A large number of friends gathered at St Paul’s Church of Scotland, Milngavie, on Friday 12th May, for the Thanksgiving Service for Greta Alexander.
Both her son Ronald and son-in-law the Revd Alistair Horne took part in the service as did the Revd Murdo Maclean.
A heart-warming ten-minute address was given by her husband the Revd Eric Alexander himself. He spoke on three small words which had been laid on his heart while sitting by her bedside during the last week of her life. On the first occasion they met, Greta told him that she had been in Christ since she was 14 years old. He then spoke of how she lived for Christ in every area of life, and lastly that she is now with Christ.
Sinclair Ferguson reflected: ‘The simple notice appearing in the 10th May edition of the Glasgow newspaper The Herald might have passed unnoticed by many readers: ‘Alexander, Greta. Called home to Christ on 5th May 2017’. But to large numbers of Christians, throughout Scotland and beyond, these words intimated the heaven-going of a woman respected and admired by her fellow Christians.
Dignity, modesty & devotion
‘Greta Alexander was most of all the constant helpmeet of her husband, the Revd Eric J. Alexander and the devoted mother of Jennifer (Horne), a teacher of modern languages, and Ronald (a consultant surgeon). But in addition, to those of us who knew her from outside of the close family circle, she was a Christian woman whose life exuded both dignity and modesty and an obvious devotion to Christ. She loved God’s Word.
‘I recall being particularly moved by her saying that, of all the things she expected to miss in retirement, having her husband as her minister would probably be the greatest. Her words spoke volumes of her gratitude for being fed so richly from the Scriptures.
‘To many of us in Scotland, Greta (doubtless all unknown to herself), was a model and an encourager. This was true not only in the two congregations where she and Eric served (Loudoun East, Newmilns and St George’s-Tron, Glasgow), but was also experienced by a multitude of visitors to their homes, and not least by students of my generation and beyond. We found in her a loving welcome, an understanding spirit, encouraging words and a prayerful heart. Not a few young women destined to marry ministers probably found their first model in Greta Alexander. I often heard her husband Eric say how he was ‘prompted to godliness’ by her life; those of us who came to know her to any extent experienced the overflow of that.
God’s grace
‘Through her prayer support of her husband’s ministry, Greta touched others’ lives from behind the scenes, as it were. But she also helped, influenced and encouraged many of us directly in ways that she could never have realised. It would have been impossible to know her without admiring God’s grace expressed in and through her. Scripture promises that her works will follow her – as indeed they already do – in many of our lives.’
