Thursday Morning- Funeral Home Service

(Guitar piece by Joanne's brother, Wayne Siwak)

Whatever is born is impermanent and is bound to die.
Whatever is stored is impermanent and is bound to run out.
Whatever is joined is impermanent and is bound to come apart.
Whatever is built is impermanent and is bound to collapse.
Whatever is born is impermanent and is bound to die.

That’s not so easy to think about, but it is true. We humans are fragile creatures. And whatever you believe about the afterlife, we’re only here in these bodies, at this point in time, for a very short time.

That fragileness, that impermanance, is part of the beauty of life. It’s why we need to love each other so strongly and treasure each other so dearly while we’re alive together. And it’s why we need to remember those who have passed and to love and treasure those memories.

Grieving is part of human existence. And as we say goodbye to Joanne, I want to remind you that it’s all right to grieve. It’s good and it’s healthy and it’s part of being human and being impermanent.

I also want to remind you that Joanne would very much want to be remembered with smiles as well as tears. She would want you to remember her and love her, but she would also want you to take care of yourself and love yourself and heal yourself. To remember Joanne only with the pain of grief is not the best tribute you could pay to her. Remember her with love and remember - and share - her joy of being alive.

And remember to love each other and take care of each other and treasure the time we have in this wonderful, fragile, impermanent life. Treasure life. That’s the lesson Joanne would want you to take with you today. Not grief, but happy memories.

This service is ended. Mr Ronin will give you details of the procession.

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Graveside service

You all know that Joanne loved the ocean. She loved to sit by it and watch it. She could read the waves and the currents and tell the weather. She spoke to the ocean and the ocean spoke to Joanne’s heart. She told me once a long time ago that what she wanted after she was gone was to have someone love her enough to remember to pour seawater on her grave. So this is for you, Joanne.

(pour ocean water)

When you come back to visit Joanne in this beautiful place, you might want to remember to bring some ocean water or a shell. She’d like that.

The other kind of water that Joanne loved was a cool glass of water to drink. In her last illness she was craving water so much. She once said that if she could swallow she’d drink all the water there was in the world. So our last gesture today will be to offer Joanne water, now that she can drink as much as she wants.

I’m going to start a song with new music but very old lyrics about the seasonal flooding of a river - the Euphrates - and the life it brings to the land. You’re invited to join me in the chorus.

While we’re singing, I’m going to pass this pitcher around and each of you who wishes to will have the chance to come forward and pour some water.

The crescent shaped barge of heaven
Brushes close to touch the earth
Full of loveliness, full of bounty
The fertile fields well-watered
Hillock lands well-watered too
At your mighty rising
The vines rise up and the fields rise up
And the desert fills with green
A well of water in a dry, dry land
Swelling fruits to feed the hungry
Sweet water to quench our thirst

Pour it out for me, pour it out for me
Everything you send me I will drink

Goodbye, Joanne. We won’t forget you.

This graveside service is ended

Go in peace and blessings and love

--Rev. Norma Hoffman, GOG, ADF (*Song paraphrased by Norma from Starhawk' Reclaiming Collective chants; - Adapted by Starhawk from Sumerian, translated by Thorkild Jacobsen)