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Diana’s Celebration Service was held on the 16th December 2016 at Mars Hill Church, The Riviera Cinema in Teignmouth. Most of the content from the service will be placed below including the Order of Service, Readings, Video Clips from the Moves and the Music and most of the words from Paul’s Tribute to Diana. Hopefully a video of the Service will also be ready soon to view on this page as well.

Here is the Reading from the Service.

The Riviera Cinema,

Teignmouth

The Order of Service - You can click on the Picture above to view or download the full Order of Service.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 and 14 (NIV)

11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

14 I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere him.

 

1 Corinthians 1:18-21 and 27-30 (NIV)

18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

19 For it is written:

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;

the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”

20 Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.

 

27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him. 30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.

 

1 Corinthians 2:6-16 (NIV)

6 We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7 No, we speak of God's secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. 8 None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

9 However, as it is written:

“No eye has seen,

no ear has heard,

no mind has conceived

what God has prepared for those who love him”

10 but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.

The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11 For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. 14 The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15 The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man's judgment:

16 “For who has known the mind of the Lord

that he may instruct him?”

But we have the mind of Christ.

Paul’s Tribute to Diana

Intro and Thanks

First of all I just really want to thank each of you for coming today and for so many who have sent cards and emails  - I am so grateful for each one.

Just to say some specific and special thanks to:

Carol from Holland and Barrett who talked with me the day after Diana died and explained how Diana was found in the shop which was so very helpful to me to know.   Thanks also to all the girls from the shop Becky, Carol, Lucy and Sammy for coming today.

Tim Diana’s Area Manager for coming to the service and for closing the shop on such a busy Christmas shopping day as a mark of respect for Diana and allowing Managers from other local stores to come as well.

Jackie and Barry from P & P Lifts who I work for who have been such a blessing and a help to me during this time and allowing me to come and go and deal with everything which needed to be done.

Tim Stock who phoned me early the day after and provided so much help and information on everything I would have to deal with concerning Diana.

Chris and Jennie Higham, my dear friends who looked after me and cooked my tea for many evenings afterwards, to just rest and be at peace with them in their home was just such a blessing.

I just have to say at the outset every part of this service is made up as if both Diana and I would have planned it together from the colour, music, videos and all what is said. I know this is a very sad day and words cannot describe how much I am hurting inside and how much I miss having my lovely wife around me but I wanted everything about today to reflect a little of each of our characters and sense of colour and fun. The flowers in my button hole represent Diana and I  -  I often dress in orange as many who know me well will testify to and Diana would often wear pink. When we gave flowers to others they were mostly pink and orange Gerbera’s.

I think the greatest gift we could give to Diana now would be to live life to the full in spite of our sadness and live for all you are worth.

A little about Diana

Diana was born and grew up in Somerset  to a  Lovely Family - Ken and Rose Urch / David and Heather Urch , Becky and Chris are all here today.  Who have also been a dear family to me as well.

 

Diana started her long career in retail in Boots in 1984 in the Bath Store - maybe more of a Life Sentence (many here know what I mean!!!)  - but we met and worked with many lovely people who became Diana’s and both our friends. Diana worked in many stores in many roles including being store manager several times.

In recent years moved onto Holland and Barrett  - totally different - blessing of a job - lovely people - much more of a family.

 

How we met:

We met -  during our life sentence in Boots and we worked together initially in the Newton Abbot store.

We were like two who had just found someone else to share life with – a gently growing love - which now I know even more than ever turned to a beautiful love for each other.

I remember -  We didn't tell anyone in Boots - planning our wedding in secret was rather fun.

We had a magnificent wedding which was shared by many of you here. Another Diana and Paul planned party day.

 

What she was like - Character:

 

Diana had a beautiful, gentle and sweet spirit, she was the most kind-hearted, caring, loyal and loving soul I have ever known.

 

Throughout all the years I have known her it seems everyone a good word to say about her and her life was strewn with endless words and cards of thanks and appreciation from so many she had helped or shown kindness to.

 

It has been a blessing to share my life with her and I miss her more than any words can say.

A Great Life together

We have had a great life together.

