CP 202 Words fit for a graveside...

CP 202 Words fit for a graveside…

There's been a few funerals lately. Many words spoken. Mostly helpful, occasionally not. It struck me how powerful are the words of scripture from the funeral rite. Profound, comforting and lasting. Thought I'd share them with you.

• Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there; the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord. (JOB 1:21 NRSV)

• I know that my Redeemer lives, and that at the last he will stand upon the earth; and after my skin has been thus destroyed, then in my flesh I shall see God. (JOB 19:25,26 NRSV)

•  Our Lord says: I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. (JOHN 11:25,26 NRSV)

•  If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. For this very reason Christ died and returned to life so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living. (ROM 14:8,9 NIV)

•  Blessed be God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who in his great mercy has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. (1 PETER 1:3 NJB)

•  Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from beginning to end. He did not give up because of the cross! On the contrary, because of the joy that was waiting for him, he thought nothing of the disgrace of dying on the cross, and he is now seated at the right-hand side of God’s throne. (HEB 12:2 TEV)

•  Jesus says: Don’t be afraid! I am the first, the last, and the living one. I died, but now I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys to death and the world of the dead. (REV 1:17,18 CEV)

•  St Paul says: These bodies will die, but the bodies that are raised will live forever. These ugly and weak bodies will become beautiful and strong. As surely as there are physical bodies, there are spiritual bodies. The bodies we now have are weak and can die. But they will be changed into bodies that are eternal. Then the scriptures will come true, ‘Death has lost the battle! Where is its victory? Where is its sting? Thanks be to God for giving us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! (VARIOUS)

At the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father! (PHILLIPIANS 2:10,11 NIV) 

Amen to that!

Fred