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this could head off into the most morbid thread ever....
But whilst Im not really religious, Ive always loved Sufjan Stevens Seven Swans album which has a lot of religious references....and many beautiful songs from one of the most over looked artists this century im humble o.
For some reason I've always found myself deeply moved by the andante maestoso of Jupiter from the Planets Suite (the part that has become known as the hymn tune 'Thaxted'), and would probably quite like to have that played as the curtains close at the end of the service.
(2:50 onwards)
Otherwise I think Abide With Me is always a top-tier funeral banger.
For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to throw away; a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace. God has made everything suitable for its time.
It will be read at mine along with the following reading ‘High Flight’ which is firstly beautiful and secondly has meaning for me.
The actual funeral arrangements I'll leave to others (I won't be there, after all). Would prefer a standard Christian service, to reflect my beliefs*. IMO, funerals are for the benefit of those left behind, not the departed themselves.
But for the purposes of this thread:
* There is one sort of family hymn which we've sung (with different words - if you know, you know) at funerals and weddings for a long time.
Poem Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore, So do our minutes hasten to their end; Each changing place with that which goes before, In sequent toil all forwards do contend. Nativity, once in the main of light, Crawls to maturity, wherewith being crown’d, Crooked elipses ’gainst his glory fight, And Time that gave doth now his gift confound. Time doth transfix the flourish set on youth And delves the parallels in beauty’s brow, Feeds on the rarities of nature’s truth, And nothing stands but for his scythe to mow: And yet to times in hope my verse shall stand, Praising thy worth, despite his cruel hand
A poem, song or reading you'd like at your funeral.... on 10:43 - Sep 21 by Churchman
This was read at my dad’s funeral:
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8,11a
For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to throw away; a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace. God has made everything suitable for its time.
It will be read at mine along with the following reading ‘High Flight’ which is firstly beautiful and secondly has meaning for me.
This was the last song played at my mother's and father's funeral, and I would want the same at mine.
Whilst written about an exiled Scot returning to Scotland, in sentiment it seems to me to echo Loch Lomond (which I had a my dad's funeral) in which the spirit of a Scot returns to Scotland following his death.
"I don't know if you can see the changes that have come over me In these last few days I've been afraid that I might drift away So I've been telling old stories, singing songs That make me think about where I came from And that's the reasons why I seem so far away today
Oh and let me tell you that I love you That I think about you all the time Caledonia you're calling me and now I'm going home For if I should become a stranger You know that it would make me more than sad Caledonia's been everything I've ever had
Oh and I have moved and I've kept on moving Proved the points that I needed proving Lost the friends that I needed losing, found others on the way Oh and I have tried and kept on trying Stolen dreams, yes there's no denying I have travelled hard with conscience flying somewhere with the wind
Oh and let me tell you that I love you That I think about you all the time Caledonia you're calling me and now I'm going home For if I should become a stranger You know that it would make me more than sad Caledonia's been everything I've ever had
Now I'm sitting here before the fire, the empty room, the forest choir The flames that couldn't get any higher Well they've withered, now they've gone But I'm steady thinking My way is clear and I know what I will do tomorrow When the hands have shaken and the kisses flow, well I will disappear
Oh and let me tell you that I love you That I think about you all the time Caledonia you're calling me and now I'm going home For if I should become a stranger You know that it would make me more than sad Caledonia's been everything I've ever had"
[Post edited 22 Sep 2024 15:06]
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A poem, song or reading you'd like at your funeral.... on 14:54 - Sep 22 with 2419 views
I had this reading from William Penn, Quaker and founder of Pennsylvania, at my father's funeral. Quakerism is probably closest to my own spirituality because it has no dogma and no intermediaries. Indeed, there are even non-theist Quakers who engage in Quaker practices and processes, but who do not necessarily believe in a theistic God or Supreme Being, the divine, the soul or the supernatural.
"The truest end of life, is to know the life that never ends. He that makes this his care, will find it his crown at last. And he that lives to live ever, never fears dying: nor can the means be terrible to him that heartily believes the end.
For though death be a dark passage, it leads to immortality, and that’s recompense enough for suffering of it. And yet faith lights us, even through the grave, being the evidence of things not seen.
And this is the comfort of the good, that the grave cannot hold them, and that they live as soon as they die. For death is no more than a turning of us over from time to eternity. Death, then, being the way and condition of life, we cannot love to live, if we cannot bear to die.
They that love beyond the world cannot be separated by it. Death cannot kill what never dies. Nor can spirits ever be divided that love and live in the same Divine Principle, the root and record of their friendship. If absence be not death, neither is theirs.
Death is but crossing the world, as friends do the seas; they live in one another still. For they must needs be present, that love and live in that which is omnipresent. In this divine glass, they see face to face; and their converse is free, as well as pure.
This is the comfort of friends, that though they may be said to die, yet their friendship and society are, in the best sense, ever present, because immortal."
[Post edited 22 Sep 2024 20:37]
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A poem, song or reading you'd like at your funeral.... on 17:06 - Sep 22 with 2366 views
A poem, song or reading you'd like at your funeral.... on 14:54 - Sep 22 by DJR
I had this reading from William Penn, Quaker and founder of Pennsylvania, at my father's funeral. Quakerism is probably closest to my own spirituality because it has no dogma and no intermediaries. Indeed, there are even non-theist Quakers who engage in Quaker practices and processes, but who do not necessarily believe in a theistic God or Supreme Being, the divine, the soul or the supernatural.
"The truest end of life, is to know the life that never ends. He that makes this his care, will find it his crown at last. And he that lives to live ever, never fears dying: nor can the means be terrible to him that heartily believes the end.
For though death be a dark passage, it leads to immortality, and that’s recompense enough for suffering of it. And yet faith lights us, even through the grave, being the evidence of things not seen.
And this is the comfort of the good, that the grave cannot hold them, and that they live as soon as they die. For death is no more than a turning of us over from time to eternity. Death, then, being the way and condition of life, we cannot love to live, if we cannot bear to die.
They that love beyond the world cannot be separated by it. Death cannot kill what never dies. Nor can spirits ever be divided that love and live in the same Divine Principle, the root and record of their friendship. If absence be not death, neither is theirs.
Death is but crossing the world, as friends do the seas; they live in one another still. For they must needs be present, that love and live in that which is omnipresent. In this divine glass, they see face to face; and their converse is free, as well as pure.
This is the comfort of friends, that though they may be said to die, yet their friendship and society are, in the best sense, ever present, because immortal."
[Post edited 22 Sep 2024 20:37]
Nice words and if it's worth saying once it's definitely worth saying again. Nice words!
"They break our legs and tell us to be grateful when they offer us crutches."
With my dad's parents born in Leith, and my mother attending the same school as the Proclaimers, I'd have this at my funeral. It's a great love song (to my wife), very moving and also has a religious feel to it. And since finding out the background, only in the last 20 odd years, I've become a Hibee when it comes to Scottish football.
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