Funeral Second Reading Options
Below are a selected list of Second readings (New Testament), however feel free to use one supplied by your church (different reading choices can certainly be printed in the booklet ).
#1 Version A: 2 Timothy 4: 6-8
A reading from the letter of St Paul to Timothy
Beloved:
I am already being poured out like a libation,
and the time of my departure is at hand.
I have competed well; I have finished the race;
I have kept the faith.
From now on the crown of righteousness awaits me,
which the Lord, the just judge,
will award to me on that day, and not only to me,
but to all who have longed for his appearance.
The word of the Lord
#1 version B: 2 Timothy 4: 6-8, 17, 18
A reading from the letter of St Paul to Timothy
I am already being poured out like a libation,
and the time of my departure is at hand.
I have competed well; I have finished the race;
I have kept the faith.
From now on the crown of righteousness awaits me,
which the Lord, the just judge,
will award to me on that day, and not only to me,
but to all who have longed for his appearance.
The Lord stood by me and gave me strength,
The Lord rescued me from every evil threat
and will bring me safe to His heavenly kingdom.
The word of the Lord
#1 version C: 2 Timothy 4: 6-8
A reading from the letter of St Paul to Timothy
Beloved: … the time of my departure is at hand.
I have competed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith.
From now on the crown of righteousness awaits me,
which the Lord, the just judge, will award to me on that day,
and not only to me, but to all who have longed for His appearance.
The Word of the Lord
#2 A reading from the first letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians
1 Corinthians 13:1-8
If I speak in human and angelic tongues but do not have love,
I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal.
And if I have the gift of prophecy and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge;
if I have all faith so as to move mountains but do not have Love, I am nothing.
If I give away everything I own, and if I hand my body over
so that I may boast, but do not have Love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient, Love is kind. It is not jealous,
Love is not pompous, it is not inflated,
it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests,
it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury,
it does not rejoice over wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.
It bears all things, believes all things,
Hopes all things, Endures all things.
Love Never Ends.
The Word of the Lord
#3. A reading from the Second Letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians 4:14-5:1
We know the one who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus
and place us with You in His presence. Everything indeed is for You,
so that the grace bestowed in abundance on more and more people
may cause the thanksgiving to overflow for the glory of God.
Therefore, we are not discouraged;
rather, although our outer self is wasting away,
our inner self is being renewed day by day.
For this momentary light affliction
is producing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,
as we look not to what is seen but to what is unseen;
for what is seen is transitory, but what is unseen is eternal.
For we know that if our earthly dwelling, a tent,
should be destroyed,
we have a building from God,
a dwelling not made with hands, eternal in heaven.
The word of the Lord.
#4. A reading from the first letter of Paul to the Corinthians 15:20-23
Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have
fallen asleep.
For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the
dead came also through man.
For just as in Adam all die, so too in Christ shall all be brought to life,
but each one in proper order: Christ the first fruits; then, at his coming,
those who belong to Christ
The Word of the Lord
#5. A reading from the Letter of Saint Paul to the Romans 5:5-11
Hope does not disappoint,
because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts
through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
For Christ, while we were still helpless,
died at the appointed time for the ungodly.
Indeed, only with difficulty does one die for a just person,
though perhaps for a good person
one might even find courage to die.
But God proves his love for us
in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.
How much more then, since we are now justified by his Blood,
will we be saved through him from the wrath.
Indeed, if, while we were enemies,
we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son,
how much more, once reconciled,
will we be saved by his life.
Not only that,
but we also boast of God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
through whom we have now received reconciliation.
The word of the Lord.
#6. A reading from the letter of Paul to the Philippians 3:20-21
But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we also await a savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ.
He will change our lowly body to conform with his glorified body by
the power that enables him also to bring all things into subjection to
himself.
The Word of the Lord
#7. A reading from the Book of Revelation 14:13
I, John, heard a voice from heaven say, “Write this:
Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.”
“Yes,” said the Spirit,
“let them find rest from their labors,
for their works accompany them.” The word of the Lord.
#8. A reading from the Letter of Saint Paul to the Romans 6:3-4, 8-9
Are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus
were baptized into his death?
We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death,
so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead
by the glory of the Father,
we too might live in newness of life.
If, then, we have died with Christ,
we believe that we shall also live with him.
We know that Christ, raised from the dead, dies no more;
death no longer has power over him.
The word of the Lord.
#9. A reading from the Letter of Saint Paul to the Romans 8:14-23
Those who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.
For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear,
but you received a spirit of adoption, through which we cry, Abba, “Father!”
The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,
and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ,
if only we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.
I consider that the sufferings of this present time are as nothing
compared with the glory to be revealed for us.
For creation awaits with eager expectation
the revelation of the children of God; for creation was made subject to futility,
not of its own accord but because of the one who subjected it, in hope that creation itself
would be set free from slavery to corruption
and share in the glorious freedom of the children of God.
We know that all creation is groaning in labor pains even until now;
and not only that, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit,
we also groan within ourselves as we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.
For in hope we were saved.
The word of the Lord.
#10. A reading from the Letter of St. Paul to the Romans 8:31b-35, 37-39
If God is for us, who can be against us?
He did not spare his own Son
but handed him over for us all,
will he not also give us everything else along with him?
Who will bring a charge against God’s chosen ones?
It is God who acquits us.
Who will condemn?
It is Christ Jesus who died, rather, was raised,
who also is at the right hand of God,
who indeed intercedes for us.
What will separate us from the love of Christ?
Will anguish, or distress or persecution, or famine,
or nakedness, or peril, or the sword?
No, in all these things, we conquer overwhelmingly
through him who loved us.
For I am convinced that neither death, nor life,
nor angels, nor principalities,
nor present things, nor future things,
nor powers, nor height, nor depth,
nor any other creature will be able to separate us
from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The word of the Lord.
#11. A reading from the first Letter of Saint John 3:1-2
Beloved:
See what love the Father has bestowed on us
that we may be called the children of God.
Yet so we are.
The reason the world does not know us
is that it did not know him.
Beloved, we are God’s children now;
what we shall be has not yet been revealed.
We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him,
for we shall see him as he is.
The word of the Lord.
#12. A reading from the Letter of St. Paul to the Romans 14:7-9, 10c-12
No one lives for oneself,
and no one dies for oneself.
For if we live, we live for the Lord,
and if we die, we die for the Lord;
so then, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.
For this is why Christ died and came to life,
that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.
Why then do you judge your brother?
Or you, why do you look down on your brother?
For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of God;
for it is written:
As I live, says the Lord, every knee
shall bend before me,
and every tongue shall give praise to God.
So then each of us shall give an accounting of himself to God.
The word of the Lord.
#13. A reading from the First Letter of St. Paul to the Thessalonians 4:13-18
We do not want you to be unaware,
about those who have fallen asleep,
so that you may not grieve like the rest, who have no hope.
For if we believe that Jesus died and rose,
so too will God, through Jesus,
bring with him those who have fallen asleep.
Indeed, we tell you this, on the word of the Lord,
that we who are alive,
who are left until the coming of the Lord,
will surely not precede those who have fallen asleep.
For the Lord himself, with a word of command,
with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God,
will come down from heaven,
and the dead in Christ will rise first.
Then we who are alive, who are left,
will be caught up together with them in the clouds
to meet the Lord in the air.
Thus we shall always be with the Lord.
Therefore, console one another with these words.
The word of the Lord.