Letter from Jo Boyce

Lenore Boyce-Robinson

This past week I have had the heartbreaking honour of planning, animating and leading the music for one of the most significant liturgies in my more than 40 years of music ministry: the funeral of my mother, Lenore Boyce-Robinson.

Forgive me the more personal nature of this email, but I want to pay tribute to this warrior of a woman, that I was privileged to call my mother.

She was one of the so-called 'Windrush Generation', who came to the UK from the Caribbean in the 60s. She trained as a nurse, became a midwife, met and married my father, and started a family in Birmingham, where we lived until returning to Trinidad in the late 70s.

There are many things about the challenges she faced back then that I may never know. But I know of the challenges she faced with the same courage and resolute faith in recent years. She endured excruciating pain due to sciatica and neuropathy, struggled with her mobility, and was gradually losing her manual dexterity.

A couple of weeks ago, an MRI scan revealed a benign tumour in her neck, that was compressing her spinal cord almost completely. The options were either continuing decline, likely leading to paralysis from the neck down within the next few months. Or surgery to remove the tumour.

She chose surgery. Almost without hesitation. In the hope that she would be able to walk, dress and feed herself again. We dared to hope with her.

She went into surgery on Thursday 27th February. It was long and complicated and, in the end, more than her body could withstand at 84 years of age. She died on Saturday 1st March. St David's Day.

To say it is a shock and heartbreak would be an understatement. The hardest part of losing her, is that in her mind and in her spirit she was still there. Full of life and wit and fight

I flew out to Trinidad on Monday 3rd March, and we had just one week to plan and prepare for her funeral, which was on Monday 10th March. And two of those days were Trinidad Carnival (always the Monday and Tuesday before Ash Wednesday), so everything and everywhere was closed for one of the biggest parties on earth!!

But by God's Grace, a lot of prayer, incredible support from friends, family and neighbours, and more than a few minor miracles along the way, we got it done.

My final gift to her was to bring all my liturgical skill and experience to the preparation and animation of her Requiem Mass, and the short farewell ceremony we had before her cremation. It was a bittersweet, joyful celebration of a life well-lived. And a beautiful send-off of for a woman well-loved.

I fly back to the UK this week, and will be back on the road, delivering input for the Diocese of Westminster's Prayer and Liturgy Day Conference on Liturgical Music on Thursday 20 March.

And for those who missed it last month, on Thursday 27 March there'll be another opportunity to join me on Zoom for a free online workshop exploring how we can celebrate hope-filled, living liturgy throughout this Year of Jubilee.
See: https://cjmmusic.mykajabi.com/webinar-registration-living-jubilee-liturgy

I fully expect to be a little fragile over the next few weeks. And as past experience has taught me, I will need to keep leaning on the faithful, talented core team who you've seen beside me over the years.

But our ongoing mission and ministry of formation for music and liturgy remains a firm priority - more so than ever. Through the power and beauty of the Liturgy and our tradition of prayer, I have felt the Lord's closeness and consolation through these days.

"The Lord is close to the broken-hearted
and saves those who are crushed in spirit."
PSALM 34:18

It is the normal order of things for adult children to lose their elderly parents. And for things to go according to the normal order, and not prematurely or conversely, is a gift that I do not take for granted. I know many have not been so blessed.

So… I give thanks for the gift of my Mum's life, and her love. For who she has helped me and my sister, Denise, to become, as women who made their own way in the world. And for her unwavering faith and persistence in prayer. Her courage and her compassion.

And I give thanks too, for your support, and for your being part of the wave of prayer that continues to uphold me, my family, and the ongoing work and ministry of CJM MUSIC.

With every blessing,

Jo Boyce

LINK

CJM Music: www.cjmmusic.com/