Act of Remembrance Afterglow All Is Well
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A beautiful memory left behind of someone who was good and kind. All Is Well A life made good by kindly deeds and generous thoughts for others needs. Death is nothing at all. I have only slipped away into the next room. I am I and you are you: whatever we were to each other that we are still. Act of Remembrance Call me by my old familiar name, speak to me in the easy way which you always used. They shall grow not old as we that are left grow old: Put no difference into your tone; Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow. At the going down of the sun and in the morning Laugh as we always laughed We will remember them. at the little jokes we enjoyed together. Play, smile, think of me, pray for me. Let my name be ever the household word that it always was. Afterglow Let it be spoken without effort, I’d like the memory of me to be a happy one. without the ghost of a shadow on it. I’d like to leave an afterglow of smiles Life means all that it ever meant. when life is done. It is the same as it ever was; I’d like to leave an echo there is absolutely unbroken continuity. whispering softly down the ways. What is this death but a negligible accident? Of happy times and laughing times Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight? and bright and sunny days. I am but waiting for you, for an interval, I’d like the tears of those who grieve, somewhere very near just round the corner. to dry before the sun. All is well. Nothing is past; nothing is lost. Of happy memories that I leave when life is done. One brief moment and all will be as it was before - only better, infinitely happier and forever. Author Henry Scott Holland Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us all with the gift of this earthly life Because You Have Lived and has given to our brother/sister N his/her span of years and gifts of character. To laugh often and much. God our Father, we thank you now for all his/her life, To win the respect of intelligent people, and for every memory of love and joy, the affection of children. for every good deed done by him/her and every sorrow shared with us. To earn the appreciation of honest critics. We thank you for his/her life and for his/her death, To appreciate beauty. we thank you for the rest in Christ he/she now enjoys, To find the best in others. we thank you for giving him/her to us, we thank you for the glory we shall share together. To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, or a Hear our prayers through Jesus Christ our Lord. garden patch. Most merciful God, To know even one life has breathed easier because you have whose wisdom is beyond our understanding, lived. surround the family of ..... with your love, that they may not be overwhelmed by their loss, This is to have succeeded but have confidence in your goodness, and strength to meet the days to come. We ask this through Christ our Lord. The Broken Chain The Best God saw you getting tired, We little knew that morning that God was going to call your And a cure was not to be, name, So He put His arms around you In life we loved you dearly, in death we do the same. It broke our hearts to lose you, you did not go alone, And whispered “Come to Me”. For part of us went with you, the day God called you home. With tearful eyes we watched you, You left us peaceful memories, your love is still our guide, and saw you pass away. And though we cannot see you, you are always at our side. Although we loved you dearly, Our family chain is broken, and nothing seems the same, We could not make you stay. But as God calls us one by one, the chain will link again. A Golden Heart stopped beating, Hard working hands to rest, God broke our hearts to prove to us, He only takes the best Birth is a beginning But in having made the journey, stage by stage, And death a destination A sacred pilgrimage, But life is a journey Birth is a beginning A going - a growing And death a destination, From stage to stage But life is a journey, From childhood to maturity A sacred pilgrimage - And youth to age. Made stage by stage - From innocence to awareness To life everlasting." And ignorance to knowing, From foolishness to discretion And then perhaps, to wisdom. Closing Words From Weakness to strength Or strength to weakness We have been remembering with love and with gratitude, a life And, often, back again. that has ended. Let us now return to our homes and to our From health to sickness work,resolved that we who live on will use our lives more fully And back we pray, to health again. and to better purpose or for having known ................. and for From offense to forgiveness, having shared in h....... life. From loneliness to love, From joy to gratitude, The best of all answers to death is the whole-hearted and con- From pain to compassion, tinuing affirmation of life, for the greater fulfilment of human- And grief to understanding - kind. From fear to faith. From defeat to defeat to defeat - Friends,we have been remembering with love and Until, looking backward or ahead, humility/appreciation/affection/ a life now ended. Now we We see that victory lies must each return to living our own lives, enriched by these Not a some high place along the way, memories, so that those who live may have life more fully. A Celtic Blessing from Anam Cara by John O'Donohue May the nourishment of the earth be yours, On the day when May the fluency of the ocean be yours the weight deadens May the protection of the ancestors be yours on our shoulders, may the clay dance And so may a slow wind to balance you. work these words of love around you, And when your eyes freeze behind Thanksgiving the gray window and the ghosts of loss Glad that I live am I; get in to you That the sky is blue; may a flock of colours, Glad for the country lanes, indigo, red green And the fall of dew. and azure blue come to awaken in you After the sun the rain, a meadow of delight. After the rain the sun; This is the way of life, When the canvas frays Till the work be done. in the curach of thought and a stain of ocean All that we need to do, blackens beneath you, Be we low or high, may there come across the waters Is to see that we grow, a path of yellow moonlight Nearer the sky. to bring you safely home. 1 Corinthians 13 (New International Version) To the Child in my Heart 1 Corinthians 13 O precious, tiny, sweet little one You will always be to me Love So perfect, pure and innocent 1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not Just as you were meant to be. love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I We dreamed of you and your life have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all And all that it would be knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but We waited and longed for you come have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor And join our family. and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. We never had the chance to play 4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not To laugh, to rock, to wiggle boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is We long to hold you, touch you now not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does And listen to you giggle. not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always pro- She'll always be your Mother tects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. I'll always be your Dad 8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will You will always be our child cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there The child that we had. is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when perfection comes, the imperfect But now you're gone .. but yet you're here disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I We'll sense you everywhere thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a You are our sorrow and our joy man, I put childish ways behind me. 12 Now we see but a poor There's love in every tear. reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I Just know our love goes deep and strong know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.