Funeral

Prelude

Welcome / Invocation

Rom 14:7-8

For none us lives to himself alone

and none of us dies to himself alone.

If we live, we live to the Lord;

and if we die, we die to the Lord.

So whether we live or die we belong to the Lord.

Welcome, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,

We are gathered here today to celebrate the life of,

Marion Faye Gregory

Who was known by God in her mother’s womb,

who came to know the Lord God through an anointed relationship with Jesus Christ,

and who is now in full communion with God

the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit

Opening Prayer

Heavenly Father,.

You are truly the source of life, in you we live, in you we have our being.

This afternoon, we ask you for your peace and comfort – be with us in both power and strength.

We thank you for the privilege of knowing Marion,

For the kindness and love she manifested toward us

And for her real and deep concern for her friends and her church family.

Lord, be with us now,

May your sweet spirit fall upon us now.

We ask this all in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Song - Lord’s Prayer

Scripture

1Cor. 13

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels,

but have not love,

I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.

If I have the gift of prophecy

and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge,

and if I have a faith that can move mountains,

but have not love, I am nothing.

If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames,

but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient,

love is kind.

It does not envy,

it does not boast,

it is not proud.

It is not rude,

it is not self-seeking,

it is not easily angered,

it keeps no record of wrongs.

Love does not delight in evil

but rejoices with the truth.

It always protects,

always trusts,

always hopes,

always perseveres.

Love never fails.

But where there are prophecies,

they will cease;

where there are tongues, they will be stilled;

where there is knowledge, it will pass away.

For we know in part and we prophesy in part,

but when perfection comes,

the imperfect disappears.

When I was a child,

I talked like a child,

I thought like a child,

I reasoned like a child.

When I became a man,

I put childish ways behind me.

Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror;

then we shall see face to face.

Now I know in part;

then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love.

But the greatest of these is love.

Message

We are all gathered here – Because we love Marion

Isn’t that wonderful?

It was Marion who brought us here today.

And gave us an extra richness for life.

Marion was a woman of God.

A faithful woman.

Filled with the power of the Holy Spirit.

Dedicated to the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

She knew and loved him well.

And we can be sure of this:

There is a cloud of witnesses gathering to testify how she gave glory to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Some question: Will we recognize each other in heaven?

Yes. And more than that the Word of God describes our gathering like a wedding banquet. A time full of celebration and joy, a time of looking forward to what is to come.

A time where we will commune with each other in the radiance of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

We see in Scripture that when humans come into the presence of the mighty God, they always respond with worship of the Lord God. We saw this with Moses at the burning bush, we see this with the prophet Ezekiel, we see this with the Apostle John when the Spirit comes upon him. Marion, arriving in the presence of our Lord Jesus, she will have no worry, no concern of what to say, of what to do – for the presence of God is overwhelming, and she will fall in worship.

We see in Revelations chapter four that twenty four elders sit around the throne of God and they cast their crowns and the feet of the throne. The crowns reperesent the good works in the life of a saint. In ither words – the good works that we have unselfishly done are ours to take with us when we die, and to lay at the feet of Jesus in worship. It is like, I offer my life, what I have done, to worship you Lord.