24/7 Start Line/ a prayer for Ruthie

Your Small Business Chamber is now offering the Startup Line, call if you want help as you start in a new direction with your work. Also call if you are a C.P.A., lawyer, or experienced consultant who would be willing to volunteer to talk with those who call us. To get help or to volunteer call the Startup Line, (303)861-1447

For my friend Ruthie, as I try to come to grips with the fact that I'll never see you again, never wonder if you calming cheerful presence will elevate the discussion at Socrates Cafe, wishing now I'd been a better friend. 

This prayer is for you and for all of us longing to have the faith of C.S. Lewis, looking back at his friend, and us, after that last lunch storming away, looking back and yelling, just as he'd told us God yells with pain, "Don't you know, Christians never say good-bye."

For Ruthie and those of us who were her friends and who only now, some of us--or am I the only one?--realize how much we loved her: 

My brothers and sisters, we believe that all the ties of friendship and affection which knit us as one throughout our lives do not unravel with death. Confident that God always remembers the good we have done and forgives our sins, let us pray, asking God to gather our beloved to himself.

Lord our God, the death of the one we loved recalls our human condition and the brevity of our lives on earth. But for those who believe in your love, death is not the end, nor does it destroy the bonds that you forge in our lives.

We share the faith of your Son’s disciples and the hope of the children of God. Bring the light of Christ’s resurrection to this time of testing and pain as we pray for our loved one and those who mourn their death. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

— Excerpted from Order of Christian Funerals ,

Thanks for your friendship. God bless you Ruthie. +