Funeral reading
It Is Well With My Soul
Horatio Spafford, 1873
“It Is Well With My Soul” by Horatio Spafford, 1873 is a hymn read at a funeral or memorial service. It takes about 4 minutes read aloud, usually by everyone together. It is in the public domain but too long to print in a ceremony script, so this page points at a full text rather than reproducing one.
Why the words are not printed here
Public domain. Spafford wrote it after his four daughters drowned — if the family know that, it changes the room; if they do not, think carefully before telling them at the service.
Pieces still in copyright are listed by title and author only — we name them and tell you where to get them, but we do not reproduce the words. Public-domain text is printed in your script in full.
What it is about
Its backstory is a shipwreck. Handle that knowledge carefully.
Read at a funeral or memorial service. Themes: peace after catastrophe · a sudden loss · a drowning · faith held under pressure.
Questions about reading it aloud
How long does “It Is Well With My Soul” take to read aloud?
“It Is Well With My Soul” takes about 4 minutes read aloud at a ceremony pace, which is slower than conversation — roughly 130 words a minute. That is the figure the run-sheet uses when it works out the timing for the whole service.
Who usually reads “It Is Well With My Soul”?
Everyone together, rather than one reader. “It Is Well With My Soul” runs about 4 minutes and needs the words in front of the room — in an order of service, on a screen, or led line by line by the officiant.
Can “It Is Well With My Soul” be printed in a ceremony script?
Not in full here. Public domain. Spafford wrote it after his four daughters drowned — if the family know that, it changes the room; if they do not, think carefully before telling them at the service.
A reading is two minutes of the hour.
The rest is the welcome, the life, the remembrances, the committal — and knowing what comes next. Answer some questions about them and get the whole service, written out, with this reading in its place.
Other readings that suit the same service
- Amazing Grace4 minutesJohn Newton, 1779
- Abide With Me4 minutesHenry Francis Lyte, 1847
- The Lord's My Shepherd (Crimond)4 minutesScottish Psalter, 1650
- How Great Thou Art5 minutesStuart K. Hine (English text, 1949)
- In the Garden4 minutesC. Austin Miles, 1912
- The Old Rugged Cross4 minutesGeorge Bennard, 1913