Service of Thanksgiving

for the life of

Anne Nicola Erskine

11 November 1964 – 18 July 2010

Wednesday 28 July 2010

1:00 pm

Riverside Church, Exeter

Celebrant: Pastor Aran Richardson
SENTENCES AND OPENING PRAYER Aran Richardson, Pastor of Riverside Church

OPENING HYMN

Praise, my soul, the King of heaven;

To his feet thy tribute bring.
Ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven,
Who like me his praise should sing?
Praise him! Praise him! Praise him! Praise him!
Praise the everlasting King.

Praise him for his grace and favour

To our fathers in distress;
Praise him still the same for ever,
Slow to chide, and swift to bless.
Praise him! Praise him!
Glorious in his faithfulness.

Father-like, he tends and spares us;

Well our feeble frame he knows;
In his hands he gently bears us,
Rescues us from all our foes.
Praise him! Praise him!
Widely as his mercy flows.

Angels, help us to adore him;

Ye behold him face to face;
Sun and moon, bow down before him;
Dwellers all in time and space.
Praise him! Praise him!
Praise with us the God of grace.

WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION Aran Richardson, Pastor of Riverside Church

PRAYERS FOR THE FAMILY Steven Reed, Pastor of Hemyock Baptist Church

As our Saviour Christ has taught us, we are bold to say:

Our Father, who art in heaven,

hallowed be thy name;
thy Kingdom come;
thy will be done;
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
the power and the glory,
for ever and ever.
Amen
FIRST READING – John 14:1-6 David Parsons, Nicola’s brother

SONG

I see Your face in every sunrise

The colours of the morning are inside Your eyes
The world awakens in the light of the day
I look up to the sky and say
You’re beautiful, You’re beautiful

I see Your power in the moonlit night

Where planets are in motion and galaxies are bright
We are amazed in the light of the stars
It’s all proclaiming who You are
You’re beautiful, You’re beautiful

I see You there hanging on a tree

You bled and then You died and then You rose again for me
Now You are sitting on Your heavenly throne
Soon we will be coming home
You’re beautiful, You’re beautiful

When we arrive at eternity’s shore

Where death is just a memory and tears are no more
We’ll enter in as the wedding bells ring
Your bride will come together and we’ll sing
You’re beautiful, You’re beautiful

I see Your face

You’re beautiful, You’re beautiful, You’re beautiful

EULOGY David Parsons

EULOGY Timothy Erskine
EULOGY Video by Hamish
EULOGY Paul Sands, Pastor of our church in London

SECOND READING: Hebrews 11:8-16 Jonathan Erskine

ADDRESS Aran Richardson, Pastor of Riverside Church

TIME OF PRAYER Aran Richardson, Pastor of Riverside Church

Andrew Pearkes, Pastor of Maranatha Ministries

FINAL HYMN

In Christ alone my hope is found,

He is my light, my strength, my song;
This Cornerstone, this solid Ground,
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.
What heights of love, what depths of peace,
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease!
My Comforter, my All in All,
Here in the love of Christ I stand.
 In Christ alone! - who took on flesh,
Fullness of God in helpless babe!
This gift of love and righteousness,
Scorned by the ones He came to save:
Till on that cross as Jesus died,
The wrath of God was satisfied –
For every sin on Him was laid;
Here in the death of Christ I live.

There in the ground His body lay,

Light of the world by darkness slain:
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave He rose again!
And as He stands in victory
Sin's curse has lost its grip on me,
For I am His and He is mine –
Bought with the precious blood of Christ.

No guilt in life, no fear in death,

This is the power of Christ in me;
From life's first cry to final breath,
Jesus commands my destiny.
No power of hell, no scheme of man,
Can ever pluck me from His hand;
Till He returns or calls me home,
Here in the power of Christ I'll stand!

NOTICES

CLOSING PRAYER Rev Bill Musk, who led Nicola to faith in Cairo

BLESSING Aran Richardson

OFFERING ON WAY OUT FOR HOSPISCARE EXETER

There follows a reception here in Riverside Church

to which all are welcome.

At 3:30 pm cars will leave for Hemyock Cemetery where

Nicola will be buried at 4:30 pm.
The committal is primarily for family and close friends.
If you are going and need transport, please talk to Hamish

As a family we would like to thank all of you for being with us at this time.
For ongoing updates on Hamish, Jonathan, Timothy and Katie, go to
www.hamisherskine.blogspot.com
Anne Nicola Erskine 11 November 1964 – 18 July 2010
Eulogy by her brother, David Parsons

As a young Doctor in the early 1960s my Father won a scholarship to work in Uganda and
my parents spent three months in Africa as a newly married couple. On route home they
stopped in Cairo and ventured into a Coptic Church. It wasn’t just any church. The church
is alleged to have been built on the site where Joseph and Mary lived after leaving
Jerusalem to flee Herod. Whilst my Father looked around the church my Mother spent
some time with the Priest who prayed that my parents should be blessed with children.
Their prayers came true and I understand that Nicola was conceived that very night.

Nicola had an inherent love of the Arab world and Cairo is of course the place where the
two most significant events of her life occurred: becoming a Christian and meeting
Hamish. European languages were not challenging enough for Nicola so she decided to
study Arabic at Durham. Her second year was spent in Cairo learning the language which
is when Nicola became a Christian. I remember how reluctant she felt to return to Durham
but she did and after completing her degree and achieving a 2:1 she immediately returned
to Cairo to work with the poor. She met Hamish and they married in Hemyock Church in
1991. Never one to do anything by halves, Nicola was slightly jaundiced and recovering
from hepatitis on their wedding day.

