My absolute favorite moment of Fritz Fritschel’s memorial service came when we sang the Hymn of the Day, the tune BRYN CALFARIA, sung to Fritz’s text.

The hymn is a Welsh tune written by William Owen and was supposedly written by Owen on a piece of slate while on his way to work at the Dorothea Quarry in North Wales!

You can play the following YouTube video from St. Edmunds Episcopal Church and sing along with Fritz’s text—guess what, there are precisely five verses for you to sing along. Don’t you think it’s a perfect hymn for Earth Day?! I think that’s when Fritz wrote it in 2008. What other hymn can you think of that speaks about the beginning of creation, dinosaurs, sustainability and the planet competing for food!

Stars have burst with blazing brightness,
Sending rays through spacious time.
In the dark galactic wideness
Points of light appeared sublime.
Stars awhirling, comets swirling, planets twirling!
Worlds are made from starry dust,
Worlds are made from starry dust.

Fossils tell a silent story
Of some creatures once on earth.
In the stones lie ancient glory
Of a time before our birth.
Dinosaurs, Mesosaurs, Pterosaurs!
Of God’s constant lure to life,
Of God’s constant lure to life.

What was once mere formless matter
Now appears in beauteous shape.
Soil and water once ascatter
Now becomes our treasured scape.
Lovely isle! Precious isle! Fragile isle!
Where we live in trust and hope,
Where we live in trust and hope.

In the forest and the ocean
Forms of life compete for food.
Many times in fierce commotion
They all seek their private good.
Nature’s violence, Victims’ silence, Fragile balance
While God calls the world to peace,
While God calls the world to peace.

Now we humans have a mission
To sustain this wondrous world.
Filled with hope and daring vision
All our will must be unfurled.
For the future, for our planet, for all children
And the world’s own common good,
And the world’s own common good.

The other special moment in the service was during the distribution of Communion and Georgine Stark sang “Deep River” which I posted to YouTube.

The “fun” of funerals, though, is reconnecting with people with whom you have not seen for a long, long time! Of course, I had to whip out my phone and show them pictures of my cute grandson, Andrés!