We Stand With You As You Grieve and Pray For You

We the members of Exton Community Baptist Church stand with you as you grieve and we pray for you and your family and your friends. We too grieve for your loss. We also stand with you in the faith that our loving God stands with us all at this time.

Hear the Word of God,

The eternal God is your dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms. Deuteronomy 33:27

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By God's mercy we have been given a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading. 1 Peter 1:3-4

Let us pray:

Eternal God, in whom we live and move and have our being, and who by your mighty power raised Jesus Christ from the dead, give us the light and life of your presence. Help us to put our trust in your wisdom and to open ourselves to the ministry of your love. Open our hearts, that we may truly hear your words of encouragement as they come to us from the Scriptures, and that by their consolation we may be lifted out of our sorrow to know that in Christ there is life eternal. Amen

We gather together here in spirit to hear God's word of hope in commemoration with thanksgiving for the life of your loved one.

Do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure, because we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen; for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal. For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2 Corinthians 4:16-5:1

We know that Psalm 23 applies to the one you have lost:

God is my shepherd: I shall not want.
God makes me lie down in green pastures and leads me beside the still waters.
God restores my soul and leads me in right paths.
Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil, for you are with me: your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you annoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of God my whole life long. Psalm 23.

Let us offer you a benediction before you go. Know that you are never alone. God bless you.

Merciful God, comfort us as we face the valley of the shadow of death. Lift our eyes from the dark depths to the hills from whence help comes. Aid us to see your light, that it may be for us a light upon the path and a lamp upon the way until we come into the fullness of your presence, where there is no shadow or hiding. Amen