A Liturgical Order For The Christian Funeral

The following funeral liturgy is designed as a service of witness to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Like every service of Christian worship, it is rooted in the paschal mystery, the death and resurrection, of Christ.

ENTRANCE GATHERING (The pastor may greet the family. Music for worship may be offered while the people gather.) (The coffin or urn may be carried into the place of worship in procession, in which case the pall may be placed on it outside the place of worship with these words:) Dying, Christ destroyed our death. Rising, Christ restored our life. Christ will come again in glory. As in baptism Name put on Christ, so in Christ may Name be clothed with glory. Here and now, dear friends, we are God's children. What we shall be has not yet been revealed; but we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Those who have this hope purify themselves as Christ is pure. THE WORD OF GRACE (If the coffin or urn is carried into the place of worship in procession, the pastor may go before it speaking these words, the congregation standing. Or if the coffin or urn is already in place, the pastor speaks these or other words from in front of the congregation.) Jesus said, I am the resurrection and I am the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, yet shall they live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. I died, and behold I am alive for evermore, and I hold the keys of hell and death. Because I live, you shall live also. GREETING Friends, we have gathered here to praise God and to witness to our faith as we celebrate the life of Name. We come together in grief, acknowledging our human loss. May God grant us grace, that in pain we may find comfort, in sorrow hope, in death resurrection. (If there has been no procession, the pall may be placed at this time.) (Whether or not the pall is placed at this time, the sentences printed above under Gathering may be used here if they were not used earlier.)   HYMN OR SONG PRAYER (One or more of the following or other prayers may be offered, in unison if desired. Petition for God's help, thanksgiving for the communion of saints, confession of sin, and assurance of pardon are appropriate here.) The Lord be with you And also with you. Let us pray. O God, 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. Give to us now your grace, that as we shrink before the mystery of death, we may see the light of eternity. Speak to us once more your solemn message of life and of death. Help us to live as those who are prepared to die. And when our days here are accomplished, enable us to die as those who go forth to live, so that living or dying, our life may be in you, and that nothing in life or in death will be able to separate us from your great love in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen. or Eternal God, we praise you for the great company of all those who have finished their course in faith and now rest from their labor. We praise you for those dear to us whom we name in our hearts before you. Especially we praise you for Name, whom you have graciously received into your presence. To all of these, grant your peace. Let perpetual light shine upon them; and help us so to believe where we have not seen, that your presence may lead us through our years, and bring us at last with them into the joy of your home not made with hands but eternal in the heavens; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (The following prayer of confession and pardon may also be used:) 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, raising us from our sins 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 for ever. Amen. Who is in a position to condemn? Only Christ, Christ who died for us, who rose for us, who reigns at God's right hand and prays for us. Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.   PSALM 30 (Psalm 130 may be sung or spoken.) PROCLAMATION AND RESPONSE OLD TESTAMENT LESSON (One or both of the following or another lesson may be read: Isaiah 40:1–8; Isaiah 40:28–31) OTHER SUGGESTED SCRIPTURE READINGS Exodus 14:5–14, 19–31: Israel's deliverance Isaiah 43:1–3a, 5–7, 13, 15, 18–19, 25; 44:6, 8a: God will deliver Isaiah 55:1–3, 6–13: Hymn of joy   PSALM 23 (Psalm 23 may be sung or spoken.) NEW TESTAMENT LESSON (One of the following or another lesson may be read: 1 Corinthians 15:1–2a, 12, 16–18, 20, 35–38a, 42b–44, 54–55; Revelation 21:1–7; Romans 8:1–2, 11, 14, 17–18, 28, 31–32, 35–39.) Other Suggested Scripture Readings 2 Corinthians 4:5–18: Glory in God Ephesians 1:15–23, 2:1–10: Alive in Christ 1 Peter 1:3–9, 13, 21–25: Blessed by God Revelation 7:2–3, 9–17: The multitude of the redeemed PSALM, CANTICLE OR HYMN GOSPEL LESSON (The following or another lesson may be read: John 14:1–4, 