemic was raging last year mary jackie and i met once a week to enjoy breakfast together mary would pick her up one week and i would pick her up the next week and we would meet and marry after breakfast mary says time now for your tutoring and so jackie learned to use the iphone and i had to learn new techniques too and also the ipad and i had a laptop that was brand new i said i don't know what to do with this i don't know but anyway my other i had a you know the regular desktop computer but my son said you know mom you need to get the laptop and mary agreed so that is what i did now jackie had a to-do list i don't know what she was feeling but i have i have right now when i think about it jackie knew that this day would come where we're celebrating her life and she had many things to do on that to-do list she would say to me let's go shopping we have to get the picture albums and she would bring these pictures and the albums i took her to michael's and we purchased them she had pictures going back to the late 40s and they all need to be organized and guess what during our tutoring sessions we organized those pictures next on her list was a framing of an incomplete quilt that she and our mother had been assembling in 1938 when jackie was six years old and she found it among her things because i think she was like a little hoarder she kept a lot of things we discovered that when she moved from 1414 buchanan street northwest but i had never seen that incomplete quilt well it was beautiful and she said we didn't do this on a sewing machine mama taught me to make all the stitches and we stitched together so that part of it that was left over we took it to michael's jackie said i'm going with you so we took it to michael's and had it framed and i want you to know i wish i had a picture to show you now it is simply magnificent now to switch gears jackie and i traveled together numerous times our travels included the following cities toronto canada where we attended the general conference of seventh-day adventists i drove her there and she didn't like air conditioning in the car too much you know so i said jackie i'm going to treat you like driving miss daisy so get in the back seat and bundle up on another time we went on a vacation to niagara on the lake in canada she loved that we stayed at a place called post and bed but it was fabulous and she just loved that too we went to cincinnati together and we got to to visit the african-american museum there she came to dayton wherever i lived jackie would find a way to get there even if she drove and she was in her 60s but she would drive across the country and pick up alana and she picked up her what alana and put your hand up rudy too okay help aunt jack help you and mignon and then we would go to cologne she came to columbus ohio every year she and jim would drive from here to columbus so that we could take a mini vacation in charm ohio oh we that's amish country and we enjoyed those trips and jim still has some of the things that he purchased there and then we went to boston to to rudy's graduation from tufts university we went to gettysburg pennsylvania and you know what jackie liked to ski and you know i was born jackie was a pre-teen so she was still agile and energetic and wanted to just do a lot of things that really got her out on the slopes so we would go skiing we went to lexington kentucky because our nephew graduated from the university of kentucky there we went to port charlotte florida to see our friend ines carter and we stayed there about two weeks and we went to san diego because we wanted to see jonathan and jenny get married jackie and i were never ever far apart because we talked to each other every day and if i didn't call jackie she called me the evening of wednesday april 28 2020 jackie suffered a heart attack dorothy and i were there at the apartment and then we followed the emergency vehicle over to the hospital they got there before we did and so her heart had suffered major damage the doctors at holy cross and at the medstar vascular heart institute at the washington hospital center did everything they could as jackie was saying to fix her heart she courageously accepted the prognosis physically emotionally and spiritually she accepted her fate in fact she told the doctors that she wanted to speed up the process but they said no we must keep you comfortable jackie fought a good fight with dignity peace and calmness jackie trusted the master physician to mend her broken heart early one morning at the hospital she shared with me that she would not recover she asked me not to cry and that she didn't mean literally but she knew our connection she doesn't want me to live a life of mourning over her but to reflect on the warm memories that she leaves with all of us and i have come to realize that she did not want me to mourn as others i asked her who she would see when jesus returns i said when you go to sleep we believe that when jesus comes and we hear the trumpet sound our eyes will open those who are not with us and she said she said mignon i will be there and you're going to be there and our mother and of course i added our family daddy the whole family going home to her apartments was was what she wanted because she didn't want to stay in the hospital so she we took her home to gym to the apartment and jim agreed that we should bring her home we continued our 24 7 schedule i stayed from early morning with her and usually i would stay until i was relieved in the evening always two of us were with her except on the night shift and those who