The Christian Funeral And Its Significance
The foundation for Christian belief is the second coming of Jesus Christ, who is God’s son. One more belief of Christians is that the deeds that they have done in their lifetime will be evaluated during their moment of death. They believe that it is by their deeds that they will be worthy of staying in paradise with God. In their daily existence, Christians attempt to live by the example of Jesus.
For a devout Christian, a funeral ceremony is a celebration of the deceased’s journey into eternal life hereafter. This is the primary reason why such services are uplifting as they are looked upon as a confirmation of the belief that the deceased has found a shelter in the House of God.
Christians believe death to be an entry into the world of eternal bliss and exit from this world of grief and agony. It gives some comfort to the grieving family members that the dead person is with God Himself and is enjoying heavenly bliss. This immensely helps in alleviating the pain that death of a loved one causes. The Christian funeral service is performed by the Christians keeping these beliefs in mind.
Generally, a priest is the main officiator at a Christian funeral ceremony. The services are mostly held at the very church that the deceased used to visit when he was alive. Usually the services don’t have casket, but when the service is being held in a funeral home, caskets are very often present. Public viewing of the corpse is generally not found in a typical Christian funeral ceremony.
The funeral service is organized in the memory of the departed, and it starts with singing of religious hymns and readings from the Holy Scriptures and the Bible. This is then followed by a short elocution from the priest and subsequently a mass prayer by people who have gathered there.
Then 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 deceased touched their lives and left a lasting memory. Nowadays, people also do a slideshow containing snapshots from the life of the dead person or play a pre-recorded video taken from his or her lifetime.
The last step in the ceremony is that of a brief fellowship reception that is conducted in the church itself and some refreshments are served. A service at grave is generally not included, though some people do opt for that as well.
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