Closing Prayer

Roland Bradfute Celebration Service

March 7, 2015

 

A.    Dear Lord, Father, and Creator

a.    You are our Rock, our Fortress, and our Deliverer.  You are our rock in whom we take refuge, our shield and the horn of our salvation.  You are our stronghold, our refuge, and our Savior.

b.    You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.

B.    Lord, Roland gave us several instructions about what he wanted us to do with this funeral service today.  The day before he went home he told us that his funeral should not be about what a good guy Roland was, but about how great Jesus and His forgiveness is.

a.    We have tried to do that today, and we pray that in days to come as we look back on our time together today, that what will be foremost in our minds is indeed what a glorious, all-sufficient Savior you have provided for us.

b.    We know that at just the right time, when we were powerless, Jesus Christ died for ungodly us.  You showed us your amazing, illogical, unbounded love in that while we were still sinners, He died for us.

c.    Your love, your actions, your sacrifice, are beyond our ability to understand.  It explodes our minds.  How could you do that?  Why would you do that?

d.    The only thing left for us to do is offer you praise.  And our very lives.

C.   Thank you for sharing Roland with us for a while, so we could see how to put You first. 

                                          i.    How to seek first Your Kingdom, Your Righteousness, and not our own.

                                         ii.    How to forgive those who don’t deserve forgiveness, just as you forgive your children who have been washed in the blood of Christ over, and over, and over again.

                                        iii.    How to love without condition.

                                        iv.    How to care and honor a wife the way that You love your Bride, giving Your very life in her service.

                                         v.    How to nurture a family.

                                        vi.    How to trust You to save, even when we see our own failures and shortcomings, our sin, so clearly.

                                       vii.    … because Roland showed us all these things.  But he did so in a way that pointed us to You, and not to him.  And so we honor YOU for letting us see You in your servant Roland.

D.   We thank you for these who have come to express their support and love for Roland’s family today – to help in some small way to lessen the grief we feel at losing a husband, a dad, a PaPa.

a.    The family asks that we may be able to accept this love graciously, and that You would provide for those who love us the understanding that we may not be able to put into words ourselves the appreciation we have felt over the last few months of Roland’s illness, and now that he has gone home, for the way Your church has ministered to us.

b.    We thank you for those who have watched this celebration service online, and for those who will watch it later, because they were not able to be in this building with us today.  Bless them with peace.

E.    Lord, you have shared with us in Your Word that “Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him,” and “when the chief Shepherd appears, [we] will receive the unfading crown of glory.”

a.    Thank you for giving us those glimpses of home.

b.    And as we see in our mind Roland’s receiving his crown, we know that in Your presence he will be quick to lay it at Your feet, and fall down in worship and praise to be in Your presence, which has been his most earnest desire for so long.

c.    We thank you for giving us certainty, and not doubt, about the destination of your servants once they leave the world behind.

d.    We thank you for turning our mourning into dancing. For removing our funeral clothes and clothing us with gladness, so we may sing praise to you and not be silent.  O Lord, we give thanks to You forever.

F.    And now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever.

a.    To You who are able to keep us from stumbling and to present us before Your glorious presence without fault and with great joy…

b.    to You the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority,

c.    through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore.

d.    To you we offer our very lives.

G.   AMEN