took the night shift were dorothy jonathan and mary they would spend nights at the hospital lawrence robert and rudolph visited on the day shift and i'm so proud of my brothers because they came to be with us so we could be together jim mary dorothy rudy number two and i were with her when she took her last breath sabbath the day of rest from all of our cares and jackie believed in the seventh-day sabbath may 15 2021 robert and lawrence dorothy rudy mary our dear bun aaron dacha and kaye and i i'm saying their names because we all lived together and we grew up together after our mother died in 1954. weeping may endure for a night but joy cometh in the morning and we know that because he lives and he being the lord we can face tomorrow because he lives all fear is gone jackie knew that she had a friend in jesus and all her sins and grief to bear let us plan to meet her and we're going to think about the song that grandpa welton scott love this hymn shall we gather at the river where bright angel feet have tried with is crystal tied forever flowing by the throne of god jackie wants to meet us there let us daily prepare to meet her read your bible if you haven't been reading it find a bible read it pray without ceasing and that means you don't always have to be on your knees you can pray standing up lying in your bed anywhere it can be night or day just pray because prayer is a key to heaven it opens the doors of heaven continue to love and support one another i shall miss my nightly call from jackie recently i'll say the last several months of her life she would call me late and i would say now jackie can you call a little earlier and that didn't make any difference to her she called me anyway and she said i'm going to retire now mignon and i just want to say good night and she would say to me good night mignon i love you so much and i will say i love you so much good night my dear sweet jackie i shall see you in the morning and i want us to remember let not your heart be troubled ye believe in god believe also in me in my father's house are many mansions if it were not so i would have told you and if i go and prepare a place for you i will come again and receive you unto myself that where i am there ye may be also john 14 chapter 14 verses one through three this was our grandmother's favorite chapter and my grandmother was mary florence thatcher thank you all for being here with us today may god bless and keep each of you yeah thank you what a celebration this has been and i really appreciate everyone who has shared and what i knew um of sister jackie as i called her was just a fraction and hearing all of the ways that she impacted your lives has really touched me anew a time to weep and a time to laugh a time to mourn and a time to dance we are gathered together today to honor and celebrate the life of jacqueline lynette scott crowder and as i said everything that has been shared the touching stories the loving memories the heartfelt tears they all give testimony to the gift the great gift that she was to us and so we rightfully grieve at the loss of a matriarch in our church but we do not grieve as those who have no hope for we believe that jesus died and rose again and that god will bring with jesus those who have fallen asleep in him the bible is clear that in death there is no consciousness the bible and jesus himself describes death as a beautiful and peaceful sleep it is asleep until the coming of our lord and savior jesus christ and scripture says for the lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of god and the dead in christ will rise first sister jackie is asleep but she will rise up at the second coming of jesus and it continues then those who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with her in the clouds and meet the lord in the air and thus we shall always be what a glorious hope we have those who believe in jesus let us pray almighty god the pain of separation from this world cuts deep we long for you to return we long for you to make all things new we long for the day when we will be caught up with our dear sister jackie in the clouds bless us now as we open your word is our prayer in jesus name amen sister jackie found her way into my heart the first time that we spoke her gentle and calming and energetic yet humble presence made me feel at home immediately and it's difficult not to have her with us i just had a few years with her you who had a lifetime with her will feel that the pain much greater and so we grieve and i don't think that we should turn away from that grief i think that we should embrace it and we should grieve deeply the bible says that there is a time to grieve and now is that time this is a big loss and a big adjustment life will carry on but things won't be the same without her we will heal but there remains a scar i thank god for the promise that jesus will make all things new and he already is making all things new he's starting with our hearts so for a scripture reading i want to read matthew 5 starting in verse 1. says and seeing the multitude jesus went up into the mountain and when he was set his disciples came to him and he opened his mouth and taught them saying blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be filled blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see god blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of god blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven praise god also referred to as the beatitudes which the word beatitude means supreme blessedness now we don't fully catch the magnitude of