Hymns/songs suitable for an infant's funeral service

[gwyn]

Hi all,

Sadly we have a funeral service for an infant of just a few weeks. Can anyone advise on appropriate hymns or songs?

Thanks,
Gwyn.

[docmattc]

We had a similar funeral of a new born baby last year. There were only 15-20 mourners present plus the choir (unusual for a funeral but because of the circumstances I asked them to come. We sang Haas' "You are mine" and Liam Lawton's "The cloud's veil"

[mcb]

A Cradling Song by John Bell. It's in the collection I Will Not Sing Alone. Very powerful in the gentlest of ways. The last verse is -

Lord, in your arms which cradle all creation
we rest and place our baby beyond death,
believing that (s)he now, alive in heaven,
breathes with your breath.

There's also The Hand of God shall hold you by Marty Haugen, a setting of In paradisum.

Hope they help.
M.

[VML]

'On eagle's wings,' seems a suitable one.

It is not in our parish hymn book and tho' I had heard it we had never used it until I had to locate and teach it quickly to a choir member who lost a young relative in the tsunami, and had been asked to sing it for her requiem.

Unfortunately, infant funerals are, like many others, limited by what the family knows: 'Morning has broken' and 'All things bright..'

[gwyn]

Thanks for your responses everyone. Very useful.