Sample Funeral Service
This outline is intended as inspiration for arranging a funeral service. It can (and should) be modified based on the family's wishes and needs as well as those of your church and/or congregation.
Sample Service
Prelude
While guests are being seated, music may be played. Family may process in or be seated prior to the beginning of the service.
Welcome
The officiant greets the gathering on behalf the family and church (if applicable). This is a good place to set expectations for how sharing rememberances will work, if there will be a time limit on sharing or a specific number of people allowed to share.
Call to Worship or Prayer of Invocation
Select a suitable Call to Worship or Prayer of Invocation from TPW’s library of prayers or use one of the samples below.
Sample Call to Worship
Adapted from Psalm 27:1-5
Leader: The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
People: One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord.
Leader: For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his shelter: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock.
People: And now shall my head be lifted up above my enemies round about me: therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the Lord.
Sample Prayer of Invocation
God who creates and re-creates
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.
Gord Waldie (Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Canada License)
Hymn 1
Congregation sings an appropriate hymn or song.
Example: Be Thou My Vision
Readings from Scripture
Old Testament Reading(s)
There are many appropriate passages for funerals focusing on the faithfulness of God and the resurrection. This is also a good place to include favorite verses of the deceased.
Examples: Job 19:23-27, Psalm 23
New Testament Reading(s)
There are many appropriate passages for funerals focusing on the faithfulness of God and the resurrection. This is also a good place to include favorite verses of the deceased.
Sample: John 14:1-6, 1 Peter 4:10-11
Time of Remembrance (Optional)
A time for sharing remembrances of the deceased. This can be structured in many different ways. There may be one primary eulogy, a series of prepared remembrances, and/or a period for people to come forward or to a microphone to share. To keep service length manageable, it is important to set expectations about the time limits for individual sharing.
Special Music (Optional)
A musical performance or congregational singing may be included here.
Sermon or Meditation
A short sermon or meditation. May focus on passages read during the service, the life of the deceased, or general meditations on death and/or the gospel.
Hymn 2
Congregation sings and appropriate hymn or song.
Examples: Amazing Grace or Rock of Ages
Prayer of Thanksgiving
Select a suitable prayer of thanksgiving from TPW’s library of prayers or use one of the samples below.
O God, before whom our generations
May be said by officiant or in unison.
O God, before whom our generations rise and pass away, we remember and thank you for all who have lived in faith before departing into your glory. Unite us in one household of faith and love, one family in heaven and upon earth.
We thank you especially for the years we enjoyed with [Name]. We thank you for those joys and griefs which we walked through together, the mundane and extraordinary, the triumphs and trials, for those moments remembered and forgotten. We grieve for [his/her] absence from us and rejoice for [his/her] presence with you.
May we be faithful witnesses of [Name]’s life, keeping [his/her] memory alive, even as we look forward to reunion in your presence. Comfort and strengthen us by your Holy Spirit as we say farewell, so that we would live lives of faith and do your will until we too are gathered to you with [Name] and all your saints.
To your great name, with the Church on earth and the Church in heaven, we ascribe all honor and glory, through all ages. Amen.
The Lord’s Prayer
Said in unison.
Commendation
Into your hands, O merciful Savior
Into your hands, O merciful Savior, we commend your servant [Name]. Acknowledge, we humbly pray, a sheep of your own fold, a lamb of your own flock, a sinner of your own redeeming. Receive [him/her] into the arms of your mercy, into the blessed rest of everlasting peace, and into the glorious company of the saints in light.
(Adapted from The Book of Common Prayer, 1979)
Committal
If service is being conducted graveside.
O God of grace and glory, we remember
O God of grace and glory, we remember before you this day our [brother/sister] [Name]. We thank you for giving [him/her] to us, [his/her] family and friends, to know and to love as a companion on our earthly pilgrimage. In your boundless compassion, console us who mourn. Give us faith to see in death the gate of eternal life, so that in quiet confidence we may continue our course on earth, until, by your call, we are reunited with those who have gone before; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
(Adapted from The Book of Common Prayer, 1979)
Closing Hymn
Invite all to stand while singing the closing hymn together.
Example: Great is Thy Faithfulness or It Is Well With My Soul
Benediction
Select a suitable benediction from TPW’s library of benedictions or use the sample below.
Almighty God and merciful Father, give your grace
Almighty God and merciful Father, give your grace and comfort, we pray, to all who mourn, that, casting every care on you, they may know the consolation of your love; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
(Adapted from The Book of Common Prayer, 1979)
Dismissal
Dismiss the gathering. Depending on the wishes of the family, you may consider asking the gathering to remain seated while the family exits to the reception or to the start of the receiving line. This allows sharing and greeting to take place in a more organized (and potentially less stressful) way.
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