Turning the clock back, Nicola came into this world with fireworks. Quite literally. She
was born at Westminster Hospital, where my Father worked as a Houseman, on Armistice
Day 1964. In those days fathers were not expected to attend the birth and so, as you do,
my Father headed off for a relaxing bath. His colleagues gave him a running commentary
about the progress of the birth and when Nicola finally arrived his fellow houseman let
fireworks off in the bathroom.

I came along 2 and a quarter years later and of course I’ve recently been reflecting on our
childhood together. The reality of life is that all elder sisters can be annoying and my
relationship with Nicola was no exception.

I am quite certain that my lifetime loathing of Oxford Street started on a shopping trip
with Nicola as a teenager. We started at Marble Arch and headed towards Oxford Circus.
Miss Selfridge, Selfridges and onto Top Shop. You name it we went in. One shop blended
into another as we ventured down Oxford Street in search of a suitable outfit. Once we had
completed the length of Oxford Street, Nicola inevitably declared that she liked the first
outfit the best. And so, exhausted and bored, we returned to the very first shop to buy the
outfit that Nicola had tried on several hours earlier. In my experience Nicola could
sometimes be more adept at changing her mind than making up her mind!

Most annoying of all was the fact that Nicola was not only more intelligent than me but
she also worked considerably harder. I vividly remember the day that her A Level results
arrived. We were in Devon and I was having an early morning cup of tea in my parent’s
bedroom. Suddenly there was a terrific amount of high pitched screaming and yelling as
Nicola raced up the stairs shouting that she had got 2 A’s and a B in English, French &
German. That was in the days when A Levels were hard! To this day I have a lingering
sense of guilt owning up to my true feelings at the time. Of course I should have been
absolutely delighted about Nicola’s excellent achievement but in truth a bit of jealousy
crept in along with an overwhelming sense of foreboding that her success had just
ratcheted up my parents’ expectations about my own academic achievements.

On the very rare occasion that I did anything wrong Nicola had a habit of giving my
Mother a full debrief within minutes, if not seconds, of her arrival home. And she could be
stubborn and worst of all were the teenage silences that could last for a few days.

But Nicola was without any doubt always a very caring and protective sister. We were
both at school together in Sherborne for a short time and despite being her annoying little
brother she would regularly invite me over for tea with her friends and even had me to stay
for the weekend during her first year at Durham.

Cancer has few, if any, positives. One positive has certainly been the reinforcement of the
importance of family. In really difficult times you rely on family and see that blood is
indeed thicker than water. After many years of living in different countries I rediscovered
a closeness to Nicola during her illness. Differences that had been significant suddenly
became trivial.

Just 2 months ago, at the end of May, we celebrated my Mother’s birthday together and it
now seems amazing to think that Nicola was still relatively well. We were able to go for a
long walk together and we discussed many aspects of our lives.

Nicola told me that in Yemen all her friends were jealous of her marriage to Hamish
because he was such a wonderful husband. It is obvious to me that Nicola had a very
happy and fulfilled marriage and family life with Hamish and their three fantastic children.
Within a year Hamish has moved back to the UK, found schools for the children, found a
job in the UK, suffered the loss of his Father and now his wife. Hamish has suffered
unimaginable pain and I cannot thank him enough for his complete and utter support and
devotion to Nicola throughout their marriage but especially in the last 12 months.

I also have a sense from our time together of how frightened Nicola felt about leaving
Jonathan, Timothy and Katie. She was immensely proud of all of you and you have all
been a tower of strength and joy throughout her life and especially over the last year.

Nicola was very keen that Timothy should carry on with his recent trip to Malawi. I think
this was a tremendous act of self-sacrifice. It demonstrates clearly that your Mother wants
you to be independent and to make your own way in life. Ultimately she knew that she had
to trust God to look after you. You are all so different and talented in your own ways. This
is something to celebrate and I hope and pray that you will honour your Mother by taking
advantage of everything that your parents have provided for you. By fulfilling your
potential in life your Mother will be able to remain every bit as proud as she is today.
My parents really dedicated pretty much every minute of their lives to Nicola and her
family for her last few weeks. They rarely left her side at the Hospice. Mum & Dad, you
are the most selfless people I know. Nicola & I have never doubted your unconditional
love for us and I know Nicola found you a tremendous comfort and enormous support
during her brave fight.

Nicola touched all of our lives in different ways as a wife, Mother, daughter, sister or
friend. She came into this world with fireworks and her Christian faith had granite-like
strength. She was undoubtedly most comfortable in the company of those that are least
fortunate. Her spiritual and physical strength were quite remarkable and she survived far
longer than the medics expected whilst, to my knowledge, never once complaining.
Despite all her physical and mental pain and suffering Nicola gave all of us the most
beautiful smiles right until the end. She gave so much more than she took during her life
and Nicola carried on giving right up to the bitter end.

Nicola wanted today to be a celebration. We shall all remember and celebrate her life in
different ways. How do I want to remember and celebrate Nicola’s life? To me she was
full of love. She loved God, her family, her friends and people in need. Nicola was
bursting to the point of overflowing with love.

David Parsons.

Wednesday 28th July 2010.