GRAVESIDE -- SUDDEN DEATH OF A TEENAGER 

We gather this morning to lay to rest Your servant, ________. We thank You for the gift that he was to us and for all the wonderful memories we are left with and the value that he added to our lives during his short time on this earth.

Poem: I AM Free 

Don't grieve for me, for now I'm free. I'm following the path God has laid for me. I took His hand when I heard Him call. I turned my back and left it all. I could not stay another day. To laugh, to love, to work or play. 

Tasks left undone must stay that way. I found that peace at the close of the day. If my parting has left a void, then fill it with remembered joys. A friendship shared, a laugh, a kiss, Ah yes, these things I too will miss. Be not burdened with the times of sorrow. I wish you the sunshine of tomorrow.

My life's been full. I savored much. Good friends, good times, a loved one's touch. Perhaps my times seemed all too brief. Don't lengthen it now with undue grief. Lift up your heart and share with me. God wanted me now. He set me free

 A Reading From 1 THESSALONIANS 4:13-18

We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who have died, so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring Him those who have died. For this we declare to you by the Word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will by no means precede those who have died. For the Lord Himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel's call and with the sound of God's trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so, we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore, encourage one another with these words.

Prayer

O God, this hour revives in us memories of _______ who has been called home to You. What happiness we shared when he walked among us! What joy, when, loving and loved, we lived our lives together! Their memory is a blessing forever.

We feel near to him. Our hearts yearn for him. The bitter grief we feel, for the place where once he stood is empty now. The links of life are broken, but the links of love and longing cannot break. His soul is bound up with ours forever. We look forward to the day when our work on this earth is complete and we are reunited with You and with James in Your home for eternity.

O Lord, we thank You for allowing us to have had _______ in our lives. We have been truly blessed by his presence, his words and actions, and his love. We grieve not for him, but for ourselves, as we truly miss him. We shared so much, and yet we feel our times together were fleeting. Help me, O God, to realize that the distance between us now is not so great and that one day, we will be reunited in paradise. Together, we will glorify You, Almighty Father, Your only Son, Jesus Christ, and Your Holy Spirit for all eternity. Amen.

The Peace Prayer of St. Francis

Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace;

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;

Where there is injury, pardon;

Where there is error, truth;

Where there is doubt, faith;

Where there is desire, hope;

Where there is darkness, light;

And where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled

As to console;

To be understood, as to understand;

To be loved, as to love;

For it is in giving that we receive,

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned.

And it is with dying that we are born to eternal life.

The Lord’s Prayer

Please join me in praying in the words that Jesus taught us.

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.

Commitment

O God, by Whose mercy the faithful departed find rest, send Your holy angel to watch over this grave, through Christ our Lord. Amen.

In sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life through Our Lord Jesus Christ, we commend to Almighty God, _____________, and we commit his body to the ground: earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust.

The Lord bless him and keep him, the Lord make His Face to shine upon him and be gracious to him, the Lord lift his countenance upon him and give him peace. Amen.

This concludes our services here at the cemetery. Please pay your respects and return to your vehicles. May God bless you and keep you safe.