Yesterday, Sunday, two articles for My Last Song appeared in my inbox. Neither author knew the other was going to contribute, yet the similarities of the two were revealing.

One, entitled Solving the Funeral Dilemma, was from Reverend Peter Ratcliff, Minister, St John’s Church of England (Continuing), South Wimbledon, and editor of the English Churchman. The second was on the importance of hymns at funerals from Reverend Canon Peter Moger, Preceptor of York Minster.

Both made profound and, in the case of the former, controversial, arguments central to a Christian funeral service.

Solving the Funeral Dilemma is a powerful repudiation of the increasingly common ‘Princess Diana style’ funeral at which relatives of the deceased read poems and eulogies, making the role of the religious celebrant little more than a compere or Master of Ceremonies.

Reverend Peter Radcliff argues that to compensate for the lack of religious understanding that much of the congreation will have, the minister should stress the Christian message that the deceased is going to a forgiving and loving God, and to show the grieving mourners that he, the minister of God, loves them and desires the very best for them.

He argues that ‘he should not stand down from his duty or hand it over to those who are not qualified. The service is predominantly the worship of God and so needs to be led by a minister of God.’

If members of the family feel they want to address everybody, they can do that, he says, at the reception following the funeral.

Reverend Moger’s piece concentrates solely on the relevance of hymns at the funeral, and gives as the most important reason that they ‘express very clearly the heart of what Christians believe about life and death.’ He doesn’t give an opinion on whether secular songs have a role in the funeral service, but I expect he would disapprove. He gives other good reasons why hymns should be sung, including that ‘hymns tend to stay with us throughout our lives…and help form our spirituality.’

I am very grateful to the two contributors for redressing the balance of the articles within My Last Song which, up to now, have supported the growing secularisation of funerals, and indeed defining the mix of religious and secular content as the ‘Modern British Funeral.’

No doubt the dilution of religious content will continue to increase reflecting the greater secular lifestyles and views of those now reaching the end of their lives. These people and their families will want the most appropriate end of life ceremony, and as they pay the bill, what they want is what they get.

But for those who are Christian, who believe in God, these articles will strengthen their faith and hopefully the resolve of their families to organise a religious funeral that, in its spirituality and faith in God’s forgiveness, will bring comfort and a greater understanding of what being a Christian means.  And even for those who have little or no belief, to recognise that those close to the parted find strength and comfort in their faith is itself reassuring and beneficial.

If the observance of religion is to witness grief and hopelessness replaced by strength and comfort, then even the most cynical atheist will understand the power of faith. And nowhere does this happen more than in properly conducted Christian funerals.

Tags: Christian funerals, Christianity, faith, funeral hymns, funeral music, modern British funeral, secular funerals

This entry was posted on Monday, November 8th, 2010 at 10:41 am and is filed under Funeral, Music, Planning for the end, Religion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.