Death, Resurrection, and Human Destiny: Christian and Muslim Perspectives

Contemporary Funeral Liturgy in the Church of England

Contemporary Funeral Liturgy in the Church of England The following material is from the Church of England’s website, from the section on baptisms, weddings, and funerals.1 It is reproduced here with minor presentational adaptations and has been arranged in four sections: • Funerals: Some introductory remarks. • The Funeral Service: An explanatory outline of the funeral service. • The Funeral Service: The funeral liturgy from Common Worship, including a range of options at various points in the service. This constitutes most of the material presented here. • Notes on the Funeral Service. There is much else on the website that can be explored—including, for example, the rather different funeral liturgy in the Book of Common Prayer (1662), which remains part of the Church of England’s liturgy, although Common Worship (2000) is much more widely used. Here we have restricted ourselves to material from the Church of England. The liturgical resources of other Christian traditions can also readily be explored on the internet. Funerals A funeral is used to mark the end of a person’s life here on earth. Family and friends come together to express grief, give thanks for the life lived, and commend the person into God’s keeping. These can be a small, quiet ceremony or a large occasion in a packed church. Everyone is entitled to either a burial service (funeral) or to have their ashes buried in their local parish churchyard by their local parish priest regardless of whether they attended church. Speak to your local vicar for more information, 203 204 Texts and Commentaries or, if you do not know who your local vicar is, use the website to search for your local Church of England church. If the churchyard has been closed, then the Local Authority will provide alternative places of burial and the minister can carry out the service there instead of the church or crematorium. The Funeral Service [The following is an explanatory outline of the funeral service.] The service will follow a clear plan. The focus moves from earth to heaven as the service moves from greeting the mourners, to remembering the one who has died, all the while asking for God’s comfort and then committing your loved one into God’s care. Entry of the Coffin Traditionally, the minister meets the coffin at the door and leads it and the mourners in. The minister will say some reassuring words from the Bible, for example: ‘‘I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies,’’ says the Lord. (John 11:25) ‘‘For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.’’ (Rom. 8:38, 39) ‘‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.’’ (Matt. 5:4) Welcome and Introduction After the welcome and first prayer, there may be a hymn or a tribute to the person who has passed away. This can be done by family and friends or the minister. Sometimes symbols of the person’s life are placed on or near the coffin as a part of this. Sometimes there is a prayer for forgiveness. It’s common to feel we have let a loved one down after they die, that there were things we could have done or should not have done. The prayer for forgiveness can help with these feelings. Contemporary Funeral Liturgy in the Church of England 205 Readings and Sermon A Psalm comes next. ‘‘The Lord is my shepherd’’ is comforting because it speaks of God being with us in death and grief. The Bible readings focus on God’s care and the hope of eternal life. The sermon speaks of the Christian hope of life beyond death and relates it to your loved one. Prayers The funeral prayers recall the promise of the resurrection. They ask for God’s presence with those who mourn and give thanks for your loved one’s life. The prayers normally end with the Lord’s Prayer. Commendation, Farewell, and Committal The minister says a prayer to commend the person to God’s love and mercy. Then the body is ‘‘committed’’ for burial or cremation. We now commit his/her body to the ground...