Funeral Template

Florence M. "Mattie" Peterson, 88, of New Castle passed away the evening of Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2018, at UPMC Jameson Hospital.

Born July 27, 1930, in New Castle, she was a daughter of Samuel and Florence (Gilson) Stewart. Florence married Robert J. Peterson Jr., on June 30, 1951. He preceded her in death on Feb. 2, 2004.

Mrs. Peterson graduated from Shenango High School. She worked at Shenango Pottery and then went on to work at St. Joseph's Nursing Home. Florence was involved in Silver Sneakers and several card clubs.

She was a member of Calvary Independent Church. What gave Florence the most joy in life was spending time with her family.

Florence is survived by a daughter, Mary Peterson-Suri of South Pines, North Carolina; four sons, Robert Peterson of Boardman, Ohio, Brian Peterson of Fort Worth, Texas, and Brad Peterson and Bruce Peterson, both of New Castle; two brothers, Elmer and Clyde Stewart, both of New Castle; 16 grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

In addition, her parents and husband, Robert, preceding her in death were a daughter, Deborah White; two sisters, Dorothy Hollencamp and Blanche James; and three brothers, Robert, Sam and Arthur Stewart.

Visitation will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. Friday at the R. Cunningham Funeral Home and Crematory Inc., 2429 Wilmington Road, New Castle.

A service will take place immediately following visitation at 7 p.m., with the Rev. Charles Fombelle of Calvary Independent Church officiating.

Burial will be in Savannah Cemetery. Memorial contributions may be made to Calvary Independent Church, 424 E. Moody Ave., New Castle, Pa. 16105. Online condolences may be offered to the family at www.cunninghamfh.com.

Rejoice

Remember

Reflect

Reassure

To Celebrate Heaven Mary’s (MIFF’S) ENTRANCE into heaven

“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.” (, NIV)

There are many truths found in our world. You will get burned if you touch a red-hot iron. You will get wet if you stand unprotected in the rain. It will hurt if you hit your thumb with a hammer. It is just a true that death is inevitable.

“Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.” (, NIV)

“Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (, NIV)

“For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.” (, NIV)

“For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him.” (, NIV)

( NIV) ¶ Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. 7 We live by faith, not by sight. 8 We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. ( NIV)

Missionary Letter:

( NIV) Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. ( NIV)

To the Church: Build Up your Body:

( NIV) But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. ( NIV)

The Spirit Bears Witness:

16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him. 18 ¶ For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. ( NAS)

We are Hidden with Christ in God.

For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory. ( NAS)

Remember these things:

( NIV) ¶ So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have. 13 I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body, 14 because I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. 15 And I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things. ( NIV)

To Celebrate Life - Remember Mary’s (Miff’s) life and impact on the lives of people around him

12 Teach us to make the most of our time, so that we may grow in wisdom.

To Celebrate Salvation - Reflect on our own life in light of eternity

“Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.” (, NIV)

“Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well.” (, NIV)

“But the righteousness that is by faith says: “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ down) “or ‘Who will descend into the deep?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the message concerning faith that we proclaim: If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.” For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”” (, NIV)

NAU "I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.

NLT Jesus told her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die like everyone else, will live again.

NAU And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.

To Celebrate Hope - We are here to find Comfort in the power of the Holy Spirit through His presence and through the word of God.

The Clock of Life is wound but once, and no man has the power

To tell just when the hands will stop at late or early hour

To lose one’s wealth is sad indeed, to lose one’s health is more.

To lose one’s soul is such a loss that no one can restore.

( NIV) "Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind. 18 But be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create, for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight and its people a joy. 19 I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in my people; the sound of weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more. 20 "Never again will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his years; he who dies at a hundred will be thought a mere youth; he who fails to reach a hundred will be considered accursed. ( NIV)

The committal service

***

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve,

as do the rest who have no hope.

For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again,

even so God will bring with Him

those who have fallen asleep in Jesus.

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,

shall not precede those who have fallen asleep.

For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven

with a shout, with the voice of the archangel,

and with the trumpet of God;

and the dead in Christ shall rise first.

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.

Therefore comfort one another with these words.

