Spiritual Readings for Funerals and Memorial Services

'Nothing is so completely beyond the power of death as a noble love. Parting can shatter only its outward shell. Under that strange touch, love in its inmost recesses kindles and glows with a diviner life.' George S Merriam. Today many people have only a nominal attachment to a religious denomination or faith tradition. Yet at a profound rite of passage such as the funeral of a loved one, they may still wish to hear words of spiritual comfort that are familiar, inspiring and dignified, and which express some belief in a higher power and a hope, in some sense, of a life hereafter. This book of 143 poems and short prose readings is suitable for the funeral or memorial service of someone who was, perhaps ‘spiritual, but not religious’ or who did not have a dogmatic faith, yet was not opposed to religious ideas. Many of the readings come from the humanistic Christian tradition, expressing hope in the example of Jesus to help us through the darkest times of our lives, and that a spiritual connection with our loved ones can survive death, in some way which is ultimately beyond our understanding. There are also readings which are not specifically Christian, and readings from other faith traditions. The readings maintain the familiar traditional style of the King James Bible and the Book of Common Prayer, with the formality and dignity expected of a funeral or memorial service, from some of the world’s greatest writers including Shakespeare, John Donne, Samuel Johnson, Robert Browning and Anne Bronte, as well as lesser-known but equally inspiring authors.