Theme “Bereavement”
Funeral prayer
As we leave this place, we shall extinguish the chalice flame,
and bid farewell to (Name)’s physical body; but we carry her/his spirit in our hearts.
May it continue to shine through us, now and always.
And so, let us pause together, in the fellowship of quietness, as we allow the wishes of our hearts to make themselves felt.
Let
Only a…
Those who say ‘it was only a dog’, or cat, or any other sweet companion,
Have never know the blessing of those who give love so generously,
Who forgive without regret. Lower our blood pressure, calm our anxieties, and
Their lives are the poorer.
We who know, grieve their loss, and hold them gently in
Never again
Never again, I said
It hurts too much to lose.
But then time passes and
My arms reach out
And take another
Rescued dog
With wide and worried eyes
To heal and hold
To love and nurture
To laugh at and with
To cry with
Share joy with and
Be comforted by.
I count the
Dear old friend
Dear old friend
I stand here lost
Your collar and lead in hand.
What do I do now?
Tears fall silently
Into the silence
Where you are not.
Where are you now?
I close my eyes
I let my body feel you
Soft against me
As you used to do.
And as the days pass
And I carefully
Let be
As the seasons change we can be especially conscious of our spiritual connections, our deepest connection with the world as it changes, our consciousness that the changing season reinforces a sense of the endurance of the earth and the natural world, that these things remain constant while we must go through change.
So we come
Death
Death is an unbearable shock. It can hurt us to the very core of our being.
It can steal a parent; child; partner; lover; family member; dear friend at any time it chooses, often without warning.
It can visit someone whom we only know from a distance or someone we don’t know at all. The news is
In the darkness of grief
In the world’s grief and darkness
we keep a flame burning –
the flame of hope, the flame of truth,
the flame that warms the heart with loving kindness.
Bereavement
Spirit of Love and of Life, we gather here this day to remember. To remember those who have touched our lives by their living and their dying. Blessed be their lives, and our memories of them.
We stand in the presence of a mystery, that life is, that we know the pleasures of family