( NIV) "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:" 2 "a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot," 3 "a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build," 4 "a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance," 5 "a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain," 6 "a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away," 7 "a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak," 8 "a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace." 9 "What does the worker gain from his toil?" ( NIV)

23 Jesus replied, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. 25 The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.

Sprouting Forth Into Newness

When we plant a seed in the soil or when a caterpillar spins a cocoon there is no way of telling what is going on inside or exactly how long the wait is going to be. We cannot dig up the seed to check and see if there is growth or can we slip open the tomb of our self and see of something is stirring. It is truly a journey of trust in the transformative process. All kinds of inner stirrings are going on but we simply cannot see them taking place. We must trust that the greening and the growing needed for our life’s journey is happening without our being able to see it. Joyce Rupp

The Crossing

They that love beyond the world can not be separated by it. Death can not kill what never dies. Nor can spirits ever be divided, that love and live in the same divine principle, the root and record, of their friendship. Death is but crossing the world, as friends do the seas; they live in one another still … This is the comfort of friends, that though they may be said to die, yet their friendship and society are, in the best sense, ever present because immortal.

- William Penn

Closing prayer

"Now at that time Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people, will arise. And there will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time; and at that time your people, everyone who is found written in the book, will be rescued.

2 "And many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt.

( NAS)

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; 7 then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; 8 and last of all, as it were to one untimely born, He appeared to me also. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, who am not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. ( NAS)

16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised; 17 and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied. 20 But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. 21 For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead.

( NAS)

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 imperishable, and we shall be changed. 53 For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, "Death is swallowed up in victory. 55 "O death, where is your victory? O death, where 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 brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.

( NAS)

13 ¶ But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve, as do the rest who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep 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, shall not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall 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.

( NAS)

SCRIPTURE READING

***

The Lord is my shepherd: I shall not want.

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures

He leadeth me beside the still waters.

He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of

righteousness for his name's sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow

of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me;

thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of

mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil;

my cup runneth over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

all the days of my life:

and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

COMMITTAL PRAYER

"Now Lord, that it has pleased you in thy wise divine intervention, to take Dale home to yourself, we commit his body to the ground convinced and certain in our hope of the resurrection from among the dead. Father, we praise and thank you for your blessed hope in Christ Jesus!"

BENEDICTION (NKJV)

Now may the God of peace

who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead,

that great Shepherd of the sheep,

through the blood of the everlasting covenant,

make you complete in every good work

to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ,

to whom be glory forever and ever.

AMEN

Life, for the Christian, does not end in nothingness, not in obliteration, not in mere dust and ashes. Rather it ends in glory, the glory of the Creator's presence, the glory of a fuller life more joyous and blessed than our small minds can comprehend. As the Scripture affirms: "No eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him" ().

19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return." ( NIV)

( NIV) "A prayer of Moses the man of God. Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations." 2 "Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God." 3 "You turn men back to dust, saying, "Return to dust, O sons of men."" 4 "For a thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night." 5 "You sweep men away in the sleep of death; they are like the new grass of the morning--" 6 "though in the morning it springs up new, by evening it is dry and withered." 7 "We are consumed by your anger and terrified by your indignation." 8 "You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence." 9 "All our days pass away under your wrath; we finish our years with a moan." 10 "The length of our days is seventy years-- or eighty, if we have the strength; yet their span is but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away." 11 "Who knows the power of your anger? For your wrath is as great as the fear that is due you." 12 "Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom." 13 "Relent, O LORD! How long will it be? Have compassion on your servants." 14 "Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days." 15 "Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, for as many years as we have seen trouble." 16 "May your deeds be shown to your servants, your splendor to their children." 17 "May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us; establish the work of our hands for us-- yes, establish the work of our hands." ( NIV)

6 God makes a home for the lonely; He leads out the prisoners into prosperity, Only the rebellious dwell in a parched land. ( NAS)

( NIV) ¶ Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. 2 Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, 3 because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. 4 For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5 Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. ( NIV)

( NIV) Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To God's elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, 2 who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance. 3 ¶ Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade--kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that your faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire--may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls. ( NIV)