Prayer For Graveside Service
O God, our help in ages past,
our hope for years to come,
our shelter from the stormy blast,
and our eternal home.2. Under the shadow of thy throne,
still may we dwell secure;
sufficient is thine arm alone,
and our defense is sure.3. Before the hills in order stood,
or earth received her frame,
from everlasting, thou art God,
to endless years the same.4. A thousand ages, in thy sight,
are like an evening gone;
short as the watch that ends the night,
before the rising sun.5. Time, like an ever rolling stream,
bears all who breathe away;
they fly forgotten, as a dream
dies at the opening day.
Eternal Spirit Earth-Maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver,
source of all that is and that shall be,
Father and Mother of us all.
Loving God, in whom is heaven.
The hallowing of your name echoes through the universe!
The way of your justice be followed by the peoples of the earth!
Your heavenly will be done by all created beings!
Your commonwealth of peace and freedom sustain our hope and come on earth. With the bread we need for today, feed us.
In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us.
In times of temptation and test, spare us.
From the grip of all that is evil, free us.
For you reign in the glory of the power that is love,
now and forever.
Amen.
God of birth and life and death and beyond,
On this day
the blessings of earth.
On this day
the blessings of sea and sky.
To open us to life
to ground us in life
to fill us with life
and with wonder.
On those we love this day
and on every human family
the blessings of heaven,
the blessings of earth
the blessings of sky and sea.
In the rising of the sun and its setting,
in the whiteness of the moon and its seasons,
in the infinity of space and its shining stars,
you are God and we bless you.
May we know the harmony of Heaven
in the relationships of earth,
and may we know the expanse of its mystery within us.
We take your promised peace with us. Amen.
O God, whose mercies cannot be numbered: Accept our prayers on behalf of thy servant and grant him an entrance into the land of light and joy, in the fellowship of thy saints; through Jesus Christ thy son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
O God, whose days are without end, and whose mercies cannot be numbered, grant that the solemn services of this day may make us deeply sensible of the shortness and uncertainty of human life, and of the transitory nature of all earthly things.
Incline thine ear, O Lord, unto our prayers, wherein we humbly pray thee to show thy mercy upon the soul of thy servant, whom thou hast commanded to pass out of this world, that thou wouldst place him in the region of peace and light and bid him be a partaker with thy saints. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
May Christ who rose from the dead, our true God, moved by the intercession of his spotless mother and of all the saints, place the soul of his departed servant in the tabernacles of the just; may he lay him to rest in the bosom of Abraham, numbering him among the just; and may he, who is both good and kind, have mercy upon us. Amen.
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. 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.