Conor_Diocese Funeral

Funeral of Ethel Morrison – Prayers

Introduction

I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8: 38,39

We have come here today to remember before God our dear Sister Ethel to give thanks for her life, to leave her in the keeping of God his creator, redeemer and judge, to commit her body to be buried, and to comfort one another in our grief, in the hope that is ours through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Therefore we pray that here today we may know the peace of Christ in communion with all God’s faithful servants.

God of all consolation, whose Son Jesus Christ was moved to tears at the grave of Lazarus his friend: Look with compassion on us your children in our loss; give to our troubled hearts the light of hope, and strengthen in us the gift of faith, in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

EULOGY Anne

READING - 1 or 2

2 Corinthians 4:16-5:10

Living by Faith

So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure, because we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen; for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal.

Chapter 5

For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling— if indeed, when we have taken it off we will not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan under our burden, because we wish not to be unclothed but to be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.

So we are always confident; even though we know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord— for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we do have confidence, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. For all of us must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may receive recompense for what has been done in the body, whether good or evil.

REFLECTION KB

PRAYERS

God our Father, you are a refuge and strength for us, a helper close at hand in time of distress. We ask you to help us now so to hear the words of our faith that our fears are dispelled, our loneliness is eased and our hope reawakened.

May the Holy Spirit life us above our natural sorrow to the peace and light of your constant love, in the calm eternity where you live for ever.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for Ethel for the example of life and faith she has left us, and for the fellowship we have enjoyed with her. We rejoice in your promise of eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord, in whom the bond of love is never broken.

We pray for all who mourn, remembering Ethel’s sisters and brother, their children and their grandchildren.

Remembering Ethel’s life as a carer, both as a nurse and in caring for family members:

Lord we pray for all who are called to care, in our hospitals, in the community and in our nursing homes as they seek to continue Christ’s healing work. Give them skill, understanding, sympathy and patience that in and through their work God my work to bringing healing, hope and peace, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

A prayer for ourselves along life’s journey:

We give them back to thee, dear Lord, who gavest them to us; Yet as thou dost not lose them in giving, so we have not lost them by their return. Not as the world giveth, givest thou, O Lover of Souls. What thou gavest, thou takest not away, For what is thine is ours also if we are thine. And Life is eternal and Love is immortal, and death is only an horizon, and an horizon is nothing save the limit of our sight.

Lift us up, strong Son of God, that we may see further; Cleanse our eyes that we may see more clearly; Draw us closer to thyself so that we may know ourselves to be nearer to our loved ones who are with thee. And while thou dost prepare a place for us, prepare us also for that happy place, that where thou art we may be also for evermore.

LORD’S PRAYER

DISMISSAL

God our creator and redeemer, by your power Christ conquered death and entered into glory. Confident of his victory and claiming his promises, we now leave your servant Ethel in your gracious keeping; in the name of Jesus our Lord, who died and is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

BLESSING

COMMITAL At the Crematorium

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. 1 Peter 1: 3

The Lord is full of compassion and mercy, slow to anger and of great kindness. As a father cares for his children, so does the Lord care for those who fear him. For he himself knows of what we are made; he remembers that we are but dust.

Our days are like the grass; we flourish like a flower of the field. When the wind goes over it, it is gone, and its place shall know it no more.

But the merciful goodness of the Lord endures for ever on those who fear him, and his righteousness on children’s children.

When the body has been lowered into the grave, or at a cremation, the minister says

Almighty God, our heavenly Father, you have given us a sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life. In your keeping are all those who have departed in Christ. We here commit the body of our sister Ethel to be cremated earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust; in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, who died, and was buried, and rose again for us, and who shall change our mortal body that it may be like his glorious body, according to the mighty working by which he is able to subdue all things to himself.

Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Lamb who is at the throne will be their shepherd, and will lead them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away all tears from their eyes. Revelation 7: 17

Bring us, o Lord God, at our last awakening into the house and gate of Heaven, to enter into that gate and dwell in that house, where there shall be no darkness nor dazzling, but one equal light; no noise nor silence, but one equal music; no fears or hopes, but one equal possession; no ends or beginnings, but one equal eternity, in the habitations of thy glory and dominion, world without end.

The Dismissal

God be in my head, and in my understanding. God be in mine eyes, and in my looking. God be in my mouth, and in my speaking. God be in my heart, and in my thinking. God be at mine end, and at my departing. Amen. BLESSING