Funeral Prayers Suitable For both Religious and Non-Religious Bodies: It’s considered to be an honour to be asked to give an eulogy or a reading at someone’s funeral. Also, it can be overwhelming when a friend or relative offer up at a church funeral or celebration of life and he/she is asked to say a prayer/reading.
If you’re struggling with finding the perfect prayer for a funeral try these touching and heartfelt prayers that are sure to be a memorable way to say goodbye to a loved one. We hope these funeral prayers will have helped you find the perfect words for a reading at the service.
Losing your mother is unbelievably tough. So finding the ideal prayer or verse for a funeral reading becomes so important. Hopefully the prayers provided will help with make a eulogy all the more special and let you commemorate her passing in the most fitting way.
Living God, although my tears are flowing, I feel blessed that when my mother took her last breath, she entered heaven’s gates.
I miss her dearly, but I cling to your promise of salvation for those who place their faith in You.
May she rest in Paradise until that final day when you return, and we are caught up into the clouds with you.
Help me to honor her memory by living a life of selfless love and service.
Amen
Heavenly Father, at this moment, nothing seems to be able to help the loss I feel after my mother’s passing.
My heart is broken and my spirit mourns.
All I know is that your grace is sufficient and there is comfort knowing she is with you in heaven.
Amen
Heavenly Father, thank you for the gift of my mother. Thank you for the many years I enjoyed with her. I treasure every moment I had with her and praise you that she was there for me in the good and the bad times.
She now rests with you and I know we will be reunited together one day in the future.
Please comfort me in my pain and grief, and help me find peace and strength.
Amen.
Just like the loss of a mother, losing your father is utterly tragic. Hopefully the prayers found here will allow for a truly special way to make your funeral eulogy express how much you loved and will miss your dad.
Lord, the pain of losing my father is deep.
I learnt so much from him and his presence. I thank you for releasing him from his earthly body and the pain that so afflicted him. I know he is with you now, and I commend his soul to you and ask you grant him eternal peace.
Amen
Dear Lord, I am grateful to know that through Jesus and his sacrifice death is merely the beginning, not the end. Please give my father the rest from his labors.
I pray that his life will be an inspiration to the living and that he rests peacefully in your kingdom.
Amen
Our Lord, today we remember the life [name], and give thanks for all he brought to our lives.
His legacy will live on long after he has departed and is a testament to the mange was.
We are broken and lost without him but grateful for all the time we had.
He will forever be apart of us, living on in our hearts for eternity.
Amen
Lord,
We pray for hope and strength to get through the grief that grips us.
We have lost our brother and our friend, taken into your hands and safe in your love.
May he be blessed and welcomed with open arms and feel your love for all eternity.
Amen
Dear Lord,
Today we remember our beloved sister.
She leaves us with countless treasured memories, that we will hold onto for eternity.
We pray that our souls we will be joined together again in heaven one day
Amen
Father we entrust our sister to your mercy.
You loved her greatly in this life:
now that she is freed from all its cares,
give her happiness and peace for ever.
Welcome her now into paradise where there will be no more sorrow, no more weeping or pain, but only peace and joy with Jesus your Son, and the Holy Spirit for ever and ever.
Amen
Touching the World
Dear God,
Please sit with us here in this emotional darkness. Help us to remember. Let’s remember the natural peace her presence gave. Help us remember the grace of her heart, the generosity of her spirit, the sincerity of her kindness. Help us remember all the ways You touched the world through her goodness.
Amen
Father in heaven, we praise your name
for all who have finished this life loving and trusting you,
for the example of their lives,
the life and grace you gave them,
and the peace in which they rest.
We praise you today for your servant [name]
and for all that you did through her.
Meet us in our sadness
and fill our hearts with praise and thanksgiving,
for the sake of our risen Lord, Jesus Christ.
Amen
Dear Lord,
We remember all the good our grandfather did. His warmth, generosity and kind spirit shall be a lasting testament to the wonderful person he was.
