Reading, Ecclesiastes 3, vv 1 - 14

There is a time for everything,  and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die,  

a time to plant and a time to uproot,  

a time to kill and a time to heal,  

a time to tear down and a time to build,  

a time to weep and a time to laugh,  

a time to mourn and a time to dance,  

a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,  

a time to embrace and a time to refrain,  

 a time to search and a time to give up,  

a time to keep and a time to throw away,  

a time to tear and a time to mend,  

a time to be silent and a time to speak,  

a time to love and a time to hate,  

a time for war and a time for peace. 

 

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I Carry Your Heart

I carry your heart with me (I carry it in

My heart) I am never without it (anywhere

I go you go, my dear; and whatever is done

By only me is your doing, my darling

I fear no fate (for you are my fate, my sweet) I want

No world (for beautiful you are my world, my true)

And it's you are whatever a moon has always meant

And whatever a sun will always sing is you

Here is the deepest secret nobody knows

(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud

And the sky of a tree called life; which grows

Higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)

And this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

I carry your heart (I carry it in my heart)

-- ee cummings

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A Prayer

May perpetual light shine upon 

The face of he who rests here.  

May the remembering earth  

Mind every memory he brought.  

May the rains from the heavens  

Fall gently upon him.  

May the wildflowers and grasses  

Whisper their wishes into the light.

May we reverence the village of presence  

In the stillness of this silent field.  

-- Adapted from a poem by John Donohue

 

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Blessing for Leaving

Our friend ______ has left her body, has left it here for us to tend to and send on its final journey from this place.

This is a difficult moment.

Even though she has died and we know this must be done, still…

We don’t want to begin the work of releasing.

And we will, but first, let’s thank this home/hospital/care center that has

sheltered her in her last days, through the work of dying.

Thank you for holding _______ and bringing us here to be with her.

Thank you for your sheltering roof.

Thank you for the care she has been given.

Goodbye. Godspeed _______.

 

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The Job of the Day

Almighty God, thank Thee for the job of this day.
May we find gladness in all its toil and difficulty,
its pleasure and success,
and even in its failure and sorrow.
We would look always away from ourselves,
and behold the glory and the need of the world
that we may have the will and the strength to bring
the gift of gladness to others;
that with them we stand to bear
the burden and heat of the day
and offer Thee the praise of work well done.
Amen.

-- Bishop Charles Lewis Slattery

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To Those Who Are Crushed By Mourning

Those who are worn out and crushed by this mourning,

let your hearts consider this: This is the path that has existed from the time

of creation and will exist forever.

Many have drunk from it and many will yet drink.

As was the first meal, so shall be the last.

May the master of comfort comfort you.

Blessed are those who comfort the mourners.

-- Jewish blessing

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Invocation Prayer

I give thanks to those that I am about to invite!

I ask that this room, this home or building and the grounds become a sacred space. 

I invite the Divine to be present. 

I invite Great Spirit, Mother Father God to be present. 

I invite Great Mystery to be present. 

I invite the Compassionate and loving Ancestors to be present and I give thanks to them, because with out them we couldn't be here. 

I invite the Great Teachers and Masters to be present, especially those that we have connections to and affiliations with. 

I invite the Angels, the great beings of light, especially the Archangels, the guardian angels angels of love and the angels of healing. 

I invite the Power Animals, the Totems, and I give thanks to them for loaning their power, their qualities, their protection and for relationship. 

I invite the Healing Spirits of all the realms and give thanks for the healing that I know is going to happen. 

I invite the Elements: Earth, Water, Fire, Air and Sacred Space...and I ask for a balancing and harmonizing of the Elements. 

I invite the Compassionate Spirits and Devas. 

I Invite the Earth, the Sun and the Moon. 

I give thanks to the Stars and the Compassionate Star People. 

I invite the Directions and the Guardians of the Directions 

I invite the Four Great Winds. 

I give thanks to the Great Spirits of the Land and I ask to be in harmony with you and to prosper here. 

I give thanks to the Spirits of this place for allowing this work and this prayer to happen here in a good way. 

And as always, I give thanks in advance for the blessings that I know will happen here. 

-- Betsy Bergstrom

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Reading from The Song of Songs, Psalms Chapter 2

I am the rose of Sharon, the lily of the valleys.

As a lily among the thistles, so is my beloved among girls.

As an apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my love among young men. In his delightful shade I sit, and his fruit is sweet to my taste.

He has taken me to his cellar, and his banner over me is love.

Feed me with raisin cakes, restore me with apples, for I am sick with love.

His left arm is under my head, his right embraces me.

I charge you, daughters of Jerusalem, by all gazelles and wild does, do not rouse, do not wake my beloved before she pleases.

BELOVED: I hear my love. See how he comes leaping on the mountains, bounding over the hills.

My love is like a gazelle, like a young stag. See where he stands behind our wall. He looks in at the window, he peers through the opening.

My love lifts up his voice, he says to me, 'Come then, my beloved, my lovely one, come.

For see, winter is past, the rains are over and gone.

