Death and dying

Refusal

Beloved, In what other lives or lands Have I known your lips Your Hands Your Laughter brave Irreverent. Those sweet excesses that I do adore. What surety is there That we will meet again, On other worlds some Future time undated. I defy my body’s haste. Without the promise Of one more sweet encounter I will not deign to die (Maya...

From A Funeral Service

All you who mourn the loss of loved ones, and, at this hour, remember the sweet companionship and the cherished hopes that have passed away with them, give ear to the word of comfort spoken in the name of God.  Only the body has died and has been laid in the dust.  The spirit lives in the shelter of God’s love and mercy.  Our loved ones continue, also, in the remembrance of those to whom they were precious.  Their deeds of...

A Memorial Prayer

O Lord our God, through whose love we have our being and in whose presence is eternal life, in this solemn hour we remember before thee, all those whose lives in this world claim our love and affection, admiration, respect, and gratitude, and whom thou hast now taken to eternity. We recall the great of mankind who in signal measure have pointed the way as leaders of men and nations.  We think of the heroes and martyrs, and also of all...

When Death Comes

When death comes like the hungry bear in autumn; when death comes and takes all the bright coins from his purse to buy me, and snaps the purse shut; when death comes like the measle-pox; when death comes like an iceberg between the shoulder blades, I want to step through the door full of curiosity, wondering: what is it going to be like, that cottage of darkness? And therefore I look upon everything as a brotherhood and a sisterhood,...

dying is fine)but Death

dying is fine)but Death ?o baby i wouldn’t like Death if Death were good:for when(instead of stopping to think)you begin to feel of it,dying ’s miraculous why?be cause dying is perfectly natural;perfectly putting it mildly lively(but Death is strictly scientific & artificial & evil & legal) we thank thee god almighty for dying (forgive us,o life!the sin of Death (e. e....

For The Comfort Of Christ’s Presence

O Lord Jesus Christ, who yourself did weep beside the grave, and are touched with the feeling of our sorrows; fulfill now your promise that you will not leave your people comfortless, but will come to them. Reveal yourself unto your afflicted servants, and cause them to hear you saying, I am the resurrection and the life. Help them, O Lord, to turn to you with true discernment, and to abide in you through living faith, that finding...

Preparing For What May Be Just Ahead

Tonight, as on other nights, I’m walking alone through the valley of fear. O God, I pray that you will hear me, for you alone know what is in my heart. Lift me out of the valley of despair and set my soul free. (Anne Wadey)

I Thought I’d Write My Own Obituary

I thought I’d write my own obituary. Instead, I wrote the poem for when I’m risen from the dead: Ignite the flares, connect the phones, wind all the clocks; the sun goes rusty like a medal in its box— collect it from the loft. Peg out the stars, replace the bulbs of Jupiter and Mars. A man like that takes something with him when he dies, but he has wept the coins that rested on his eyes, eased out the stopper from the...

Prayer For The Departed

Go forth on your journey, beloved of God, from this world to the world which is to come. Go with the encompassing of God, the loving Father, who created you. Go with the companionship of Christ, the Savior, who redeemed you. Go with the protection of the Holy Spirit who brought you to life and who sustains you through death. Go in the company of the Sacred Three, enfolded in their love. Go now from your struggles to your eternal rest....

Prayer Of Saint Macrina On Her Deathbed

Lord, you have taken the fear of death away from us.  The end of our life here you have made the beginning of true life.  For a little while you will let our bodies rest in sleep, and then with the last trumpet you will wake them from their sleep. You give to the Earth to keep for you this earth of ours, which you shaped with your own hands; and you will take it back again, and from a mortal, formless lump transform it into a thing of...

Death At Hand

Consider this, my Soul, that thou hast none whom thou mayest call thine own. Vain are thy wanderings on the Earth. Two days or three, then ends this Earthly life; yet all men boast that they are masters here. Time’s master, Death, will come and overthrow such masterships. Thy best-beloved, for whom thou art so terribly concerned, will she go with thee? Nay; rather, lest some ill befall the home,  she will sprinkle with cow dung...