I'm in charge of planning a memorial service for those patients who have died in the past year. It's a very big deal as we invite the entire staff and, of course, family and friends of our deceased patients.
I have bulletins from past years, but I'm not inspired. We have a harpist and a vocalist. They have a tradition of each person setting a stone in a fountain in remembrance of their loved one.
Anyone have any wonderful ideas? Songs, poems, anything.....
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There are a couple of Mary Oliver poems I love and have used in funerals or simply read in church when a beloved member died, as our own remembrance. They are In Blackwater Woods and When Death Comes.
As far as hymns or songs, I don't think you can go wrong with "Abide With Me."
I'll be planning a similar service for an interdenominational group in early December, thanks for starting me thinking!
This is one of my favorite poems around death that I've used in a couple of key services. I found it in the book Life Prayers which actually has lots of great stuff in it. I think the poem is anonymous.
When I die if you need to weep
Cry for your brother or sister
Walking the street beside you
And when you need me put your arms around anyone
And give them what you need to give me.
I want to leave you something
Something better than words or sounds.
Look for me in the people I’ve known or loved
And if you cannot give me away
At least let me live on in your eyes and not on your mind.
You can love me most by letting hands touch hands
By letting bodies touch bodies
And by letting go of children that need to be free.
Love doesn’t die, people do
So when all that’s left of me is love
Give me away.
Thanks for the reminder about the Mary Oliver poems, Songbird! I don't know "Abide With Me." I'll have to look it up.
That's a fantastic poem, MC. Thank you, I may use it!
a funeral home in our area does a service every Dec. and on a rotating basis area clergy preach; read lessons etc... but during the service they have a power point very tastefully done... photos of each person with their name; dob-dod at the bottom of the screen and thsoe photos are interspersed with photos of landscapes & serene scenes with scripture veres... all set to soft background music. if memory serves the veterans were shown in a 'section' together during the presentation...
might be more work than you're looking for but it was very tastefully done.
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