Notes and instructions

	FUNERALS
	General Instructions
	The funeral is part of a process from the deathbed to the farewell at the graveside. Much of this falls under the umbrella of pastoral care and therefore great freedom to adapt accordingly must be allowed. Even so, it is often a great help to have access to instructions and liturgical material which in full or in part can be used in pastoral situations. Suggestions for orders that can be used at a Service at the home of a deceased person/ at the reception of a body in church and at the internment of a coffin or an urn on an occasion separate from the funeral service itself are therefore included in this section. These orders are intended as advice and guidelines. When a person has died abroad and the body has been cremated the Funeral Service may still take place, but the Committal should include letting earth fall on to the urn. Instrumental and/or vocal music and/or poetry may be included at a suitable place in the service.
	Funeral within a Requiem Mass
	1. The Order of Service for a Funeral until read Funeral Prayer inclusive.
	2. Farewell and Final Prayers following Alternative Ending B
	3. Hymn
	(4. The Eucharist: The Preparation)
	5. The Eucharist from the Offertory Hymn onwards. The Preface for a Requiem Mass may be used, page xxx.
	Prayers for use at Funerals
	General 1
	Lord our God, the Ruler of life and death, have mercy on us and lead us to faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, our Saviour so that, having completed our journey we may become partakers of the resurrection of the righteous, for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ.
	General 2
	Lord our God, you alone can give us trust and confidence. Keep us in the faith in your Son Jesus Christ. Strengthen us in the hope that NN will rise again through Jesus Christ our Lord.
	General 3
	God, we give you thanks for the life that you give us. It is wonderful and mysterious, full of work and labour, full of tears and joy and soon it is past and gone like a dream. God, we give you thanks for eternal life for your light that illumines our short days and years and fills them with eternity. God, we thank you for your Son, Jesus Christ. Help us to see that that he opens the gate to the life that never dies.
	Child
	Lord our God, when our life has reached its end, you call us home like children, after a day of playfulness and seriousness. We give you thanks for the rich gift with which you have entrusted us for a few happy years. Receive NN as your child. Grant us to meet again in our heavenly home. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
	Young Person
	God, grant us to see how short our life is here on earth and how close to your eternity we live. Make us ready to take our leave when the time for us has come, whether it comes soon or later. We mourn NN who left us so soon. Thank you for the years we had him among us. Grant that the life which was only begun here reach its maturity in your kingdom. Through your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.
	Old Person
	Lord our God, you are our refuge from generation to generation. Year and days vary, but you remain the same.. Your mercy remains with us in life and in death. Grant us to r4member and to give thanks for what you gave us through NN. Receive him into your kingdom after his long working day. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
	Member of Staff in the Parish
	Lord our God, in aptism you have called us to die and to live with Christ. Thank you for what you gave NN during his life, and through him, to us all. Receive him into your kingdom. In your mercy grant him the reward of the faithful servant. Keep us all confident in the faith in life and in death. Through your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.
	Accident
	Lord Jesus Christ, you see our sadness and our loneliness, our questions, our anxiety. NN's death is hard for us to understand. In our abandonment we turn to you. You have suffered the pain of death on your cross. Grant us at the cross to meet your love, which brings us from death to life.
	Biblical Readings for use at Funerals
	Other passages than those printed below may be used.
	I General Series
	The Transience and Responsibility of Life
	Lord, you have been our refuge, from one generation to another. Before the mountains were born or the earth and the world were brought to be, from eternity to eternity you are God. you turn us back into the dust, saying. ‘Return to the dust you sons of Adam.’ For a thousand years in your sight are like yesterday passing, or like one watch of the night. You cut them short like a dream; like the fresh grass of the morning: in the morning it is green and flourishes, at evening it is withered and dried up. (Psalm 90:1-6, ASB)
	The days of our life are three score years and ten or, if we have strength, four score; the pride of our labours is but toil and sorrow for it passes quickly away and we are gone. (Psalm 90:10, ASB)
	Teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts to wisdom Psalm 90:12, ASB)
	The days of man are but as grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field; when the wind goes over it, is gone, and its place know it no more. But the merciful goodness of the Lord endures for ever and ever toward those that fear him. (Psalm 103:15-17, ASB)
	Search me out O God and know my heart; put a me to the proof and know my thoughts. Look well lest there be any way of wickedness in me: and lead me in the way that is everlasting. Psalm 139:23-24, ASB)
	The hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come forth, those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgement. (John 5:28-29, RSV)
	Each of us shall give account of himself to God. Romans 14:12, RSV)
	It is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgement. (Hebrews 9:27, RSV)
	Security in God
	In you Lord have I put my trust, I have said: ‘You are my God’. All my days are in your hand. (Psalm 31:16-17a, ASB)
	Nevertheless I am always with you, for you hold me by my right hand. You will guide me with your counsel, and afterwards you will lead me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is none upon earth that I desire in comparison with you. Though my flesh and my heart fail me, you O God are my portion for ever. (Psalm 73:23-26, ASB)
	Out of the depths have I called to you O Lord, Lord hear my voice. O let your ears consider well the voice of my supplication. If you Lord should note what we do wrong, who then O Lord could stand? But there is forgiveness with you, so that you shall be feared. I wait for the Lord, my soul waits for him, and in his word is my hope. My soul looks for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more I say than watchmen for the morning. (Psalm 130:1-6, ASB)
	For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than your ways, so are my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9, RSV)
	Jesus said: ‘I am the resurrection, and the life, he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die.’ (John 11:25, RSV)
	For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 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, RSV)
	None of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living. (Romans 14:7-9, RSV)
	The Promise and the Hope
	Jesus said: ‘I am the resurrection, and the life, he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die.’ (John 11:25, RSV)
	Jesus said: ‘Truly, truly I say to you, he who hears my word and believes him who sent me, has eternal life; he does not come into judgement, but has passed from death to life.’ (John 5:24, RSV)
