Title: In this New Years Eve service we to remember the Christian brothers and sisters whom the Lord has welcomed home to heaven in t
Author: usr108
Last saved by: WELS

Remembering members who have 
entered eternal rest in the past year

Notes to the pastor are in yellow highlight. These are not for printing in the worship folder.
A more elaborate reading of this rite for Saints Triumphant  is posted at [Saint's Triumphant]. This rite includes responsive reading of Scripture before each name is read. It may be adapted for New Year's Eve. 
Before beginning this custom a parish should decide if it prefers to observe it regularly on New Year's Eve or on Saints Triumphant. 
This rite may follow the reading of the lessons.

In this New Years Eve service we remember the Christian brothers and sisters whom the Lord has welcomed home to heaven in this past year. 

DEPARTED MEMBERS REMEMBERED

Hymn [CW 69:1,4]

Across the sky the shades of night This New Year's Eve are fleeting.
We deck your altar, Lord, with light, In solemn worship meeting.
And as the year's last hours go by We raise to you our earnest cry.
Once more your love entreating.

And while we pray, we lift our eyes To dear ones gone before us,
Safe home with you in Paradise, Where Jesus will reign o'er us;
And ask of you, when life is past, To reunite us all at last
With those who've gone before us.

The names of departed members are read. A bell may toll, either an exterior bell if audible in the church or a single low-pitched handbell.  The bell may toll slowly and continuously or once after each name is read.

M: 	Moses has written about our God, "You turn mortals back to dust. You sweep them away in the sleep of death. ... The length of our days is seventy years—eighty years if we have the strength. Yet their span is but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away. Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom"  (Psalm 90).
	We celebrate our family members who have escaped the sorrows of this world and now, because Jesus is their Savior, enjoy the eternal pleasures of the next world.
	name: born XX/XX/XX, died XX/XX/03
	name: born XX/XX/XX, died XX/XX/03
	name: born XX/XX/XX, died XX/XX/03

Hymn [CW 69:5]

Then, gracious God, in years to come, Whatever may betide us,
Right onward through our journey home Oh, stay at hand to guide us;
Nor leave us, till at close of life, Safe from all peril, toil and strife,
Heav'n shall enfold and hide us.