this supreme blessedness when we read the word blessed blessed are the poor in spirit this word has lost meaning over the course of time due to overuse this word blessed or blessed is in the original language means more than your plain old blessed as we used today we say stuff like oh i was blessed because i got shoes on sale or i was so blessed because as i pulled up there was a parking spot that opened so you can't use the word blessed for a parking spot or some shoes and then turn around and use it to say blessed are those who mourn or blessed are the peacemakers you can't have it both ways no this specific word in matthew 5 in the original context means a happiness that cannot be affected by any trouble on earth not even death i want to say that again this word blessed that jesus used over and over in matthew chapter 5 means a happiness that cannot be affected by any trouble on earth not even death and that's how i experience sister jackie there was a happiness inside of her that could not be shaken by any trouble on earth there was a peace that passes all understanding that i felt whenever i was in her presence there was a gentleness a humility a christ-likeness that filled my heart when we spoke even up to two weeks ago when i came to visit she was lying on her bed her breathing was a bit labored and she wasn't speaking but she was at peace i read psalm 121 i will lift up my eyes to the hills from whence cometh my help my help comes from the lord who made heaven and earth and although she had almost stopped speaking all together there was no mistake when she responded with an authoritative amen causing jim and jan and myself to turn around and smile and say okay we see you she knew that she was surrounded by those that loved her and she knew without a shadow of the doubt that the god she loved never forsake forsaken her he was still her help and her refuge there was happiness that could not be affected by anything not even death in the heart of our dear sister this word blessed has lost some of its meaning but from now on when we read the beatitudes or have them read and we're listening let's remember the more accurate translation of blessed are the poor according to the best scholarship and it's wow wow wow is the profound joy of the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven we're talking about jesus making all things new and right here this is his first public address this list of the beatitudes and he's already turning everything upside down he's starting the process of renewal on earth he is teaching something that was a complete reversal from the way ancient civilization worked blessed are the poor matthew says blessed are the poor in spirit the gospel of luke just says blessed are the poor period two thousand years later this teaching is still complete reversal of the way we think life works if we were to make a list of 21st century beatitudes they'd go something like this blessed are the rich for theirs is the kingdom of earth blessed are the famous for everyone wants to be like them blessed are the privilege for they're gonna get their way right now these are the beatitudes that appeal to our fallen nature we have a hard time understanding the list here in matthew chapter 5. are the poor jesus continues to turn everything upside down he says blessed are they that mourn how could that be how could that possibly be according to our nuanced understanding of the text that we just went over this word blessed we're supposed to be profoundly joyful that we are mourning that's such a paradox but it's true we are able to be joyful in this moment because we know that god will wipe away every single tear from our eyes that there will be no more death or sorrow or crying neither shall there be any more pain when jesus returns so we could mourn now but we do have hope we will see sister jackie again praise god blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted there's another way that we will be comforted if we make the most of this very moment this day this hour this minute if you allow me just one more minute i want to end by highlighting at the bot what the bible says this moment of grief that we are in it's a moment of extreme solemn solemnity it's a serious thing it's a moment afforded to us that we can celebrate the life of our dear loved one yes but it's a moment that we could reflect on what is really important in our lives ecclesiastes 7 says it is better to go to the house of mourning than it is to go to the house of feasting a modern way of saying this is it's better to go to a funeral than it is to go to a party and you know why that is because right now as i am speaking we have our dear sister laying asleep before us this moment might serve as a wake-up call for those of us who aren't living right we may not be loving our neighbor maybe we are not taking care of the least of these maybe we're holding on to a few grudges that there are people that we have cut out of our lives because of pride maybe we're not walking right with the lord well today in the house of mourning we have this moment to realize that life is not guaranteed we have this moment to make things right in our life perhaps there is someone here today who needs to make amends with a family member or to start caring for their their neighbor that they know needs a hand or to start walking with the lord as sister jackie did so tirelessly and encouraged us all to what a better tribute to her life than if someone here were to give their heart to jesus in our mourning we would all be comforted what an awesome god