Helene Luck Stevens March 8, 1933 - March 12, 2018
Celebrating the Life of Helene Luck Stevens Saturday, March 17, 2018 10:00 a.m. Broussard s Chapel Beaumont, Texas Reverend Paul Zoch Chris Richter, Pianist Elizabeth Clark,Vocalist PRELUDE I Know My Redeemer Liveth -George F. Handel Variations on St. Columba - Charles Callahan THANKSGIVING FOR BAPTISM Please stand if you are able. P: Welcome in the name of Jesus, the Savior of the world. We are gathered to worship, to proclaim Christ crucified and risen, to remember before God our sister in Christ Helene, to give thanks for her life, to commend her to our merciful redeemer, and to comfort one another in our grief. All who are baptized into Christ have put on Christ. In her baptism, Helene was clothed with Christ. In the day of Christ s coming, she shall be clothed with glory. P: Eternal God, maker of heaven and earth, who formed us from the dust of the earth, who by your breath gave us life, we glorify you. C: We glorify you. P: Jesus Christ, the resurrection and the life, who suffered death for all humanity, who rose from the grave to open the way to eternal life, we praise you. C: We praise you. P: Holy Spirit, author and giver of life, the comforter of all who sorrow, our sure confidence and everlasting hope, we worship you. C: We worship you. P: To you, O blessed Trinity, be glory and honor, forever and ever. C: Amen. HYMN 1 LOVE DIVINE, ALL LOVES EXCELLING
GREETING P: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. C: Amen. PRAYER OF THE DAY P: Let us pray. O God of grace and glory, we remember before you today our sister, Helene. We thank you for giving her to us to know and to love as a companion in our pilgrimage on earth. In your boundless compassion, console us who mourn. Give us faith to see that death has been swallowed up in the victory of our Lord Jesus Christ, so that we may live in confidence and hope until, by your call, we are gathered to our heavenly home in the company of all your saints; through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. 2
C: Amen. Please be seated. READINGS A reading from Revelation 1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; 4 he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away. 5 And the one who was seated on the throne said, See, I am making all things new. Also he said, Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true. 6 Then he said to me, It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life. 7 Those who conquer will inherit these things, and I will be their God and they will be my children. P: Word of God, word of life. C: Thanks be to God. ANTHEM The Lord is Ever Watchful - Felix Mendelssohn Elizabeth Clark, soloist Sing forth praise, all you redeemed of the Lord, redeemed from the hand of the foe, from your distresses, from deep affliction, who sat in the shadow of death and darkness. All you that cry in trouble unto the Lord, sing forth praise, offer thanks, proclaim aloud God s goodness. The Lord is every watchful in time of need, and comforts those who sorrow with tender care. HYMN THE KING OF LOVE MY SHEPHERD IS All sing stanzas 1, 3, 4, and 6; the soloist will sing stanzas 2 and 5. 3
Please stand if you are able. A reading from the Gospel of John 3:14-21: P: The holy gospel according to John. C: Glory to you, O Lord. [Jesus said:] 14 Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. 17 Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. 20 For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. 21 But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God. P: The gospel of our Lord. C: Praise to you, O Christ. 4
Please be seated WORDS OF REMEMBRANCE & CELEBRATION CREED Please stand if you are able. P: With the whole church, let us confess our faith. C. I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord. He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried. He descended to the dead. On the third day, he rose again. He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father. And he will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen. P: Let us pray. God of all grace, we give you thanks because by his death our Savior Jesus Christ destroyed the power of death and by his resurrection he opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers. Make us certain that because he lives we shall live also, and that neither death nor life, nor things present nor things to come, will be able to separate us from your love in Christ Jesus our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. C: Amen. 5
THE LORD S PRAYER P: Lord, remember us in your kingdom and teach us to pray. C: 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, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen. HYMN LEAD ON, O KING ETERNAL 6
