Isaiah 40: they shall mount up with wings

What this reading says

The prophet speaks to a worn-out people and asks whether they have forgotten who God is. God made the ends of the earth and does not get tired. He gives power to the faint. But people who wait on the Lord get their strength back. They rise like eagles, they run without wearing out and they walk without fainting. The passage moves from flying to running to plain walking, as if to say that just keeping on is also a gift.

When it fits

Isaiah 40 is chosen for someone whose body gave out before their spirit did: an athlete, a worker who never sat down. It speaks as much to the people in the pews as to the one who died, since the family is the one that now needs to walk and not faint. It is read often at a homegoing, where the eagle line is sung as well as spoken. Psalm 121 also promises that God does not sleep, in a softer tone. Ecclesiastes 3 is the choice when the family wants no promise at all. Isaiah is the reading that gives tired people something to lean on.

Reading it aloud

A lector or a family member reads it as the Old Testament reading in a funeral service, and at a celebration of life a coach or coworker can do it well. Build toward the eagle line and then ease off for "walk, and not faint," which is the real ending. The King James Version has "fainteth not, neither is weary," a rhythm worth keeping. A modern translation says "he will not grow tired or weary," which is easier on a first read. Have the reader rehearse once with the printed funeral program in hand.