Religious Funerals

Sample Second Readings

new Testament

A reading from the second letter of St Paul to Timothy 4,6-8

I have fought the good fight.

The time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. From now on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

The Word of the Lord. All: Thanks be to God.

A reading from the first letter of St. John 3,1-2

We shall see him as he really is.

Think of the love that the Father has lavished on us, by letting us be called God’s children; and that is what we are. Because the world refused to acknowledge him, therefore it does not acknowledge us. My dear people, we are already the children of God, but what we are to be in the future has not yet been revealed; all we know is, that when it is to be revealed we shall be like him because we shall see him as he really is.

The Word of the Lord. All: Thanks be to God.

A reading from the first letter of St John 4: 7-12,16

God is love.

Let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.

God’s love was revealed among us in this way; God sent his only son into the world so that we might live through him.

In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us. God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.

The Word of the Lord. All: Thanks be to God.

A reading from the first letter of St Paul to the Corinthians 13:4-13

Love is patient; Love is kind

Love is patient; Love is kind; Love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.

The Word of the Lord. All: Thanks be to God.

A reading from the letter of St. Paul to the Romans 6:3-4, 8-9

Let us live a new life

When we were baptised in Christ Jesus we were baptised in His death; in other words, when we were baptised we went into the tomb with Him and joined Him in death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the Father’s glory, we too might live a new life. But we believe that having died with Christ we shall return to life with Him; Christ, as we know, having been raised from the dead will never die again.Death has no more power over Him anymore.

The Word of the Lord. All: Thanks be to God.

A reading from the book of Revelation 14: 13

Happy are those who die in the Lord!

I, John, heard a voice from heaven say to me, ‘Write down: Happy are those who die in the Lord! Happy indeed, the Spirit says; now they can rest for ever after their work, since their good deeds go with them.’

The Word of the Lord. All: Thanks be to God.

A reading from the book of Revelation 21: 1-7

There will be no more death.

I, John, saw a new heaven and a new earth; the first heaven and the first earth had disappeared now, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the holy city, and the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven. Then I heard a loud voice call from the throne, ‘You see this city? Here God lives among his people. He will make his home among them; they will be his people, and he will be their God. He will wipe away all tears from their eyes; there will be no more death, and no more mourning or sadness.’ Then the One sitting on the throne spoke: ‘Now I am making the whole of creation new,’ he said. ‘I will give water from the well of life free to anybody who is thirsty.

The Word of the Lord. All: Thanks be to God.

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