Suggested 2nd Readings
The following suggested Readings are the most requested options. Click Here for additional options.

Romans 6:3-9 (short form, 6:3-4, 8-9)

• Omit the words in bolded brackets [ ] for the short form of this reading.

A reading from the Letter of Saint Paul to the Romans

Brothers and sisters:
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.
[For if we have grown into union with him through a death like his,
     we shall also be united with him in the resurrection.
We know that our old self was crucified with him,
     so that our sinful body might be done away with,
     that we might no longer be in slavery to sin.
For a dead person has been absolved from sin.]
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.

1 Corinthians 15:51-57

A reading from the Second Letter of Saint Paul to the Corinthians

Behold, I tell you a mystery.
We shall not all fall asleep, but we will all be changed,
     in an instant, in the blink of an eye, at the last trumpet.
For the trumpet will sound,
     the dead will be raised incorruptible,
     and we shall be changed.
For that which is corruptible must clothe itself with incorruptibility,
     and that which is mortal must clothe itself with immortality.
And when this which is corruptible clothes itself with incorruptibility
     and this which is mortal clothes itself with immortality,
     then the word that is written shall come about:
     Death is swallowed up in victory.
     Where, O death, is your victory?
     Where, O death, is your sting?
The sting of death is sin,
     and the power of sin is the law.
But thanks be to God who gives us the victory
     through our Lord Jesus Christ.
The Word of the Lord.

2 Corinthians 4:14-5:1

A reading from the Second Letter of Saint Paul to the Corinthians

Brothers and sisters:
Knowing that 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.

Philippians 3:20-21

A Reading from the Letter of Saint Paul to the Philippians

Brothers and sisters:
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.
​
1 John 3:1-2

​A reading from the first Letter of Saint John

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.

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