COMMENDATION P: Let us commend Helene to the mercy of God, our maker and redeemer. Into your hands, O merciful Savior, we commend your servant, Helene. Acknowledge, we humbly beseech you, a sheep of your own fold, a lamb of your own flock, a sinner of your own redeeming. Receive her into the arms of your mercy, into the blessed rest of everlasting peace, and into the glorious company of the saints in light. C: Amen. BLESSING P: The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord s face shine on you with grace and mercy. The Lord look upon you with favor and give you peace. C: Amen. POSTLUDE Largo, from Voluntary XXIX Adagio, from Voluntary VIII We proceed to the place of interment. COMMITTAL - John Stanley P: Grace and peace from our Savior Jesus Christ be with you all. Let us pray. Holy God, holy and powerful, by the death and burial of Jesus, your anointed, you have destroyed the power of death and made holy the resting places of all your people. Keep Helene in the company of all your saints. And at the last, O God, raise her up to share with all the faithful the endless joy and peace won through the glorious resurrection of Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. C: Amen. A READING FROM John 6:35-40: 35 Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. 37 Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and anyone who comes to me I will never drive away; 38 for I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40 This is indeed the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life; and I will raise them up on the last day. 7
P: In sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life through our Lord Jesus Christ, we commend Helene to almighty God; earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust. The Lord bless her and keep her. The Lord s face shine on her with grace and mercy. The Lord look upon her with favor and + give her peace. C: Amen. P: Rest eternal grant her, O Lord; and let light perpetual shine upon her. Let us pray. Merciful God, you heal the broken in heart and bind up the wounds of the afflicted. Strengthen us in our weakness, calm our troubled spirits, and dispel our doubts and fears. In Christ s rising from the dead, you conquered death and opened the gates to everlasting life. Renew our trust in you that by the power of your love we shall one day be brought together again with Helene. Grant this, we pray, through Jesus Christ our Lord. C: Amen. BENEDICTION P: The God of peace, who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, make you complete in everything good so that you may do God s will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in God s sight; through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. C: Amen. DISMISSAL P: Let us go in peace. C: In the name of Christ. Amen. 8
Helene Luck Stevens, 85, of Beaumont, died March 12, 2018, in the peace of her home. She was born March 8, 1933, in Estonia, to Ljubov Kudrjavceva Luck and Ernst Luck. Mrs. Stevens immigrated from Germany to the United States upon marrying Manfred Stevens on July 14, 1961. Together, they established a home in Beaumont and raised two daughters. She was a resident of the area for over fifty-five years. Helene was fondly known as Madame Stevens, she retired as a BISD educator, having taught French at South Park and West Brook. She completed her undergraduate studies at several European universities and earned a masters in foreign languages at the University of Bonn. Helene was an avid gardener and lover of all things beautiful including the arts, classical music and theatre. Helene was a faithful member of Bethlehem Lutheran Church and was a longtime docent for the McFaddin Ward House. She was also an animal lover and supporter of their causes. Helene loved to travel the world throughout her life and never missed a chance to stop by and visit her two sisters in Europe during her travels. Survivors include daughters, Suzanne Suzy Renteln and Tatyana Stevens; nieces, Ingrid Maierhofer and her husband, Horst; Marina Hagen; Sibylle Bylle Rath; and Dagmar Sobish; numerous great-nieces and nephews; dear friends, Claire Drullard, Suzanne Venza and Tatiana Alshan and her husband, Michael. She was preceded in death by parents; husband of thirty-six years, Manfred Stevens; siblings, Ernst Luck, Margarita Rita Stehmann and Irene Ira Luck. 9
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Interment Magnolia Cemetery Beaumont, Texas Memorial Contributions Humane Society of Southeast Texas 2050 Spindletop Beaumont, Texas 77705 ~ Lamar University Foundation Attn: Manfred Stevens Endowment KVLU P.O. Box #10064 Beaumont, Texas 77710 Please sign Mrs. Stevens guest book and share your memories at www.broussards1889.com