And even now I realize the more we write and the more we make resources available the more help this provides for other mothers and families who have experienced loss.
There were two most important gift lessons we learned. 1. Always use Baby's name. even if it is too difficult to name baby encourage this to happen-the hospital was so wonderful in making sure this was done.
2. Make sure a funeral, a prayer, a special acknowledgement is done. All this has made the difference in the months and now the year since.
Here is a sample service. It was done on the rural property of my daughter's family. May God's grace, mercy and strength be with you.
Service of Witness to the
Resurrection
W
Faith Elisabeth Rodgers
February 10, 2016
February 13, 2016
Welcome
Our help is in the
name of the Lord who made heaven and earth.
We gather here today to bring honor to the little life of
our daughter, granddaughter, sister, niece, and child of God, Faith Elisabeth
Rodgers.
We only knew her as our hope and joy, the anticipation of
all the good God has to offer us in new life.
We are here under this treasured tree, on this land, this
solid ground, this earth, to which we remember holds us all together. From dust
we were made and to dust we shall return. Here this space has been special and
so under the canopy of this tree and the canopy of God’s love we gather now in
the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen
Scripture
Psalm 139:1-3;13-18
O Lord, you have
searched me and known me.
2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from far away.
3 You search out my path and my lying down,
and are acquainted with all my ways.
2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from far away.
3 You search out my path and my lying down,
and are acquainted with all my ways.
For it was you who formed my inward parts;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
that I know very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes beheld my unformed substance.
In your book were written
all the days that were formed for me,
when none of them as yet existed.
17 How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 I try to count them—they are more than the sand;
I come to the end[a]—I am still with you.
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
that I know very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes beheld my unformed substance.
In your book were written
all the days that were formed for me,
when none of them as yet existed.
17 How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 I try to count them—they are more than the sand;
I come to the end[a]—I am still with you.
Mark
10:13-16
13 People were bringing little children to him in order that he might touch
them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them. 14 But when
Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the little children
come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of
God belongs. 15 Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a
little child will never enter it.” 16 And he took
them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.
Words from the Family
Our hearts are filled with the loss of the
hopes and dreams we held for the life of Baby Faith. Yet, we hold to the truth
that a mother and father hold their children’s hands for but a short while and
their hearts forever.
Prayer
Loving
God,
Your
beloved Son took children into his arms and blessed them. Give us grace that we
may entrust
Baby
Faith Elisabeth Rodgers to your never failing love and care. Comfort us in our
sorrow; strengthen us with hope; and breathe peace into our troubled hearts.
Assure us that the love in which we rejoiced for a time is not lost. The love
we hold here together as a family unites us forever with each other and with
you.
In
our loneliness, may we remember Baby Faith in love until the eternal morning
breaks.
Through
Christ, in Christ, always surrounded and wrapped together in the loving arms of
Jesus. Amen.
Poem
I give you this one thought to keep
I am still with you-I do not sleep
I am a thousand winds that blow
I am the diamond glints on snow
I am the sunlight on ripened grain
I am the gentle autumn rain
When you waken in the morning hush,
I am the swift, uplifting rush,
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at
night.
Do not think of me as gone-I am still
With you-in each new dawn.
Commendation
You only are immortal, the creator and maker of all. We are
mortal, formed of the earth, and to the earth we shall return. This you
ordained when you created us, saying, ‘You are dust, and to dust you shall
return.” All of us go down to the dust; yet even at the grave we make our song:
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.
Give space, O Christ, to your child Baby Faith, with all
your saints, where there is neither pain, nor sorrow nor sighing, but life
everlasting.
Into your hand, O merciful Savior, we commend your child,
Baby Faith Elisabeth Rodgers. Acknowledge we humbly pray, a sheep of your fold,
a lamb of your flock, a baby of your own redeeming. Receive her into your arms
of mercy, into the blessed rest of eternal peace, and into the glorious company
of the saints in light. Amen.
Benediction
The peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your
hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God and God’s Son, Jesus Christ
our Lord. Amen.
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