'Flowers are appearing on the earth. The season of glad songs has come, the cooing of the turtledove is heard in our land.

The fig tree is forming its first figs and the blossoming vines give out their fragrance. Come then, my beloved, my lovely one, come.

'My dove, hiding in the clefts of the rock, in the coverts of the cliff, show me your face, let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet and your face is lovely.'

Catch the foxes for us, the little foxes that make havoc of the vineyards, for our vineyards are in fruit.

My love is mine and I am his. He pastures his flock among the lilies.

Before the day-breeze rises, before the shadows flee, return! Be, my love, like a gazelle, like a young stag, on the mountains of Bether.

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Alternative Lord's Prayer

Great Spirit, Divine One, Creator
Who is heaven earth rock wind insect tree fox
Human of every size shape color
Holy are your infinite names chanted sung whispered
We will midwife the rebirth of Gaia
As best we can
Restoring the Great Law of Peace.
Guide our hands to the soil and seed
Honoring the alchemy of food.
Let us remember your abundance
And share the bread of life with any who hunger.
We are for giving
And giving and giving.
We trust in the give-away.
We give and receive.
Let us be humble before the darkness and the light
Walking in harmony amidst them.
Give us courage to know them intimately
Both within and without.
For you have breathed it all---
The behind, the above, the below, the beyond.
Your awesome power courses in our veins
And animates our hearts.
You are the Great Drum.
We thank you.

-- Caudia L'amoreaux from "King James to Gaian"

  

 

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John, Chapter 14

“Do not let your hearts be troubled.  Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you.  

 I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.”   

 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.” 

 “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.  I do not give to you as the world gives.  Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” 

-- verse 1 to 6 and verse 27

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Mourner’s Kaddish in English Translation

Glorified and sanctified be Gods great name throughout the world which He has created according to His will.

May He establish His kingdom in your lifetime and during your days, and within the life of the entire House of Israel, speedily and soon; and say, Amen.

May His great name be blessed forever and to all eternity.

Blessed and praised, glorified and exalted, extolled and honored, adored andlauded be the name of the Holy One, blessed be He, beyond all the blessings and hymns, praises and consolations that are ever spoken in the world; and say, Amen.

May there be abundant peace from heaven, and life, for us and for all Israel; and say, Amen.

He who creates peace in His celestial heights, may He create peace for us and for all Israel; and say, Amen.

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How Do I Love Thee?

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of every day’s
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for right.
I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

-- Elizabeth Barrett Browning,  Sonnet 43

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Antidotes to Fear of Death

Sometimes as a antidote
To fear of death,
I eat the stars.
 
Those nights, lying on my back,
I suck them from the quenching dark
Till they are all, all inside me,
Pepper hot and sharp.
 
Sometimes, instead, I stir myself
Into a universe still young,
Still warm as blood:
 
No outer space, just space,
The light of all the not yet stars
Drifting like a bright mist,
And all of us, and everything
Already there
But unconstrained by form.
 
And sometimes it’s enough
To lie down here on earth
Beside our long ancestral bones:
 
To walk across the cobble fields
Of our discarded skulls,
Each like a treasure, like a chrysalis,
Thinking: whatever left these husks
Flew off on bright wings.
 
-- Rebecca Elson

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Your Way

No-one has marked out the road
you are to take
out in the unknown
out in the blue.
 
This is your road.
Only you
will take it. And there's no
turning back.
 
And you haven't marked your road
either.

And the wind smoothes out your tracks
on desolate hills.


-- Olav Hauge

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The Universe is in Us

Astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson, in answer to a TIME magazine reader, who asked, “What is
the most astounding fact you can share with us about the Universe?” said this:


“When I look up at the night sky and I know that, yes, we are part of this Universe, we are in
this Universe, but perhaps more important than most of those facts is that the Universe is in us. When I reflect on that fact, I look up — many people feel small, because they’re small, the
Universe is big — but I feel big, because my atoms came from those stars. There’s a level of
connectivity — that’s really what you want in life. You want to feel connected, you want to feel
relevant. You want to feel like you’re a participant in the goings on and activities and events
around you. That’s precisely what we are, just by being alive.”

-- Neil DeGrasse Tyson

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A Cornish Blessing

I lay my head to rest
and in doing so
lay at your feet
the faces I have seen
the voices I have heard
the words I have spoken
the hands I have shaken
the service I have given
the joys I have shared
the sorrows revealed.
I lay them at your feet
and in doing so
lay my head to rest

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And You Held Me

And You Held Me
and you held me and there were no words
and there was no time and you held me
and there was only wanting and
being held and being filled with wanting
and I was nothing but letting go
and being held
and there were no words and there
needed to be no words
and there was no terror only stillness
and I was wanting nothing and
it was fullness and it was like aching for God
and it was touch and warmth and
darkness and no time and no words and we flowed
and I flowed and I was not empty
and I was given up to the dark and
in the darkness I was not lost
and the wanting was like fullness and I could
hardly hold it and I was held and
you were dark and warm and without time and
without words and you held me.


--J anet Morley

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