We loved each other very much - we didn't argue  - we loved and cared for each other and were content with just each other for company.

We walked everywhere hand in hand  - how often do you see that nowadays.

We loved our days and trips out together  - we loved many local places and among our favourite places where the Eden Project, Brixham and out recent real peaceful escape from the busyness of work and life was the Dartington Estate - our real peace place.

What happened on the Day:

I never got chance to say goodbye to Diana - had a happy evening together the night before - she went off to work happily and was looking forward to her day off.

Diana was found in the shop she worked in. She was all alone having gone in early as normal to setup the shop for the day. The last recorded thing she did was at 8:10am on the computer. The paramedics had said to Carol that she had probably died at about 8:30am. She was discovered when Carol couldn’t get into the locked shop at 9:30 and Diana wasn’t answering the phones. The Fire Brigade and Paramedics were called who had to break into the shop.

Diana was sat at a desk with her head resting on her arms, she looked so serene and peaceful, just looked like she was taking a nap. The paramedics said she probably would have just felt over tired and put her head down for a rest.

All this was very unexpected.

 

I am deeply sad and I never realised how sad and empty you can get and the sense of loss is often overwhelming.

 

 

Great Things:

There are a few great things about this story though:

One thing I know for certain is that I know where she is now - and odd as it may seem to you she not in this coffin !!

(don't worry I haven't stolen the body which still is in there -  but the body is just a shell - Diana is long gone)

 

I know 2 things for certain –

1) The instant Diana died she would have entered Heaven and

2) one day I will see her again.

 

How do I know this…

 

I came to know God a long time before Diana.

I'm not talking about religion or going to church but a real relationship with the God who created everything.

 

Now if you don't know God that may seem a bit weird but think about this we are created hard wired to know deep inside that really there is a God. We see this is true that when tragedy strikes even people who profess they don't believe in God suddenly start talking about praying….

 

God who created all things wants to have a relationship with each of us, He wants you to know Him  personally and He invites us to get to know him. When you do ask God and come to know Him  - you can not only talk to Him but He talks to you.

 

An great example of God speaking to me and letting me know something which was to happen in the future and which fits in with our story here is this…

The Story of how Diana came to know God.

 

Before Diana came to know God I always hoped that she would but didn't want to nag her constantly and put her off.

I decided to start showing her Christian Movies - lovely heart-warming films which explain lots of aspects of God within their storyline.

 

Now this went on for many years and I have slowly gathered maybe the largest collection of Christian Movies.

 

One day I became a bit frustrated as Diana was as always showing no signs of any interest in coming to know God.

I stilled my heart before God and even before I could say anything to Him God said to me tomorrow Diana will come to know me.

I got up right away and phoned my Mum and told her what God had said to me and asked her to pray for Diana.

 

Tomorrow came - it was a beautiful, sunny day, Valentine's day, Diana's Birthday.

We had a lovely day out in Looe in Cornwall and after we had got back another Movie had arrived in the post!!

We watched the Movie and now it was getting late in the evening.

I asked God - it's getting late now and Di still isn't showing any sign of wanting to know you.

God said to me  - Ask Diana based on all the movies you have watched Who goes to Heaven?

I did and she answered - The ones who come to know God by asking Him to came and live in their hearts.

I said yes that’s right.

God then said to me Ask Diana Are you going to Heaven?

I asked her and she said Yes.

I said well no not yet because you also need to ask God to live in your Heart - Would you like to do that?

She said YES!

I showed Diana how to pray to receive God into her life which she did.

 

That is just one example of God speaking directly to me.

 

Then I knew both I and Diana would be going to Heaven.

Knowing God and Heaven…

 

To start to make a bit of sense then of all this.

 

Life for us who Know God is a journey towards Heaven and going to live with God.

So Diana has reached that amazing day when she has arrived in Heaven. How amazing!!

 

Now although for us who are left behind this still leaves us with the immense grief and sadness and I would dearly love to have her back with me here.

 

But ask yourself this  - if you had seen just how amazing Heaven is would you want to come back?

And if I had the choice would I deprive Diana her place in Heaven?

