OfficiantScript

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 we do not set the words here — the note below says what to bring instead, and why.

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.

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 by us. 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.

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