Memorial Service Readings

Although we miss those who have passed on before us and although it is natural and very necessary to grieve, it’s important to remember that he/she is free from the bonds of the earth and it is us who continue to suffer the loss. The following two readings have given a measure of comfort to countless people who have attended memorial services I have done. I trust they will comfort you as well

With Love and Blessings,
Rev. Marcia

THE DRAGONFLY

Once, in a pond, under the lily pads, there lived a water beetle in a community of water beetles. They live a simple life with few disturbances. Once in a while, sadness would come to the community when one of their fellow beetles would climb the stem of the lily pad and would not be seen again. They knew when this happened; their friend was gone forever. Then, one day, one little beetle felt an irresistible urge to climb up that stem. However, he was determined he would not leave forever. He would come back and tell his friends what he found at the top.

When he reached the top and climbed out of the water onto the surface of the lily pad, he was so tired, and the sun was so warm, he decided he must take a nap. As he slept, his body changed and when he work up, he had turned into a beautiful blue-tailed dragonfly with broad wings and a slender body designed for flying. So, fly he did! And, as he soared he saw the beauty of a whole new world and a far superior way of life to what he had ever known existed.

Then he remembered her beetle friends and how they thought he was gone forever. He wanted to go back to tell them that he was now more alive than he had been before he left. His life had not ended, but changed. But, his new body would not go down into the water. He could not get back to tell his friends the good news. Then he understood that their time would come, when they too would know what he now knew. So, he raised his wings and flew off into his joyous new life!

- Author unknown

THE SHIP

I am standing upon the seashore.
A ship at my side spreads her white sails to the morning breeze and starts for the blue ocean. She is an object of beauty and strength, and I stand and watch her until at length she is only a speck of white cloud just where the sea and sky meet and mingle with other.

Then someone at my side exclaims, “There, she’s gone!”

“Gone where?”

Gone from my sight, that is all. She is just as large in hull and mast and spar as she was when she left my side, and just as able to bear her destination. Her diminished size is in me, not in her.

And just at the moment when someone at my side says, “She’s gone,” there are other eyes watching for her coming and other voices ready to take up the glad shout, “There she comes!”

- Henry Jackson Van Dyke