18–19, 25–27) Other Suggested Scripture Readings Luke 24:13–35: Jesus at Emmaus John 11:1–4, 20–27, 32–35, 38–44: The raising of Lazarus SERMON (A sermon may be preached, proclaiming the gospel in the face of death. It may lead into, or include, the following acts of naming and witness.) NAMING (The life and death of the deceased may be gathered up in the reading of a memorial or appropriate statement, or in other ways, by the pastor or others.) WITNESS (Pastor, family, friends, and members of the congregation may briefly voice their thankfulness to God for the grace they have received in the life of the deceased and their Christian faith and joy.) (Signs of faith, hope, and love may be exchanged.) HYMN OR SONG CREED OR AFFIRMATION OF FAITH (If the Committal is to conclude this service, it may be shortened and substituted for the Commendation.) PRAYERS (One or more of the following prayers may be offered, or other prayers may be used. They may take the form of a pastoral prayer, a series of shorter prayers, or a litany. Intercession, commendation of life, and thanksgiving are appropriate here.) God of us all, your love never ends. When all else fails, you still are God. We pray to you for one another in our need, and for all, anywhere, who mourn with us this day. To those who doubt, give light; to those who are weak, strength; to all who have sinned, mercy; to all who sorrow, your peace. Keep true in us the love with which we hold one another. In all our ways we trust you. And to you, with your Church on earth and in heaven, we offer honor and glory, now and for ever. Amen. O God, all that you have given us is yours. As first you gave Name to us, now we give Name back to you. (Here the pastor, with others, standing near the coffin or urn, may lay hands on it, continuing:) Receive Name into the arms of your mercy. Raise Name up with all your people. Receive us also, and raise us into a new life. Help us so to love and serve you in this world that we may enter into your joy in the world to come. Amen. Into your hands, O merciful Savior, we commend your servant Name. Acknowledge, we humbly beseech you, a sheep of your own fold, a lamb of your own flock, a sinner of your own redeeming. Receive Name into the arms of your mercy, into the blessed rest of everlasting peace, and into the glorious company of the saints of light. Amen. (The pastor may administer Holy Communion to all present who wish to share at the Lord's table, the people using A Service of Word and Table III or one of the musical settings, and the pastor using An Order for Holy Communion. Otherwise, the service continues as follows:) PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING God of love, we thank you for all with which you have blessed us even to this day: for the gift of joy in days of health and strength and for the gifts of your abiding presence and promise in days of pain and grief. We praise you for home and friends, and for our baptism and place in your Church with all who have faithfully lived and died. Above all else we thank you for Jesus, who knew our griefs, who died our death and rose for our sake, and who lives and prays for us. And as he taught us, so now we pray. THE LORD"S PRAYER (All pray the Lord's Prayer.)   HYMN DISMISSAL WITH BLESSING (The pastor, facing the people, may give one or more of the following, or other, Dismissal with Blessing: Hebrews 13:20–21; Ephesians 3:18–19) A Service of Committal follows at the final resting place. AN ORDER FOR HOLY COMMUNION This order may be included in the Service of Death and Resurrection. It is our tradition to invite all Christians to the Lord's table, and the invitation should be extended to everyone present; but there should be no pressure that would embarrass those who for whatever reason do not choose to receive Holy Communion.   Taking the Bread and Cup (The pastor, standing if possible behind the Lord's table, facing the people from this time through Breaking the Bread, takes the bread and cup; and the bread and wine are prepared for the meal.)   The Great Thanksgiving The Lord be with you. And also with you. Lift up your hearts. (The pastor may lift hands and keep them raised.) We lift them up to the Lord. Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. It is right to give our thanks and praise. It is right, that we should always and everywhere give thanks to you, Father Almighty (almighty God), Creator of heaven and earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who rose victorious from the dead and comforts us with the blessed hope of everlasting life. And so, with your people on earth and all the company of heaven we praise your name and join their unending hymn: (The pastor may lower hands.) Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest! (The pastor may raise hands.) Holy are you, and blessed is your Son Jesus Christ. By the baptism of his suffering, death, and resurrection you gave birth to your Church, delivered us from slavery to sin and death, and made with us a new covenant by water and the Spirit. When the Lord Jesus ascended, he promised to be with us always in the power of your Word and Holy Spirit. (The pastor may hold hands, palms down, over the bread, or touch the bread, or lift the bread.) On the night in which he gave himself up for us, he took bread, gave thanks to you, broke the bread, gave it to his disciples, and said: "?Take, eat; this is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.?" (The pastor may hold hands, palms down, over the cup, or touch the cup, or lift the cup.) When the supper was over he took the cup, gave thanks to you, gave it to his disciples, and said: "?Drink from this, all of you; this is my blood of the new covenant, poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.?" (The pastor may raise hands.) And so, in remembrance of these mighty acts in Jesus Christ, we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving as a holy and living sacrifice, in union with Christ's offering for us, as we proclaim the mystery of faith: Christ has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come again. (The pastor may hold hands, palms down, over the bread and cup.) Pour out your Holy Spirit on us, gathered here, and on these gifts of bread and wine. Make them be for us the body and blood of Christ, that we may be for the world the body of Christ, redeemed by his blood. (The pastor may raise hands.) By your Spirit make us one with Christ, one with each other, and one in communion with all your saints, especially Name and all those dear to us, whom we now remember in the silence of our hearts. (A time of silence for remembrance.) Finally, by your grace, bring them and all of us to that table where your saints feast for ever in your heavenly home. Through your Son Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit in your holy Church, all honor and glory is yours, almighty Father (God), now and for ever. Amen.   The Lord's Prayer The pastor's hands may be extended in open invitation. And now, with the confidence of children of God, let us pray: (The pastor may raise hands.) (All pray the Lord's Prayer.)   Breaking the Bread The pastor, still standing behind the Lord's table facing the people, breaks the bread and then lifts the cup, in silence or with appropriate words. Giving the Bread and Cup Dismissal with Blessing (One of the following or other scriptures may be read: 1 Peter 1:3–9; John 12:24–26) COMMITTAL (Standing at the head of the coffin and facing it [preferably casting earth on it as it is lowered into the grave] the pastor says:) Almighty God, into your hands we commend your son/daughter Name, in sure and certain hope of Resurrection to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. This body we commit to the ground (to the elements, to its resting place), earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord. Yes, says the Spirit, they will rest from their labors for their deeds follow them. (One or more of the following or other prayers is offered:) Gracious God, we thank you for those we love but see no more. Receive into your arms your servant Name, and grant that increasing in knowledge and love of you, he/she may go from strength to strength in service to your heavenly kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Almighty God, look with pity upon the sorrow of your servants, for whom we pray. Amidst things they cannot understand, help them to trust in your care. Bless them and keep them. Make your face to shine upon them, and give them peace. Amen. O Lord, support us all the day long of our troubled life, 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. Eternal God, you have shared with us the life of Name. Before he/she was ours, he/she is yours. For all that Name has given us to make us what we are, for that of him/her which lives and grows in each of us, and for his/her life that in your love will never end, we give you thanks. As now we offer Name back into your arms, comfort us in our loneliness, strengthen us in our weakness, and give us courage to face the future unafraid. Draw those of us who remain in this life closer to one another, make us faithful to serve one another, and give us to know that peace and joy which is eternal life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (The Lord's Prayer may follow.) (A hymn or song may be sung.) (The pastor dismisses the people with the following or another blessing:) Now to the One who is able to keep you from falling, and to make you stand without blemish in the presence of God's glory with rejoicing, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen. (Jude 24–25)