Ballyholme Parish say goodbye to much loved Diocesan Reader
The funeral has taken place at St Columbanus Ballyholme of Sandra Griffiths, commissioned as a Diocesan Reader in 2011 and well known throughout the Church of Ireland and far beyond.
Sandra is survived by her husband Dave, her son Aaron and her brother Trevor.
With readings and hymns chosen by Sandra herself, assisting Canon Simon Doogan at the service were four other Ballyholme lay readers Sandra had done much to befriend and mentor. Denise Wilson and Paula McIlwaine led the prayers, Michelle Savage read Psalm 139 and Jacqui Devlin read Sandra’s favourite Bible text: Luke 15’s Parable of the Prodigal Son.
Intending to stand down from regular reader ministry having reached her seventy-fifth birthday, St Columbanus had planned to present Sandra with flowers at its forthcoming Easter Vestry. Instead, a bouquet incorporating Sandra’s preaching scarf was arranged as a tribute on behalf of the whole church family.
In his funeral sermon, the Rector suggested that Sandra had felt drawn throughout her Christian life to the tested-to-its-limits mercy of the father of the Prodigal Son, and to the boundless yearning and grace of the God that father represents. How much more powerful and irresistible that image must have proved, he said, when, so suddenly, Sandra was confronted with the imminence of her life ending.
Sandra was a second generation Anglican Lay Reader, her late father having worn the blue scarf before her. On joining St Columbanus after a move from Belfast, Sandra’s sense of call to reader ministry grew quickly, but all of Sandra’s Church and life experiences prior to then informed and enriched that call, particularly her many formative years at Fisherwick Presbyterian and her childhood and teenage years at St Donard’s Parish in East Belfast.
Sandra was frequently deployed in the wider Deanery and Diocese to assist with holiday and vacancy cover, but beyond the pulpit her servant heart was for the marginalised and, more recently, for the migrants. As a long time board member of Belfast City of Sanctuary, Sandra was a natural choice to Chair the Ballyholme Parish Missions Committee. Her focus over recent years with the Committee was on building a connection with the Asylum Seekers at the Marine Court Hotel.
Prayer Ministry was part of Sandra’s life for decades. A course in Spiritual direction took that to the next level. But she added to those discreet and confidential spiritual appointments, the dozens if not more than dozens of people she met regularly for coffee or for lunch, all of whom were drawn to Sandra’s warmth, kindness, care, interest and encouragement whatever their situation. It was spiritual mothering really, said the Rector, in a way that drew in and embraced and built-up and left people feeling included, valued and loved by God.
“Unabashed gladness might not be our first instinct as we say farewell to Sandra today, but it’s undoubtedly the Lord’s – for Sandra and for all who open their hearts to Him”.
With thanks to Canon Simon Doogan
Sandra passed away peacefully on Friday 28 March in Marie Curie Hospice, and the funeral took place on Thursday 3 April.