	Jesus said: ‘This is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that every one who sees the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I shall raise him up on the last day.’ (John 6:37-40, RSV)
	Jesus said: ‘My sheep hear my voice and I know them, and they follow me, and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish and no one shall snatch them out of my hand.’ (John 10:27-28, RSV)
	Jesus said, ‘In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And I when I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am, you may be also.’ (John 14:2-3, RSV)
	Jesus said, ‘Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to behold my glory which you have given me in your love before the foundation of the world.’ (John 17:24, RSV)
	If the Spirit of him raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit which dwells in you. (Romans 8.11, RSV)
	For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood. (1 Corinthians 13:12, RSV)
	So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. (1 Corinthians 15:42-43, RSV)
	For this perishable nature must put on the imperishable, and this mortal nature must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the moral puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 15:53-57, RSV)
	So we are always of good courage, 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. We are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. (2 Corinthians 5:6-8, RSV)
	We are citizens of heaven, and from heaven we expect our deliverer to come, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will transfigure our humble bodies, and give them a form like that of his own glorious body, by that power which enables him to make all things subject to himself. (Philippians 3:20-21, REV)
	We wish you not to remain in ignorance, friends, about those who sleep in death; you should not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again; so too will God bring those who died as Christians to be with Jesus. (1 Thessalonians 4:13-14, REV)
	Here we have no lasting city, but we are seekers after the city the city which is to come. (Hebrews 13:14, REV)
	Dear friends, we are now God's children; what we shall be has not yet been disclosed, but we know that when Christ appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. (1 John 3:2, REV)
	Do not be afraid, I am the first and the last, and I am the living One; I was dead and now I am alive for evermore, and I hold the keys of death and Hades. (Revelation 1:17-18, REV)
	I heard a loud voice proclaiming from the throne: ‘Now God has his dwelling with mankind! He will dwell among them and they shall be his people, and God himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There shall be an end to death, and to mourning and crying and pain, for the old order has passed away!’ (Revelation 21:3-4, REV)
	II Casual Series
	Children
	The Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth; for the Lord has spoken. It will be said on that day, ‘Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the Lord; we have waited for him, let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.’ (Isaiah 25:8-9, RSV)
	For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. (Jeremiah 29:11-13, RSV)
	Dear friends, we are now God's children; what we shall be has not yet been disclosed, but we know that when Christ appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. (1 John 3:2, REV)
	Old Person
	The days of our life are three score years and ten or, if we have strength, four score; the pride of our labours is but toil and sorrow for it passes quickly away and we are gone. Teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts to wisdom (Psalm 90:10, 12, ASB)
	At that time Jesus declared, ‘I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to babes, yea, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been delivered to me by my Fatter; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father, except the Son and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. Come to me, all who labour and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.’ (Matthew 11:25-30, RSV)
	Jesus said, ‘Let not your hearts be troubled; believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And I when I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am, you may be also. And you know the way where I am going.’ Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going, how can we know the way?’ Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me.’ (John 14:1-6, RSV)
	For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood. (1 Corinthians 13:12, RSV)
	For this perishable nature must put on the imperishable, and this mortal nature must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the moral puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 15:53-57, RSV)
	For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hand, eternal in the heavens. Here indeed we groan, and long to put on our heavenly dwelling, so that by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we sigh with anxiety, not that we would be unclothed, but that we would 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. (2 Corinthians 5:1-5, RSV)
	We are citizens of heaven, and from heaven we expect our deliverer to come, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will transfigure our humble bodies, and give them a form like that of his own glorious body, by that power which enables him to make all things subject to himself. (Philippians 3:20-21, REV)
	Accident
	Truly, as the Lord lives and as your soul lives, there is but a step between me and death. (1 Samuel 20:3b, RSV)
	God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth be moved, and though the mountains are shaken in the midst of the sea; though the waters rage and foam, and though the mountains quake at the rising of the sea. There is a river whose stream make glad the city of God, the holy dwelling place of the Most High. God is in the midst of her, therefore she shall not be moved, God will help her at the break of day. (Psalm 46:1-5, ASB)
	The days of man are but as grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field; when the wind goes over it, is gone, and its place know it no more. But the merciful goodness of the Lord endures for ever and ever toward those that fear him. (Psalm 103:15-17, ASB)
	For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than your ways, so are my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9, RSV)
	Jesus said, ‘Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, you are of more value than many sparrows.’ (Luke 12:6-7, RSV)
	For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. (John 3:16-17, RSV)
	Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and get gain;’ whereas you do not know about tomorrow. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. (James 4:13-14, RSV)
	Particularly Serious Circumstances
	Out of the depths have I called to you O Lord, Lord hear my voice. O let your ears consider well the voice of my supplication. (Psalm 130:1-2, ASB)
	He will not break a bruised reed or quench a smouldering wick, till he brings justice to victory, and his name will the Gentiles hope. (Matthew 12:20-21, RSV)
	For we have not a high priest who is unable to sympathise with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sinning. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:15-16, RSV)
	By this we shall know that we shall reassure our hearts before him, whenever our hearts condemn us, for God is greater than our hearts and he knows everything. (1 John 3:20, RSV)