Funeral Prayers

A selection of funeral readings for services, including readings for a child's funeral, an elderly person, a young person, and death from an accident.

We also have a selection of funeral Bible readings. 

1. Lord our God, the Ruler of life and death, have mercy on us and lead us to faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, our Saviour so that, having completed our journey we may become partakers of the resurrection of the righteous, for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ.

2. Lord our God, you alone can give us trust and confidence. Keep us in the faith in your Son Jesus Christ. Strengthen us in the hope that (name of the deceased) will rise again through Jesus Christ our Lord.

3. God, we give you thanks for the life that you give us. It is wonderful and mysterious, full of work and labor, full of tears and joy and soon it is past and gone like a dream. God, we give you thanks for eternal life for your light that illumines our short days and years and fills them with eternity. God, we thank you for your Son, Jesus Christ. Help us to see that that he opens the gate to the life that never dies.

4. For A Child

Lord our God, when our life has reached its end, you call us home like children, after a day of playfulness and seriousness. We give you thanks for the rich gift with which you have entrusted us for a few happy years. Receive (name of the Deceased)as your child. Grant us to meet again in our heavenly home. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

5. For A Young Person

God, grant us to see how short our life is here on earth and how close to your eternity we live. Make us ready to take our leave when the time for us has come, whether it comes soon or later. We mourn (the name of the deceased) who left us so soon. Thank you for the years we had him among us. Grant that the life which was only begun here reach its maturity in your kingdom. Through your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.

6. For An Elderly Person

Lord our God, you are our refuge from generation to generation. Year and days vary, but you remain the same.. Your mercy remains with us in life and in death. Grant us to remember and to give thanks for what you gave us through (name of the Deceased). Receive him into your kingdom after his long working day. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

7. Death Because of An Accident

Lord Jesus Christ, you see our sadness and our loneliness, our questions, our anxiety. (Name of the Decease's) death is hard for us to understand. In our abandonment we turn to you. You have suffered the pain of death on your cross. Grant us at the cross to meet your love, which brings us from death to life.

A Buddhist Prayer

This prayer was written by Shantideva, a Buddhist monk of the Mahayana tradition who lived around 700 AD. He was a devoted practitioner who authored the Bodhicaryavatara or Bodhisattva Way of Life.

It is said that His Holiness the Dalai Lama considers this text to be THE source for developing altruism in your character and the “Spirit of Awakening.” It is also said that His Holiness the Dalai Lama recites this prayer every morning as part of his waking rituals.  What speaks loudly in this prayer is that we are all in this together. We are alive thanks to our ancestors and by helping the people, plants, animals, and life in our environment, we show appreciation for existing in this world.

Bodhisattva Prayer for Humanity

“May I be a guard for those who need protection
A guide for those on the path
A boat, a raft, a bridge for those who wish to cross the flood
May I be a lamp in the darkness
A resting place for the weary
A healing medicine for all who are sick
A vase of plenty, a tree of miracles
And for the boundless multitudes of living beings
May I bring sustenance and awakening
Enduring like the earth and sky
Until all beings are freed from sorrow
And all are awakened.”

• More Prayers for Funerals 

Return from Prayers for funeral to Creative Funeral Ideas Home