Photo courtesy of Dignity Memori
Sarah Yeager, 75, was one of three people killed during a June 16 shooting at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church.
Sharon Yeager faithfully drove each Sunday for services at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, said associate rector, the Rev. Katherine Harper, at a June 22 memorial service.
Yeager was one of three people killed in a shooting June 16 at the church, along with 84-year-old Bart Rainey and 84-year-old Jane Pounds.
“The Lord is Sharon’s shepherd,” Harper said, quoting Psalm 23. “And yet, we are left grieving today.”
Harper said her weeks “will not feel quite right” without Yeager checking in.
Reading from John 11, when Jesus tells Martha that “those who believe in me, though they die, they will live,” Harper said that response is “the response we get to hold onto as the good news today.”
“Friends, I can hear Jesus asking Sharon that same question, ‘Sharon, do you believe?’ And I know, without fumbling, her response has been a resounding, ‘Yes, Lord. I believe that you are the Messiah,’” Harper said.
For Sharon, that promise of God brings hope, Harper said. For those left behind, it “leaves us with the opportunity to cling to hope,” she said.
“The tragedies of Thursday night have taught us lots of things, and maybe the things you have learned are different or the same as the things I have learned,” Harper said. “But I know that Sharon was never alone. She was surrounded by her friends, and then she met with the angels.”
Sharon was not alone when she ascended with the angels, and the Holy Spirit will not leave us empty,” Harper said. “So let us continue praying for one another and with one another in the hope of resurrection.”
While the church is “still a scary space, and a hurting, hard space to be in,” it is also a place of love, Harper said.
“We are bound together in the love of God, to show our love for God and for one another,” Harper said.
Harper closed her message to the congregation by telling them of a picture Sharon sent her recently -- a beautiful sunset. A sunset, Harper said, that had just the right amount of Auburn orange and blue. That sunset, she said, reminded her of the “glowing love of Christ that cannot be darkened.”
Harper told those gathered she hoped a sunset would help them in this difficult time.
“And when you smile and see a sunset today, I pray that you will feel God’s comfort, if only for a moment,” Harper said.
