In Sure and Certain Hope. Paul Sheppy

Farewell

      Any or all of the following prayers may be said. Or the minister may use other prayers which enable those present to entrust themselves to God’s mercy and keeping.

      Loving God, giver of life,

      all that we are and hold

      have been on trust from you.

      What you have given to us

      we return to you.

      When you bring us to judgement,

      bless all that has been good,

      put right and forgive all that is wrong.

      Receive N into your eternal presence

      where you are the light and joy of all your saints.

      Make death the gateway to life,

      and raise us to the fullness of salvation.

      Give us grace to let go of those things

      to which we must no longer cling;

      and teach us in releasing each other

      to know ourselves held by you;

      through Jesus Christ our Lord.

      Amen.

      Go forth N (Christian soul) on your journey from this world,

      in the love of God the Father who created you,

      in the mercy of Jesus the Redeemer who suffered for you,

      in the power of the Holy Spirit who keeps you in life eternal.

      May you dwell this day in peace,

      and rest in the presence of God.

      Amen.

      A New Zealand Prayer Book4

      God of all ages,

      of all that is – seen and unseen,

      in our darkness let your light blaze

      that in our loss we may yet be found.

      Your Son promised

      that he would lose nothing that you had given him.

      You hold N, as you hold us,

      in the love of our Saviour Jesus Christ

      who draws us now to you

      and in whose name we pray.

      Amen.

      Blessing

      The Lord bless you and watch over you;

      the Lord make his face to shine upon you,

      and be gracious to you;

      the Lord look kindly upon you, and give you peace.

      Celebrating Common Prayer5

      Reception of the Body into Church

      Pastoral Note

      In death the Christian comes home to the household of faith. The assembly gathers to greet one of their own in prayer and worship.

      This service reminds us that we return to Christ into whose death we are baptized. It reminds us that we return to Christ who in bread and wine feeds us with his body and blood.

      It may be appropriate to bring the body into church on the evening before the funeral. The coffin may stand either by the place of baptism or by the holy table. The first is a reminder of our birth by water and the Spirit; the second is a sign that those who received Christ there in bread and wine are now received by Christ into the eternal presence of God.

      More Christian traditions are discovering the value of this practice. We commend the service as a means of reminding the congregation that the death of a Christian is the gateway to God’s eternal presence. In marking death in this way, we recall a member’s place in the congregation of God’s people in heaven and earth. At the same time we remind ourselves that Christian worship week by week is a sharing in the worship of ‘angels and archangels and all the company of heaven’.

      This rite adapts the early Christian practice of a funeral procession. In this way the journey of faith is recalled and the goal of Christian pilgrimage reaffirmed.

      Where there is a procession, the coffin may be taken to the place of baptism before it is brought to the Lord’s Table or other focal point.

      Symbols of Christian salvation and faith may be placed on, round or near the coffin:

       the Paschal Candle or other candle;

       a Bible;

       a simple cross.

      At the end of the service, the congregation may be encouraged to enter into silence, once the Blessing and Dismissal have been pronounced. A visual aid to devotion (such as a candle, a cross, or a banner) may enable those unused to silence to focus their thoughts.

      Shape of the Rite

       Gathering

       Readings and Reflection

       Prayers

       Blessing and Dismissal

      Gathering

      The minister greets the family and the coffin as they arrive at the church. Someone bearing a lighted candle may precede the minister at the head of the procession.

      Do not be afraid [says the Lord]; I am the first and the last, and the living one. I was dead, and see, I am alive forever and ever.

      I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut.

      Revelation 1.17b–18a; 3.8

      The procession may move to the place of baptism, where one of the following may be said.

      Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.

      Romans 6.3–5

      [Jesus said,] ‘Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.’

      Mark 10.14–15

      Here is the place of safety;

      here are the waters of hope.

      Christ died and was raised to life for us,

      so that our death and our life might be hidden in his.

      The coffin is placed in the sight of all.

      Members of the congregation known to the family may then escort them to their seats and sit with them.

      Here we receive Christ, the Word of God,

      Christ, the Light of the World.

      Here Christ receives us;

      here Christ welcomes us home.

      A hymn may be sung.

      Readings and Reflection

      At least one passage of Scripture is read. Those below or other appropriate texts may be used.

      Where shall I go from your spirit:

      or where shall I flee from your presence?

      If I ascend into heaven you are there:

      if I make my bed in the grave you are there also.

      If I spread out my wings towards the morning:

      or