Yesterday I attended a funeral at at United Methodist congregation.
This prayer was printed in the bulletin. A number of people have already written about Americans’ discomfort with the reality of death. This prayer squarely addresses death while proclaiming full hope in God’s creative and redemptive power.
O God, who gave us birth,
you are ever more ready to hear
than we are to pray.
You know our needs before we ask,
and our ignorance in asking.
Give to us now your grace,
that as we shrink before the mystery of death,
we may see the light of eternity.
Speak to us once more
your solemn message of life and of death.
Help us to live as those who are prepared to die.
And when our days here are accomplished,
enable us to die as those who go forth to live,
so that living or dying, our life may be in you,
and that nothing in life or in death will be able to separate us
from your great love in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
(see more at https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/a-service-of-death-and-resurrection)
Pastor2K 