We were blessed with his presence and now we ask for your everlasting love to surround and embrace him.
Amen
Lord,
I feel like my entire life has lost its meaning. My heart is broken. In my time of doubt and pain, remind me of your sufficient grace. I need you, I need your strength to guide me. I pour out my grief to you in the hope that my suffering end, and your love will conquer.
Amen
Dear Lord,
Today I ask you to help [friend’s name]. I ask you to be with them while they struggle in the darkness of grief. May he/she recognise joy in the memories, hope in your love, and peace in the pain. May you walk beside him/her in his/her journey to recovery, filling the void and emptiness with your presence.
Amen
Dear Lord,
We are so grateful that you have made us all in your own image, giving us gifts and talents with which to serve you.
Thank you for (loved one’s name) life, and all the years we shared with him/her. We lift him/her to you today, in honour of the good we saw in him/her and the love we felt from him/her.
Please give us the strength to leave him/her in your care, in the knowledge of eternal life through Jesus Christ.
Amen
Robert Burns
For those who prefer a non religious reading then these prayers don’t mention God or anything particularly religious.
An honest man here lies at rest,
The friend of man, the friend of truth,
The friend of age, and guide of youth:
Few hearts like his, with virtue warm’d,
Few heads with knowledge so inform’d;
If there’s another world, he lives in bliss;
If there is none, he made the best of this.
Be free, be strong, be proud of who you have been, know that you will be mourned and missed, that no one can replace you, that you have loved and are beloved.
Move beyond form, flowing like water, feeding on sunlight and moonlight, radiant as the stars in the night sky.
Pass the gates, enter the dark without fear, returning to the womb of life to steep in the cauldron of rebirth.
Rest, heal, grow young again.
Be blessed.
What though the radiance which was once so bright
Be now forever taken from my sight
Though nothing can bring back the hour of splendour in the grass, of glory in the flower;
We will grieve not, rather find
Strength in what remains behind.
William Wordsworth
Today I ask you to help (friend’s name). I ask you to be with them while they struggle in the darkness of grief. May he/she recognise joy in the memories, hope in your love, and peace in the pain. May you walk beside him/her in his/her journey to recovery, filling the void and emptiness with your presence.
Amen.
Amen
Holy God,
Assure us that (child’s name) is safe in your eternal love. Help us understand our sorrow, and strengthen us with hope. We pray that we overcome this sadness, in the confidence that (child’s name) is in a better place with you.
May Jesus Christ welcome him/her into his arms and bless him/her abundantly.
Amen.
O God, whose beloved Son did take little children into his arms and bless them: Give us grace, we beseech thee, to entrust this child [name] to thy never-failing care and love, and bring us all to thy heavenly kingdom; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
Amen
God of all mystery, whose ways are beyond understanding,
lead us, who grieve at this untimely death,
to a new and deeper faith in your love,
which brought your only Son Jesus
through death into resurrection life.
We make our prayer in Jesus’ name.
Amen
Amen
Amen
Amen
Amen
Amen
The Lord is My Shepherd – Psalm 23
The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures;
He leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul;
He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil; for Thou art with me;
Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies;
Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
John 14:1-3
Let not your hearts be troubled; believe in God, believe also in me.
In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, would I have told you
that I go and prepare a place for you? And when I go and prepare a place for you,
I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.
Psalm 121
I will lift mine eyes unto the hills
from whence cometh my help.
My help cometh from the Lord,
which made heaven and earth.
He will not suffer thy foot to be moved:
he that keepeth thee
will not slumber nor sleep.
The Lord is thy keeper:
the Lord is thy shade upon thy hand.
The sun shall not smite thee by day,
nor the moon by night.
The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil;
He shall preserve thy soul.
The Lord shall preserve thy going out
and thy coming in from this time forth,
and even for evermore.
Psalm 46:1-7
God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day. Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts. The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.