Thursday, November 19, 2009

Christian Funeral Service - Importance And Rituals

By Gemma Brown

Christian funeral service for any devout Christian means a celebration of the eternal journey of the soul to the life after death. Funeral services and rituals are alleviating, owing to the positive belief that the deceased has at last found a permanent home in God's place.

Christians consider death as an exit from the world of grief and an entry into the world of everlasting bliss. It gives some solace to the grieving family members that the deceased is with God Himself and is enjoying heavenly bliss. This greatly helps in lessening the pain that death of the person causes. The Christian funeral rituals are conducted with the same spirit.

Generally, a Christian funeral service is conducted by the pastor. The funeral service normally is conducted at the church of which the deceased was a regular visitor. Usually the ceremonies do not have casket, but when the service is being held inside a funeral home, caskets are usually present. A traditional Christian funeral ceremony does not include public viewing of the deceased at the time of service.

The proceedings in such a funeral ceremony are similar to a memorial, in which religious hymns and prayers are sung and lines from Holy Scriptures are read out. Then the priest gives a message and the attendees follow with a mass prayer.

Next the family and relatives share their sorrows with the gathering, and the attendees express their sentiments and respect for the dead person and share their thoughts on how the dead person affected their lives and left a lasting void. Some people also plan to organize a visual display of pictures of the dead person or play a recorded video from the life of the deceased.

The service finally ends with a short fellowship reception at the church, where food is served. A graveside service is not very common, though some Christian communities opt for that too.

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