Christian Memorial Card Template

Why scripture carries the card

Protestant memorial cards tend to be simple. A photograph, a name, the dates, and a verse. Where Catholic cards often carry set prayers, the Protestant instinct is to let the Bible speak in its own voice, and to choose the verse the way you would choose a text for a sermon, by asking what this moment needs.

The King James Version is quoted throughout this guide for two reasons. Its wording is the one most older mourners know from memory, so the card meets them where their memory already is. And it is in the public domain, so you may print it freely on anything you make.

One verse, well chosen, is enough. A card is not a concordance. Pick the verse that sounds like the person, or the one the family needs to hear, and let it stand alone.

Verses of comfort

These are the verses for a raw loss, chosen to console the people holding the card. They speak to grief directly and promise that it is seen.

For comfort, King James Version

• "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul." Psalm 23, verses 1 to 3
• "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me." Psalm 23, verse 4
• "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you." John 14, verses 1 and 2
• "And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away." Revelation 21, verse 4

Verses of hope

These verses look forward rather than inward. They suit a card for someone whose faith was the defining fact of their life, and a family that wants the card to preach a little.

For hope, King James Version

• "For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8, verses 38 and 39
• "I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die." John 11, verses 25 and 26
• "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith." 2 Timothy 4, verse 7

Where the verse goes on the card

The full verse belongs on the back of the card, set large enough to be read at arm's length. Give it room. A verse crowded against the family's closing line loses its weight.

The front can carry a short fragment under the name if you want the card to speak from both sides. A phrase like The Lord is my shepherd, or I have kept the faith, works as a front line where the full passage would not fit.

Always include the citation, book, chapter, and verse, in small type below the text. It lets the reader find the passage again, and finding it again is half the point of putting scripture on a card.

Matching the verse to the person

A verse of comfort suits a sudden or early death, when the card's first job is to steady the room. A verse of hope suits a long faithful life brought to a peaceful close, when the card can afford to look up. 2 Timothy 4, verse 7 in particular belongs to someone who endured, a pastor, a deacon, a matriarch, a veteran of a long illness.

If the person had a life verse, one they quoted, kept on the kitchen wall, or signed in birthday cards, use that verse and end the search there. The best verse for the card is the one that already belonged to them.