Christian Funeral Rituals And Their Importance
Christian funeral service for any god-fearing Christian implies a celebration of the soul’s eternal journey to the life after death. Funeral services and ceremonies are uplifting, owing to the positive belief that the departed soul has at last found a permanent home in God’s place.
Christians consider death as an exit from the world of grief and a passage into the world of permanent bliss. The intensity of grief caused by the death of a loved one is alleviated by the comforting thought that the dead person is enjoying a blissful afterlife in the Lord’s house with God Himself. The Christian funeral ceremony is organized accordingly with the same belief.
Generally, a pastor is the main officiator at a Christian funeral service. The services are mostly held at the very church that the deceased used to visit when he was alive. Though the service does not have a casket generally, but when it is being conducted in a funeral home, casket is generally present. Traditional Christian funeral service does not have the practice of exhibiting the body of the dead person.
The funeral ceremony is more of a memorial, in which the programmes start with chanting of hymns, a soloist, and religious readings from the Holy Scriptures. Then the priest gives a message and the people join in with a mass prayer.
Then the family members and close friends share their grief with the group, and the attendees express their sentiments and respect for the deceased and share their ruminations on how the deceased affected their lives and left an everlasting void. Nowadays, people do a slide show of photographs or play a pre-recorded video of the dead person taken when he was alive.
The last leg of the service is the serving of refreshments at a reception conducted very often inside the church itself. A graveside service is normally not included, but some Christian communities have this as well.
Dealing with providers of casket and funeral needs can be difficult for people who are closest to the deceased person. Tips on how to choose the appropriate funeral services for your deceased loved ones can be found in this website.