we serve that he could turn the most difficult moments into something extraordinary i love the psalm that says god will turn our mourning into dancing he will turn our weeping into great joy listen to the poet henry now and in his book turn my morning into dancing he says mourning makes us poor it powerfully reminds us of our smallness but it is precisely here in the pain or poverty or awkwardness that the dancer invites us to rise up and take the first step for in our suffering not apart from it but in our suffering jesus enters our sadness he takes us by the hand he pulls us gently up to stand and he invites us to dance we find the way to pray as the psalmist did you have turned my morning into dancing because at the center of our grief we find the god of grace god's grace is sufficient there is someone here who knows they need to get back in touch with jesus today you have that opportunity don't let it go to waste god's grace is sufficient for you no matter what you have done no matter how far you have gone god loves you just the way you are and wants to be in a relationship with you there isn't a big list of rules that you have to do you don't have to beat yourself up all you have to do is believe in jesus ask for forgiveness and want to live a life with him and he will help you do that he is making all things new that's a promise he made and he's starting with your heart he's starting with our hearts sister jackie fought the good fight she finished the race she has kept the faith and there is a crown of righteousness which the lord the righteous judge will award her on that day and not only her but also all who long for his appearing we can all be in that number we can all choose jesus as jackie did so we will be ready for that day revelation 21 as pastor started i'll conclude then i john saw the holy city the new jerusalem coming down out of heaven from god prepared as a bride adorned for her husband and i heard a loud voice from heaven saying behold the tabernacle of god is with men and he will dwell with them and they shall be his people god himself will be with them and be their god and god will wipe away every tear from their eyes and there shall be no more death no more sorrow nor crying there shall be no more pain for the former things have passed away then he who sat on the throne said behold i make all things new and then revelation 22 says he who testifies of these things says surely i am coming quickly amen even so come lord jesus the grace of our lord jesus christ be with you all amen and amen what a wonderfully encouraging word thank you so much pastor shisto for that and so i want to say to the family on behalf of the tacoma park seventh adventist church and on behalf of the nixon family we want to say we give you our deepest and most heartfelt condolences if there's anything we can do not not if when there is something we can do do not hesitate to ask and we know you may not want to ask so we're going to ask you and when we ask don't say no tell us what you need we're here for you we love you very much we're in this thing together we know that we don't hurt quite the way you do but we do know it's easier when you know that we're in it together we're in it with you we believe god is going to give you the strength i'm praying for god's holy spirit for everyone here you realize that the holy spirit's nickname is comforter that's his name it means he has to do it he's going to give you comfort he'll be there for you and we're going to pray his blessing over you even now so i'm going to have a closing prayer and then i believe if i'm not mistaken i believe we have a repast prepared right across the street in our keystone room across the street is the building called the church center uh you can go i guess should we ever go through the front door i'm trying to figure the best way to do that maybe around the side yeah okay maybe down the steps or on the sidewalk there's a way to go in you can just follow the group you'll be able to see that there is a lunch prepared for you downstairs in the keystone room and we thank god that we'll be able to eat a little bit together during this time why don't we pray father in the name of jesus we want to just thank you first and foremost for the blessing of knowing that if we fall asleep in jesus we have nothing to fear because we are sure of that because we know that sister jackie lived her life for you because we know that jesus christ already did enough on calvary and even in his resurrection because we know she fell asleep in jesus we do not mourn as those who have no hope but instead we mourn as those who know that when jesus christ returns she along with the rest of those who have died will be raised again to eternal life and we'll spend eternity in heaven with you but god we recognize right now that there is a hole left in our hearts would you fill that hole heavenly father would you send your holy spirit right now to this family would you give them a comfort that passes understanding then god may they draw closer to each other and closer to you may their salvation be even more secure today than it was yesterday so that when you come we can all look up and say lo this is our god we have waited for him and he will save us comfort us until then in jesus name we pray amen so um so [Music] so [Music] so [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] 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Channel: Takoma Park SDA Church

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Length: 115min 55sec (6955 seconds)

Published: Wed May 26 2021