More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
Into your hands, O merciful Savior, we commend your servant N. Acknowledge, we humbly beseech you, a sheep of your own fold, a lamb of your own flock, a sinner of your own redeeming. Receive him into the arms of your mercy, into the blessed rest of everlasting peace, and into the glorious company of the saints in light. Amen.
I am Resurrection and I am Life, says the Lord. Whoever has faith in me shall have life, even though he die. And everyone who has life, and has committed himself to me in faith, shall not die for ever.
In the midst of life we are in death; from whom can we seek help? From you alone, O Lord, who by our sins are justly angered. Holy God, Holy and Mighty, Holy and merciful Savior, deliver us not into the bitterness of eternal death. Lord, you know the secrets of our hearts; shut not your ears to our prayers, but spare us, O Lord. Holy God, Holy and Mighty, Holy and merciful Savior, deliver us not into the bitterness of eternal death. O worthy and eternal Judge, do not let the pains of death
turn us away from you at our last hour. Holy God, Holy and Mighty, Holy and merciful Savior, deliver us not into the bitterness of eternal death.
laypeople are carried feet-first toward the altar/table (i.e., facing the front, as they did in Sunday worship) and clergy are carried in headfirst (i.e., facing the people, as they did when they presided). Whether carried in headfirst or feetfirst,
The custom, practiced in some funeral home chapels, of seating the family in an area separated, sometimes even screened off, from the rest of the congregation, is unjustified and significantly undermines the communal character of worship.
(N)ame of God: O God (A)ttribute of God: of grace and glory, (T)hanksgiving: we remember before you today our sister/brother,_______. We thank you for giving her/him to know us and to love as a companion in our pilgrimage on earth. (P)etition: In your. compassion, console us who mourn. Give us the faith to see that death has been swallowed up in the victory of our Lord Jesus Christ, (R)eason: so that we may live in confidence and hope until, by your call, we are gathered to our heavenly home in the company of all your saints; (C)losing: through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
O God (A): who gave us birth, you are ever more ready to hear than we are to pray. You know our needs before we ask, and our ignorance in asking. (P): Show us now your grace, (R): that as we face the mystery of death, we may see the light of eternity. (P2): Speak to us once more your solemn message of life and death. And when our days here are ended, enable us to die as those who go forth to live, (R2): so that living or dying, our life may be in Jesus Christ (C): our risen Lord. Amen.
God of the living and the dead, we are burdened by the things we have done and by the things we have not done. We remember our broken promises and missed opportunities; the gifts we have taken for granted, the love we have not shown or returned. Forgive us, comfort and heal us. Lift our guilt from us, that we may walk in freedom and grace. Amen.
Holy God, before you our hearts are open And from you no secrets are hidden. We bring to you now our shame and sorrow for our sins. We have forgotten that our life is from you and unto you. We have neither sought nor done your will. We have not been truthful in our hearts, in our speech, in our lives. We have not loved as we ought to love. Help us and heal us, we pray. Raise us from our sin into a better life, that we may end our days in peace trusting in your kindness unto the end; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and
...more
It is better to think of this, like the collect, as a kind of offering of the people.
For our brother/sister N., let us pray to our Lord Jesus Christ who said, “I am the resurrection and the life.” Lord, you consoled Martha and Mary in their distress; draw near to us who mourn for N., and dry the tears of those who weep. Hear us, Lord. You wept at the grave of Lazarus, your friend; comfort us in our sorrow. Hear us, Lord. You raised the dead to life; give to our brother/sister eternal life. Hear us, Lord. You promised paradise to the repentant thief; bring N. to the joys of heaven.
Hear us, Lord. Our brother/sister was washed in baptism and anointed with the Holy Spirit; give him/her fellowship with all your saints. Hear us, Lord. He/she was nourished at your table on earth; welcome him/her at your table in the heavenly kingdom. Hear us, Lord. Comfort us in our sorrows at the death of N.; let our faith be our consolation, and eternal life our hope. Amen.28
“Father, into your hands I commend my spirit”
“Let us commend name to the mercy of God, our maker and redeemer.”
Before we go our separate ways, let us take leave of our brother/sister. May our farewell express our affection for him/her; may it ease our sadness and strengthen our hope. One day we shall joyfully greet him/her again when the love of Christ, which conquers all things, destroys even death itself.
Give rest, O Christ, to your servant(s) with your saints, where sorrow and pain are no more, neither sighing, but life everlasting.
Into your hands, O merciful Savior, we commend your servant N. Acknowledge, we humbly beseech you, a sheep of your own fold, a lamb of your own flock, a sinner of your own redeeming. Receive him into the arms of your mercy, into the blessed rest of everlasting peace, and into the glorious company of the saints in light. Amen.
Grace and peace from our Savior Jesus Christ be with you all. Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, and the living one. I was dead, and behold, I am alive for forever and ever. Because I live, you also will live.
In sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life through our Lord Jesus Christ, we commend to Almighty God our brother N., and we commit his body to the ground (or to the deep, or the elements, or its resting place); earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust. The Lord bless him and keep him, the Lord make his face to shine upon him and be gracious to him, the Lord lift up his countenance upon him and give him peace. Amen.
O Lord, support us all the day long until the shadows lengthen and the evening comes and the busy world is hushed, and the fever of life is over, and our work is done. Then, in your mercy, grant us a safe lodging, and a holy rest, and peace at the last; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
“God gave us __________, and we loved him, even when it was hard to do so. And now we give him back to God, back to the God who loves him too, and who can be trusted.”
The therapeutic dimension of funeral preaching, however, is a caution to preachers not to forget that the truths of the gospel can sometimes sound in the ear of the mournful as empty promises.
I mentioned the healing flood of letters. Some of the very best, and easily the worst, came from fellow reverends, a few of whom proved they knew their Bibles better than the human condition. I know all the “right” biblical passages, including “Blessed are those who mourn,” and my faith is no house of cards; these passages are true, I know. But the point is this. While the words of the Bible are true, grief renders them unreal. The reality of grief is the absence of God—“My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” The reality of grief is the solitude of pain, the feeling that your
heart is in pieces, your mind’s a blank, that “there is no joy the world can give like that it takes away”
Coffin’s warning does not mean that preachers should be silent about the promises of the gospel. It means, rather, that when those promises of victory and joy are directed to those in the pain of grief, they should have the tone of words being held in trust for them until they can claim them for themselves, rather than obligations of the present moment.
“Thank you, O God, for this life”