 

Just think if God showed you the video of what your life was going to be like for the next 20-30 years and then showed you what life was going to be like in Heaven  - you would not choose this life here.

Knowing God is like:

Just imagine if you could visit the Queen or Prime Minister - you may be well pleased for yourself.

Or you may never in your lifetime have that chance

This however is insignificant compared to the fact that you can know God, the one who created all things.

 

Living in Heaven is like:

 

Well infinitely better than the greatest lotto or Euro Millions win.

To be able to live forever in a place more beautiful than we have ever seen , feel completely loved and where there is no sorrow.

The Difference between our perspective and the perspective of Heaven

From where we are right now especially for me and Diana’s family we suffer the deep sense of sadness and loss that in this lifetime we may never truly get over because Diana isn’t around anymore.

To look at this from the perspective of God and Heaven shows a very different picture:

God is real and He wants you to come to know Him.

Heaven is a real place and it is where God has prepared for all those and ONLY those who love Him and have come to know him and Heaven is more magnificent a place than we could ever imagine.

Diana is living in Heaven right now.

Now Diana knew all this was real when she was alive here with us.

But if we could hear her now Diana will be saying to us:

Do Not be sad for me  – its so amazing where I am

Live your life now for all your worth – its what I want for you.

All this stuff about God and Heaven is true – find out all about it, search for God, come to know Him because I want to see you again here with me in Heaven.

I will say to you - There is a way of seeing Diana again.

Simply come to know God the one who created you and loves you.

You can only believe and accept God by faith, but when you do and as you get to know God then your “spiritual” eyes will be opened so you can see clearly things which seemed to be just foolish before. This is understanding the “Secret Wisdom” mentioned in the Bible reading earlier.

Now partly from our sense of fun I just want to show you series of very short video clips from some of the Movies Diana loved.

The Bible passage explains our foolishness – This video shows the way it often is when we think we are ok in our busy lives -  PLAY – GODS NOT DEAD – Dementia Scene.

Life for me from now on…

 

Even knowing all that I know life is now very empty and deeply sad with an insurmountable sense of loss.

 

Think though how much worse it would be for me if our last conversation had been an argument, if I couldn't say sorry or if I did not know that Diana was going to Heaven.

 

One thing I have truly learnt from this and it's like a veil has been removed from my eyes:-

Now she has gone and even though I loved her and she loved me I realise I could her done so much more to bless her and shown her I loved her in so many more ways and what I wouldn't give to be able to do just that.

Final thoughts

 

I have learnt we truly don't know how long we have left.

 

I would encourage you make the most of your life and show your loved ones around you just how much you care and love them.

 

If you have things to forgive or need to sort stuff out - do it soon before it is too late.

Forgiveness will release you even if the other person is not interested.

 

And if you don't know God - seek Him out - you will find Him if you truly want to and knowing God will transform your life and after you have gone from this world you will live forever in Heaven.

 

If you want to know more I will be adding all of this to the website on the cards which have been handed to you on the way in. Or you can come here and talk to some of us crazy Christians who will be meeting here each Sunday and many work here during the week - we would be delighted to talk with you.

The last one I especially wanted to show you from a new Movie called “Miracles from Heaven” which is a true story of a little girl who went to Heaven and returned to tell her story.

Di and I only watched this a couple of nights before she died.

The scene here is where the little girl enters Heaven and her sense of wonder of it all.

This is something just like what Diana would have gone though the other day.

On her own in her office she would have simply have fallen asleep and Heaven would have been revealed to her.

PLAY – Miracles from Heaven  - Entering Heaven Scene.

The next is a scene from a film called Johnny, the little boy is dying of cancer but is staying with a family who he helps – the scene here is also very sweet and shows how simple it is to come to know God. PLAY – JOHNNY – COMING TO KNOW GOD Scene.

Video Clip - Coming Soon

The next is a very sweet clip from the Movie Diana saw just before she came to know God and explains in a child like way why God wants us to know Him. – PLAY  - CLANCY – The Book of everything you need to know.

Video Song - Tricia - What I Know

The Songs we Sang during the Service

Video Clips which played before the Service began.

Song Played at the end of the Service