God who creates and recreates

God who creates and re-creates us,
God who laughs with us and weeps with us,
God who walks with us each step of the way, carrying us when our strength fails,
we gather today with hearts breaking with grief, with voices crying out words of lament.

And so we ask that you would move in and around us today.
As we gather to remember and say good bye to [NAME],
be the shoulder we can cry on, the arm we can lean on,
help us to see through the veil of tears that there is hope
for life continuing.

Gracious God, as mysterious and wondrous as you are,
you are also a compassionate God,
as attentive as a hen with her chicks,
as tender as a mother with a newborn child,
as watchful as a shepherd with the sheep,
as protective as a father’s warm embrace.
and so we come into your presence to grieve [NAME]’s death,
asking that your Holy Spirit would be here to ease our pain.
As we give thanks for all that [he/she] added to the lives of those around [her/him],
as we release our tears and anger,
as we say our good-byes, remind us that we are not alone.
In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.