- Details
- Written by Richard Gordon
- Category: Thanksgiving
- Published: 27 October 2018
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Thanksgiving Service - Auckland 2001
The Service of Thanksgiving was held at the Auckland Cathedral of The Holy Trinity on Sunday, 29th April.
The welcome was by The Rt. Revd Richard Randerson, Dean, and then we were lead by the Cathedral Choir in the Hymn "Morning Has Broken". The Revd Dr Warren Limbrick, Associate Dean then prayed.
Dr. Ed Gane, Hepatologist, New Zealand Liver Transplant Unit read "The Beatitudes" from the gospel of St. Matthew, chapter 5, verses 1 through 10.
Jill, Mother of a Donor, spoke of her son, her loss, and her decision to donate his organs.
The Cathedral Choir sang the anthem "The Lord's Prayer" by New Zealand composer David Hamilton.
Dr. Tony Smith, Intensivist, Auckland Hospital, spoke about his experiences caring for the potential donor / donor and their family, with the emotions that accompany this, and the similar highly emotional situation of caring for the recipients of organs.
The hymn, "Brother, sister let me serve you" written by Richard Gillard was then sung. After this hymn, all organ transplant recipients were invited to come to the front of the Cathedral to light a candle in memory of their donor. All the congregation then joined in saying:
"Loving God, we remember with gratitude those who have
given life and hope to others. We light these candles as a
symbol of this renewal of life and health."
Margie Le Grice spoke movingly about her experience as a recipient of a Donor heart, and what this means to her, concluding her talk with a song she had written herself.
The Revd Susanne Green, Chaplain, Greenlane Hospital, then prayed for the donor families, recipients and their families.
The Rt Revd Richard Randerson reflected on life, suffering, death and the giving and receiving of life through organ transplants, in a talk entitled "Giving and Receiving". This was followed by the congregation saying a modern version of "The Lord's Prayer".
The Donor Transplant Co-ordinators Janice Langlands and Ralph Maddison with the assistance of three young organ recipients (including liver recipient, Oliver Polson) then presented a Camelia Plant to all Organ Donor families, in memory of their Donor. This Camelia is called "Donation". While this occurred, the Cathedral Choir sang "An Irish Blessing", arranged by David Hamilton.
The service concluded with the choir and congregation singing the hymn "Now thank we all our God", after M. Rinkart (1586-1649) by Catherine Winkworth (1827-1878).
We were invited to stay for a luncheon in the Visitor's Centre to the Cathedral, which gave all the Donor and Recipient families an opportunity to mingle and talk together.