O Lord, This Body

Loved ones invited to gather around their dying Beloved; to hold their hand; to offer ice chips; to massage their skin with lotion or scented oils; to whisper love; to conjure memories of This Body. 

O God, you know.

You remember what it was like to bear a body: 

The vulnerability of being tended to; 

tears and laughter and sighs; 

the pain and awkwardness of growth spurts; 

all the trying and failing and learning; 

the layers of sensations and emotions; 

the joy and suffering of being alive in this world. 

Loved ones are invited to physically touch or contemplate on the aspect of the body mentioned in each of these petitions. Speak the litany slowly and with reverence, pausing to tell stories and share memories. Hold space for what is hard and holy about loving them to the end. In doing so, you honor what has been and the promise of what will be; the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting. 

O God, you know. Because you could not stay away. 

In Christ, you know the full delight and weight of humanity and that of your servant (Name). 

You know these eyes and their gift for seeing. 

You know these ears and their gift for listening.

You know these lips and their gift for telling.

You know these hands and their gift for giving.

You know this heart and its gift for loving. 

You know these feet and where they have trod. 

You know this body and all it has lived.

You know this spirit and that it belongs to heaven. 

O God, you know. Because you cannot stay away. 

In Christ, you are present with forgiveness, life and salvation for (Name) and for all of us. 

Loved ones are invited to hold their hand over their own hearts or to make the sign of the cross on the forehead of their Beloved, remembering that love has the first and last word on our lives.