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[ Silence ] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING]

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[MUSIC] [MUSIC PLAYING] (music playing) The Lord gave.

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(orchestral music) (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) (orchestral music)

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(orchestral music) [MUSIC] (orchestral music) (music)

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(orchestral music) (gentle music) (gentle music) [Music]

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You may be seated. We gather together in celebration of the life of Sister Carrie Berdia Scurlock. We come to remember her deeds of love and mercy. We come to be comforted through God's Word and to be strengthened through the resurrection

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hope which is ours through Christ Jesus our Savior and Lord. [MUSIC PLAYING] [CHOIR SINGING] [MUSIC]

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♪ Come to a mercy seat ♪ ♪ Where help may be ♪ ♪ He'll bring your wounded heart ♪ ♪ He'll turn your heart to prayer ♪

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♪ Here shall you languish ♪ ♪ There is but no sorrow ♪ ♪ That can ever heal ♪ ♪ Joy of the heav'nly host ♪

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[MUSIC] [MUSIC] ♪ Gave us a new ♪ ♪ This is our father ♪

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♪ Tenderly saying ♪ ♪ Earth and home so true ♪ ♪ My faith shall not be used ♪ - The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

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He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restores my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness

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for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow or death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me.

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Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Thou puttest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil. My cup runneth over.

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Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Let us bow our heads as the Reverend Robert Williams leads us in prayer.

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Our Father in heaven, this evening we come on behalf of this bereaved family thanking you, dear God, for prayer. Not only we thank you for prayer, but we thank you for the answering of our prayers. We pray to God that thou would touch this bereaved family and give them the added strength

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that they might be able to endure and give them courage to move on and to look forward unto the heels of our Lord which cometh all of our help. Dear God, we ask now that thou would bless the friends. And may this deceased sister,

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may this time be a reminder to those who may not know thee in the pardon of their sins. May it be a reminder for those who have not girded up their lawns to walk closer to thee.

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For we heard you say, "Be ye also ready." For we know not the day nor the hour that the Son of Man is coming. Since this is the fact, Lord, help us to get ready, to be ready, stay ready, that when you come we'll be ready.

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In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen. [music] Amen.

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[MUSIC - "GOD BLESS AMERICA"] ♪ In our history for every time ♪ ♪ God will take care of you ♪ ♪ In this age of love and pride ♪

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♪ God will take care of you ♪ God will take care of you Through every day O'er all the way

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He will take care of you God will take care of you ♪ Who makes the haunted life a tale ♪ ♪ God will take care of you ♪

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♪ When angels weep for helpless still ♪ ♪ God will take care of you ♪ God will take care of you, through every day, all the way.

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He will take care of you. Thou wilt take care of you. Amen. Amen.

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[Pause] The clock of life is wound but once, and no one has the power to tell just when the hands will stop. Now is the only time you even live love taught with the will.

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Place no faith in tomorrow for the clock may then be still. We have gathered together today to celebrate the life of one of our most loyal and faithful members and friends, Sister Kari Scurlock. For the memory of a true friend is a wonderful and cherished possession.

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Ebenezer knew Sister Scurlock as one who attended church regularly, one with a deep religious conviction, one who loved people and fellowshiped with them, one who was interested in and contributed to the general welfare of the church and served willingly in its activities. Sister Scurlock was an active member of

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the Sunday School, the Baptist Training Union, a member of Circle Nine of Missionary Society Number One, and she sang for many years in the senior choir along with many other duties that she so ably supported. Not only was she loyal to Ebenezer, but she was faithful to her family and kind to her friends and

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acquaintances. This should be a living memorial to her exhilarating life and and should serve as an inspiration to others. She has fought a good fight. She has finished her course.

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She kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for her a crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous juror, shall give, not only to her only,

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but unto all that love his appearing, In appreciation for the love and for the spirit she exemplified as a member of Ebenezer Baptist Church and that of a servant of God,

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we bow in humble submission to God's will and thank him for sharing her life with Ebenezer. Resolve that we hereby give formal expression of our loss and note in our records the date of her demise.

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Resolve that we commend the family to whom we express our sincere sympathy to our Lord and Savior, who is full of love and compassion.

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Resolve further that we so live that when our summon comes, we will hear his welcome voice say, well done, eager and faithful servant.

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in and there, and to the joys prepared for life everlasting. Humbly submitted Ebenezer Baptist Church, the Reverend Dr. Marvin C. Griffin, Pastor, Valverde C. Phillips, Church Clerk.

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(gentle music) [ Music ] ♪ God sent his Son ♪ ♪ Thankful with Jesus ♪

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♪ He came to love ♪ ♪ Heal and forgive ♪ ♪ He lived and died ♪ ♪ To find my Father ♪

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♪ And if He breaks ♪ ♪ Say to truth ♪ ♪ My Savior lives ♪ ♪ Because He lives ♪

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♪ I praise to our Lord ♪ ♪ Because He lives ♪ ♪ All fear is gone ♪ ♪ Because I know ♪

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♪ He knows the future ♪ ♪ And life is worth the living ♪ ♪ Just because He lives ♪ ♪ As in one day ♪

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♪ I'll cross the river ♪ ♪ I'll find my child ♪ ♪ Oh, I will think ♪ ♪ And in the still ♪

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♪ His way to victory ♪ ♪ I'll see the light of glory ♪ ♪ I know He lives ♪ ♪ Because He lives ♪

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♪ I'm placed to follow ♪ ♪ Because He lives ♪ ♪ All fear is gone ♪ ♪ Because I know ♪

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♪ Beholds the future ♪ ♪ And like his word ♪ ♪ The living just ♪ ♪ Because he lives ♪

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- As we celebrate the life of Sister Carrie, Bertie Scurlock, let us direct our thoughts prayerfully to a passage of Scripture recorded the gospel according to Saint Mark, the first chapter in the 17th verse. And Jesus said, "Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men."

