It’s been an exhausting week. You spent much of it at the hospital, praying for a dying Christian, giving comfort to a grieving family. You missed time with your own family to be a pastor to the parish. You sat with a beloved parishioner’s children as they argued over how they wanted the funeral and…
The Heart of the Prayer Book Burial Rite
In 1549, Thomas Cranmer faced the difficult task of drafting a reformed rite for the burial of the dead. The rite could not be a requiem mass. However, it could not be something like a modern memorial service either. It would have to be a celebration of Holy Communion with a burial rite. He provided…
I Don’t Want a Celebration of Life, I Want a Burial Service
When I die, please don’t call my burial service a Celebration of Life. Don’t get me wrong, I hope that people will want to celebrate my life. I don’t want this to replace my Christian burial. No, bury me according to the rites of a Christian. I want to be one more brother in Christ,…
The Funeral: Pastoring in the time of Mourning
A funeral is one of the most difficult things anyone may ever have to do. Even as “professionals,” it is often difficult to know what to do or what to say. Often we may not even know the deceased that well. They may have been a family member of a parishioner, or they may have attended our church…
