Martha K. Levine

Martha was a person of great faith -- faith she leaned upon when she experienced suffering. She was determinedly independent and brave. Martha was born in 1942 and was the eldest of five children born to Frank and Mary Belle Kokesh. She attended the University of Texas at Austin and studied English Literature. She married Samuel Levine in 1963, and her son, Kimberly Nathan, was born in 1964. Her daughter, Mary Beth, was born in 1966. She pursued a Master's degree while her children were infants. She taught children and worked at UTMB at Galveston in Medical Education. She also taught writing at Later, she earned a doctorate in Rhetoric and Composition and taught college-level writing in Missouri. More recently, she attended the Seminary of the Southwest in pursuit of further ways to serve her Lord and God. After some years in Arizona, she moved to be with her daughter's family in Cedar Park, Texas. Martha's daughter, Mary Beth, was by her side as she passed from this life into the next. Gather Us In by Marty Haugen Here in this place new light is streaming Now is the darkness vanished away See in this space our fears and our dreamings Brought here to you in the light of this day Gather us in, the lost and forsaken Gather us in, the blind and the lame Call to us now and we shall awaken We shall arise at the sound of our name We are the young, our lives are a mystery We are the old who yearn for your face We have been sung throughout all of history Called to be light to the whole human race Gather us in, the rich and the haughty Gather us in, the proud and the strong Give us a heart so meek and so lowly Give us the courage to enter the song Here we will take the wine and the water Here we will take the bread of new birth Here you shall call your sons and your daughters Call us anew to be salt for the earth Give us to drink the wine of compassion Give us to eat the bread that is you Nourish us well and teach us to fashion Lives that are holy and hearts that are true Not in the dark of buildings confining Not in some heaven light years away But here in this place the new light is shining Now is the kingdom, now is the day Gather us in and hold us forever Gather us in and make us your own Gather us in, all peoples together Fire of love in our flesh and our bones Fire of love in our flesh and our bones