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And Jesus said, "Come ye after me and I will make you to become fishers of men." These words point up a call, a call for Christian disciples. This call is not ordinary. It is the call of heaven that comes to earth.

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It is the call of the beyond to us below. It's the call of the eternal to the temporary, the absolute to the relative. It is the call of the master to the servant. It is really the summons of the word of God.

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It's a declaration, it's a command, it's a demand. Come ye after me and I will make you fishers of men. So this word comes to Sister Carrie Spurlock. It comes to her in the morning of her youth.

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It comes to her as it came to the disciples who were fishing by the Sea of Galilee in the long ago. Situated by the seashore, they heard the voice of Jesus saying, "Follow me." So at the seashore of her existence, Sister Scurlock, too, heard the divine voice calling

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her to follow in his steps. And concerning those early disciples, the scripture says in Mark, that straightway they dropped their nets, they forsook their nets and followed him. Dietrich Bonhoeffer in interpreting this particular passage says that they burned their boats.

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In other words, they never were to go back in the old life again. later Peter says of the Master, "We have left all to follow you." So here we are today to celebrate the life of a Christian disciple, a devoted follower of the lowly Nazarene who was privileged to dwell upon this earth for a long long

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time, almost 88 years. That's a long, long time. And most of those years were spent here among us. Most of them were spent right here in Ebenezer Church and in this community. She walked in the steps of the master. And there were two things that sister Scurlock loved, her church and fishing, those two things and so it seems to me that this passage

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sort of relates to her life. Jesus said come ye after me and I will make you to become fishers of men. So both her love for fishing and her love for the church go together. You see because this call that comes from the master is a call to engage in an adventure. It is a call to be a participant in a romance with the

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eternal. It is a call to engage in companionship with the divine. Sister Scurlock engaged in a thrilling adventure with Jesus. She is a good example of a person who demonstrates what it is to grow old gracefully because you never thought of her as being old. She was active. In fact she was at church

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last Sunday. She was active right up to the end. She was here and the fact that she was active, she was active in a rather thrilling way. She wasn't the person who grew old complaining and bitter and all of that she was happy with life she said I don't have a worry in the world she was happy in life in

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fact she demonstrates what it is for your last days to be your best days so she engaged my brothers and sisters in a thrilling adventure with Jesus she went with him over the hills, she went with him through the valleys, she went with him on the level places, she followed him from Bethlehem to Bethany, she

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followed him from Galilee to Gethsemane, she followed him from Capernaum to Calvary. She went all the way all the way not piece of the way but all of the way she followed him from birth to death through good times and bad times it was indeed a thrilling adventure. Come ye after me and I will make you to become

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fishers of men. Now a person who engages in fishing needs patience, understanding, and then also commitment. The sister Scurlock relaxed in the Lord. She cast her net or she cast out her line into the water and she just left the results to the Lord and that's the way you have to do if you're really

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committed to him. She was active in Sunday school, she was active in the training union, she was active in the worship services. To make it short she was just active in all of the activities of the church. And you know when you get to be around 88 years old there can be a whole lot of excuses not to be active.

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And you can somewhat feel that they're justifiable excuses but that was not the case with Sister Karis Gerlach. She heard the master's voice and she obeyed. This was an invitation come ye after me and I will make you to become fishers of men. This is an invitation and it is also a promise. The invitation can contains a

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promise. I will make you, I will cause you to catch men. And I talked about the fact earlier that one must have patience and understanding and commitment. These qualities are so essential to being a good fisherman. And you see then you have to be quiet. You don't go out and sit on the bank raising a whole lot of

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noise they tell me you're scared of fish away. You're saying she was quiet very very quiet so quiet that many people who are looking for a lot of noise would easily overlook her. She was very quiet, she was dignified, she was patient, she was faithful, and in midst of all of that she was persistent. She was persistent.

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and obedient. So she demonstrates what it is to engage in this romance, what it is to hear this word from the master and to be a faithful servant and and to really participate in a thrilling adventure. So she went fishing with the Master. And the other day she went fishing for her last time here on earth.

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And when one goes fishing you really go fishing so that you can catch the fish and come home. Well, she caught the fish. They tell me she caught three fish and then She went home

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Not to that home over there on Washington that was just a temporary dwelling anyhow She went to her eternal abode That place that it was said that I I go to prepare a place for you that where I am there you may be also she went to that home and you see all the time all through

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these years all in the course of these 88 years something has been happening here in our midst God has been doing something through her Christ has been and walked in her life. He said come after me and I will make you to become fishers of men. And you see he just completed his work. And so she has she reached her fulfillment in him and so she

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went on home. You see what we have observed as family and friends has been the Lord's doings in our midst and we can say it is marvelous in our eyes. So Jesus calls her and she answers And we can say thanks be to God that she heard the call and that we too hear that call. For Jesus calls us o'er the tumult of our lives while restless sea. Day by day his sweet voice

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sounded saying Christian follow me. Jesus calls us from the worship of the world's vain golden store from each idol that would keep us saying Christian love me more. Jesus calls us by thy mercies Savior may we hear thy call give our hearts to thine obedience serve and love thee best of all. That's the testimony of

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Our sister Scarla and God grant that it may be ours Amen. Amen. Amen.

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