Funeral Preparation Guide
Now available online and in the church office
After many years of assisting families along the path of planning a funeral, we have used our experiences to prepare a guide for members to review. We hope this guide makes planning simpler and assists you in the process. If you have questions or concerns not covered in this document, please ask and we will do our best to answer them. Please know of our thoughts and prayers for you and your loved ones as you travel along this journey. We know this is an emotional time for you and wish to make the planning of the service as meaningful and simple as possible.
Funeral Preparation Guide
Please know of our thoughts and prayers for you and your loved ones during this time of grief. We know this is a very emotional time for you and we wish to make the planning of the service as meaningful; yet, as simple as possible for you. Therefore, after many years of assisting families along this path, we have used our experiences to prepare a guide for you to review. We hope this makes things simpler and assists you along the process. If you have other questions or concerns not covered in this guide, please ask and we will do our best to answer them.
Worship Folder
The worship folder is an important element of the service and has a simple layout form:
Front Cover: Picture of Church or of the person
Back Page: Obituary, picture, or poem
Left Inside: Family information: birth and death dates, names of family members, and pallbearers
Right Inside: Order of Worship, crafted by the ministers after consultation with the family.
As we develop together the outline and flow of the service, the church office will send you a rough draft, by email, as soon as possible for you to review edit for grammatical errors, family names, dates, and such. Then, after you have returned this rough draft or your comments to the church office, we will make the necessary changes to the document. After this has been done, you will receive a final draft for approval before we begin printing the worship folder. Because we want to give all the care we can to your loved one’s service, please understand that we will have to set some deadlines for getting us the information and responses needed in a timely manner for the service.
Scriptures
(Full Scriptures are printed at the end of this document)
Are there particular scriptures you would like to include in the funeral or memorial service? Sometimes a person's personal Bible might have special verses marked.
Some suggestions are listed below for guidance; however, your choices are not limited to these:
Old Testament: Isaiah 40:28-31, Isaiah 43:18-19, Isaiah 43:1-3, Isaiah 43:25,
Ecclesiastes 3
Book of Psalms: Psalm 23, 46:1-5, 10-11; Psalm 90, Psalm 121; Psalm 145
New Testament: John 11: 25-26; John 14:1-4; Romans 8:31-39; I Corinthians 15:53-58;
II Corinthians 5:1; Colossians 3:16-17; Revelation 21:1-4
Music
What music would you like to include? This might include instrumental music, congregational singing, or a soloist if one can be arranged. Some suggestions include, but are not limited to:
Opening Hymns: Praise to the Lord; Holy, Holy, Holy; Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee
Hymns of Hope: Solid Rock; In the Bulb There is a Flower; Great is Thy Faithfulness
Hymns of Comfort: Abide With Me; Amazing Grace; How Great Thou Art
Hymns of Strength or Courage: O God, Our Help in Ages Past; A Mighty Fortress
As you think about the music, please remember that a funeral service is a worship service. Therefore, the music should emphasize reverence as the assembled people join to worship God and reflect upon the life of a disciple of Christ. Thus, secular songs are inappropriate for the service. In addition, no pre-recorded music is permitted. Sacred music is a broad term; however, in its purest form, it is a style more associated with classical and traditional music.
Please be aware that instrumentalists or soloists will need to be compensated.
Guidelines for Compensation: Organist $250- 300, Pianist $150-200, Soloist: $75 -125.
It should be noted here that assisting ministers appreciate your thoughtfulness as well.
Officiating Ministers $200 -250, Ministerial Funeral Planner $200-250.
Sound Technician $100.
Spoken Word
One of our ministers will lead the service. However, you may wish to enlist others to assist in telling the faith, life, or family story of your loved one.
Affirmation of Faith: Minister tells the story of faith lived out by your loved one
Witness or Celebration of Life: Minister, or others, tell the story of life lived
What minister or ministers would you like to speak?
