Funerals & memorials
Christian Funeral Hymns — Lyrics for a Memorial Service
Choosing hymns for a funeral is one of the hardest and holiest tasks a family faces. These are the hymns most often requested at Christian and Seventh-day Adventist memorial services — each one speaking hope, rest, and resurrection rather than despair.
8 hymns for funerals & memorials
- 01It Is Well With My SoulSDA Hymnal #530
Written after a father lost his four daughters at sea — the classic hymn of peace in overwhelming loss.
Read the full lyrics → - 02Abide With MeSDA Hymnal #50
An evening prayer for Christ's presence at the close of life. Perhaps the most-used funeral hymn in the world.
Read the full lyrics → - 03Nearer, My God, to TheeSDA Hymnal #471
Turns sorrow itself into a stairway upward; deeply comforting at the graveside.
Read the full lyrics → - 04Shall We Gather at the RiverSDA Hymnal #432
Looks past the grave to the reunion of the saints — a hymn of resurrection hope.
Read the full lyrics → - 05Amazing GraceSDA Hymnal #108
Universally known, and the last verse speaks directly of eternity: 'when we've been there ten thousand years.'
Read the full lyrics → - 06Rock of AgesSDA Hymnal #300
A confession that our hope rests entirely on Christ, not on our own record.
Read the full lyrics → - 07Great Is Thy FaithfulnessSDA Hymnal #100
Fitting for a long life well lived — mercies new every morning, right to the end.
Read the full lyrics → - 08What a Friend We Have in JesusSDA Hymnal #499
Gentle and pastoral; good for the reception or the family's private moment.
Read the full lyrics →
How to choose well
- Pick three: one as people gather, one after the message, and one at the graveside or close.
- Choose hymns the congregation can actually sing — familiar melodies carry grieving people further than beautiful but unknown ones.
- If the person who died had a favourite hymn, use it, even if it is not traditionally a funeral hymn.
- Where singing feels too heavy, an instrumental version of the same hymn allows the room to weep and still be carried by the words they know.
Need a hymn written for the person you have lost?
We compose personalised memorial hymns — their name, their scripture, their story — recorded in reverent choral style for the service.