Dorothy Parks Memorial Service

Opening Remarks

We want to welcome family and friends to the service today

Were here to Honor the Life of Miss Dorothy Parks Gray

She is survived by:

Husband - George Gray SR.

Sister - Peggy Stewart of Seaford Deleware

Brother- Gene Parks of Hurlock Maryland

Son- Michael Dean Lockard and wife Ellie of Reistertown Maryland

Daughter- Dawn Anderson and husband Robert of Conyers Ga

3 Grandchildren- Deidre Anderson of Sandy Springs Ga and Trintiy and Jordan Anderson of Conyers Ga.

As I helped prepare for the Memorial service today, I watched the picture presentation that you will see in a few moments.

Dorthys Life was filled with family

Her life was filled with laughter and sometimes even with sorrow.

Her life was filled with Good days and Im sure there were some bad days as there is with all of us.

Were Not hear to remember any of the bad days or the sorrow that life has a way of sending our way.

We want to remember the good times and the life

George and Dorothy had only been married for about 6 years when Dorothy passed

I asked George about a time of Salvation in Sister Dorothy’s life

Sister Dorothy gave her life to Christ at the young age of 13 years old

If were going to reflect on the good things we have to look back to where all good things come from

The Lord brought to my mind a passage of scripture that Ive never used in a funeral or memorial service before until today.

Its found in the Book of Joshua

Joshua 4:1–8 KJV 1900

1 And it came to pass, when all the people were clean passed over Jordan, that the Lord spake unto Joshua, saying, 2 Take you twelve men out of the people, out of every tribe a man, 3 And command ye them, saying, Take you hence out of the midst of Jordan, out of the place where the priests’ feet stood firm, twelve stones, and ye shall carry them over with you, and leave them in the lodging place, where ye shall lodge this night. 4 Then Joshua called the twelve men, whom he had prepared of the children of Israel, out of every tribe a man: 5 And Joshua said unto them, Pass over before the ark of the Lord your God into the midst of Jordan, and take ye up every man of you a stone upon his shoulder, according unto the number of the tribes of the children of Israel: 6 That this may be a sign among you, that when your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean ye by these stones? 7 Then ye shall answer them, That the waters of Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord; when it passed over Jordan, the waters of Jordan were cut off: and these stones shall be for a memorial unto the children of Israel for ever. 8 And the children of Israel did so as Joshua commanded, and took up twelve stones out of the midst of Jordan, as the Lord spake unto Joshua, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel, and carried them over with them unto the place where they lodged, and laid them down there.

I want to speak briefly on a couple of things regarding this scripture

A river called Jordan

It was a place that the lord had prepared to where Gods children would cross over into a land that had been promised to them

Israel had been enslaved to Egypt and to Pharoah for over 400 years and God looked down and remembered a covenant he made with Abraham

God never has left his peope

Just as Sis. Dorothy passed the other day she had to go through the process of Death.

She didn’t cross Jordan Alone

2. The stones of Memorial

God told Joshua to take 12 stones out of the river and place them there for a memorial- He didn’t leave one tribe out.

Generations would come afterward and these stones would be a memorial as to what God had done for his children

The greatest stones of Memorial in our life is our testimony

Our testimony of faith in Christ as our redeemer.

Sister Dorothy had that stone of memorial in her life

I will close my remarks with a few scriptures this family can draw comfort from

Psalm 116:15 KJV 1900

15 Precious in the sight of the Lord Is the death of his saints.

Psalms116:

Romans 6:4–5 KJV 1900

4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:

Psalm 116

Im glad that death is not the end for the Child of God

Through Christ death has been destroyed and we will take part of the ressurection.