Are there family members or friends of the family whom you would like to speak during the ceremony? Is there anything you need to do to ensure that their remarks will be the length you have in mind? How will you ensure that the content of what they say is supportive of the funeral that you have in mind? For the sake of the speaker and his/her emotions, as well as the length of time, their remarks should be written down and prepared.
Additional Questions
1. At what point would you like to enter the chapel or sanctuary? You may choose to enter at the time the funeral begins or a little earlier if you choose to listen to the prelude music.
2. How would you like to enter the sanctuary or chapel? Some families enter down the aisle, while others prefer to enter through a side door. At our meeting, we can discuss how you exit the service as well.
3. The Ministers will meet you in the church parlor about 10 minutes before the service for a time of prayer and share any final words of preparation.
4. Would you like volunteers from our church to prepare a meal for your family after the funeral service? If so, how many people do you expect to be present for the meal? Are there any food allergies we need to be aware of for you?
5. If you would like for memorial gifts to be given to the church, please let us know and we will publish a link to our church website for the convenience of contributors who might wish to contribute electronically.
Please know that our thoughts and prayers are with you as you move through the journey of grief.
Printed Scriptures
Isaiah 40:28-31
Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. 29 He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless. 30 Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted; 31 but those who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.
Isaiah 43:18-19
Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness
and rivers in the desert.
Isaiah 43:1-3
But now thus says the LORD, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. 3 For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt as your ransom, Ethiopia[a] and Seba in exchange for you.
Ecclesiastes 3
For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven….
Psalm 23
1 The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want.2 ….
Psalm 46:1-5
1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present[a] help in trouble.2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change, though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea;3 though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble with its tumult.4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High.5 God is in the midst of the city;[b] it shall not be moved; God will help it when the morning dawns.
Psalm 121
I lift up my eyes to the hills— from where will my help come?2 My help comes from the LORD,
who made heaven and earth.3 He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber.4 He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.5 The LORD is your keeper;
the LORD is your shade at your right hand.6 The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night.7 The LORD will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life.8 The LORD will keep
your going out and your coming in from this time on and forevermore.
Psalm 90
1 Lord, you have been our dwelling place[a] in all generations.2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.3 You turn us[b] back to dust, and say, “Turn back, you mortals.”4 For a thousand years in your sight are like yesterday when it is past, or like a watch in the night.5 You sweep them away; they are like a dream, like grass that is renewed in the morning;6 in the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it fades and withers.7 .12 So teach us to count our days that we may gain a wise heart.13 Turn, O LORD! How long? Have compassion on your servants! 14 Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, so that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
Psalm 145
I will extol you, my God and King, and bless your name forever and ever.2 Every day I will bless you, and praise your name forever and ever.3 Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised;
his greatness is unsearchable.4 One generation shall laud your works to another,
and shall declare your mighty acts.5 On the glorious splendor of your majesty, and on your wondrous works, I will meditate.6 The might of your awesome deeds shall be proclaimed,
and I will declare your greatness.7 They shall celebrate the fame of your abundant goodness,
and shall sing aloud of your righteousness.8 The LORD is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.9 The LORD is good to all, and his compassion is over all that he has made.10 All your works shall give thanks to you, O LORD, and all your faithful shall bless you.
John 11:25-26
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life.[a] Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
John 14:1-4
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe[a] in God, believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?[b] 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. 4 And you know the way to the place where I am going.”[c]
Romans 8:31-39
31 What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? 32 He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else? 33 Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us.[a] 35 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written,
“For your sake we are being killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
1 Corinthians 15:53-58
53 For this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 54 When this perishable body puts on imperishability, and this mortal body puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” 55 “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.58 Therefore, my beloved,[a] be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, because you know that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
2 Corinthians 5:1
For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
Colossians 3:16-17
16 Let the word of Christ[a] dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God.[b] 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Revelation 21:1-4
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “See, the home[a] of God is among mortals. He will dwell[b] with them;
they will be his peoples,[c]and God himself will be with them;[d]4 he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.”