Thursday, November 19, 2009

Significance Of The Christian Funeral Service And Ceremony

By Quark Brown

For a god-fearing Christian, a funeral ceremony is a celebration of the soul's journey into the after life. It is because of this precise reason that funeral services are so spirited, as they strongly assert the belief that the departed soul has found an eternal abode in the House of God.

Christians consider death as an exit from the world of grief and an entry into the world of permanent bliss. The intensity of grief caused by the death of a loved one is lessened by the comforting thought that the deceased is enjoying the bliss of being in the Lord's house with the Lord Himself. The Christian funeral ceremony is organized accordingly and with the same spirit.

Christian funeral service is generally officiated by the pastor. The services are mostly held at the very church that the deceased used to visit during his lifetime. Usually the ceremonies don't have casket, but when the service is being conducted in a funeral home, caskets are usually present. Viewing of the corpse is not something that you will find in a typical Christian funeral service.

The funeral ceremony is more of a memorial, in which the programmes start with singing of hymns, a vocalist, and readings from the Holy Scriptures. Then the priest gives a message and the people follow with a mass prayer.

After that comes the time of contemplation and sharing grief by family and friends, when the people assembled express their feelings about the dead person and tell how the deceased has touched their lives and has left a deep impression. Some people also opt for doing a visual display of photographs of the dead person or play a recorded video from the life of the deceased.

The final phase in the service is that of a short reception that is held in the church itself and some food is served. A graveside service is usually not included, but some make an exception to this.

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