Forgive Our Errors

We gather here with ________as she lies here, newly dead.

The force of her life has just left this body that once was full of life, that she inhabited to move, to touch, to work, to love, to dance, to rest.

We give thanks to this body that held ________ through her life, and bore her unto death.

As we prepare to care for her in death, please forgive any errors we may make.

Help us make space to remember her out loud, to cry openly, and to laugh easily, as she would like.

Guide our hands to care for her tenderly, lovingly, and patiently.

Thank you for bringing us together to share in this work of love and service. Amen

Making Ready, Washing and Dressing, Washing And DressingAmy CunninghamNovember 28, 2023Preparing The Body

The Original Serenity Prayer

God, give us grace to accept with serenity
the things that cannot be changed,
Courage to change the things
which should be changed,
and the Wisdom to distinguish
the one from the other.

Living one day at a time,
Enjoying one moment at a time,
Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace,
Taking, as Jesus did,
This sinful world as it is,
Not as I would have it,
Trusting that You will make all things right,
If I surrender to Your will,
So that I may be reasonably happy in this life,
And supremely happy with You forever in the next.

Amen.

by Reinhold Niebuhr

Bathing Prayer

In the presence of the metah (body of the deceased):

Source of Kindness and Compassion. Whose ways are ways of mercy and truth, You have commanded us to act with loving-kindness and compassion towards the dead; and to engage in their proper burial. Grant us the courage and strength to perform this sacred work properly – washing and cleansing ________’s body, dressing him/her in shrouds, and burying him/her. Guide our hands and hearts as we do this work, and enable us to complete it with love. Help us to see You in the face of the deceased, even as we see You in the faces of those who share this commandment (duty, sacred act). Source of Life and Death, be with us now and forever.

Washing and Dressing, Washing And Dressing, Making ReadyAmy CunninghamDecember 27, 2019

Death is Not the End

Death is not the end

But the beginning

Of a metamorphosis.

For matter is never destroyed

Only transformed

And rearranged –

Often more perfectly.

Witness how in the moment of a caterpillar’s death

The beauty of the butterfly is born

And released from the prison of the cocoon

It flies free.

-- Peter Tatchell

Prayer of Faith

We trust that beyond absence there is a presence.

That beyond the pain there can be healing.

That beyond the brokenness there can be wholeness.

That beyond the anger there may be peace.

That beyond the hurting there may be forgiveness.

That beyond the silence there may be the word.

That beyond the word there may be understanding.

That through understanding there is love.

-- Unknown

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

Making Ready, Washing and DressingAmy CunninghamSeptember 7, 2017Preparing The Body

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

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

Making Ready, Washing and DressingAmy CunninghamSeptember 6, 2017Preparing The Body