A Christian Funeral is missional. Funerals are a part of the the church’s existence, a time of thanksgiving, of consolation, a time when the people of God draw together, and a time when the people of God draw comfort from the closeness and promises of God. Funerals also experience sorrow drawing down hope, which in …
The end of earthly life and funerals are not alien territory for the Christian. These circumstance involve distinctive experiences of suffering, loss and separation, and Christian funerals acknowledge and minister to all of these. However Christianity embraces a reality that we are all dying. We have died and risen again in spiritual union with Jesus, …
Thomas G. Long wrote Accompany Them With Singing – The Christian Funeral before he co-wrote The Good Funeral with Thomas Lynch. The book focuses more clearly on the funeral as Christian worship, and the way in which Christian convictions shape the form and practice of funerals as a distinctive expression of Christian worship. Coming before …
A ritual, by its nature is a set of common actions – performed in a common circumstance. Intrinsic in the shared actions are a recognition that they are carried out due to a shared experience. They serve as a recognition and response of communal experience. Thomas Long observes that attempting to fully personalise the elements …
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