GRAVESIDE

GRAVESIDE SERVICE

When the people have gathered, one or more of the following are said:

Today we are gathered together for the graveside service for Paul Weitz.  On behalf of the family, I would like to thank all of you for coming today.

The following prayer is offered:

Let us pray...

O God, you have ordered this wonderful world

and know all things in earth and in heaven.

Give us such faith that by day and by night,

at all times and in all places,

we may without fear commit ourselves

and those dear to us

to your never-failing love,

in this life and in the life to come. Amen.

We have a precious realization today, and that leads us to…

A Promised Resurrection

There is a period of time when we are, as the Bible describes, “absent from the body” and “present with the Lord.”

But one of the most clearly taught doctrines of Scripture is that of the resurrection.

Paul said, “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body…” (Philippians 3:20-21)

1 Corinthians 15:51-54 51 Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed– 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”

Charles Spurgeon said, “When we shall rise again, we shall be freed from all corruption; no evil tendencies shall remain in us.  ‘Without spot or wrinkle or any such thing,’ without even the shadow of a spot which the eye of Omniscience could discover, we shall be as pure as Adam before his fall, as holy as the Immaculate manhood when it first came from the divine hand.  We shall be better than Adam, for Adam might sin, but we shall be so established in goodness, in truth, and in righteousness, that we shall not even be tempted again, much less shall we have any fear of falling.  We shall stand spotless and faultless at the last great day.  Brethren, lift up your heads.”

Because of the resurrection, we also have the hope of…

2.  A Perpetual Reunion

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

13 “But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. 15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.”

Notice how beautiful and how powerful those words are: “thus WE shall always be with the Lord.”

There will be no isolation in heaven… we will not be separated from each other.  Heaven, for us, will be a place of perpetual reunion.

Standing at the head of the coffin and facing it (preferably casting earth upon it as it is lowered into the grave) the pastor says:

Almighty God,

into your hands we commend your Child Paul Weitz,

in sure and certain hope of resurrection to eternal life

through Jesus Christ our Lord.

This body we commit to the ground

(to the elements, to its resting place),

earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust.

Let us pray....

Gracious God,

we thank you for those we love but see no more.

Receive into your arms your Child Paul,

and grant that increasing in knowledge and love of you,

she may go from strength to strength

in service to your heavenly kingdom;

through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The pastor dismisses the people with the following

This concludes our service for Paul Weitz.

Thank you for your presence.