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Funerals

Please contact the CHURCH OFFICE or The Team Rector, Rev Matt Simpson on 01202 632681 if you need to arrange a funeral.

Arranging a Funeral
A funeral marks the close of a human life on earth. It is the opportunity for friends and family to express their grief, to give thanks for the life which has now completed its journey in this world and to commend the person into God's keeping.

It is a time in the lives of those who remain which can be difficult and traumatic, as they handle lots of different emotions. If you are now in this situation, may we first express our sympathy and our hope that we can be of help in the days which lie ahead.

There are several different styles of funerals

Short services in Church with only a few members of the family present
Occasions of great solemnity with music, hymns and a church packed with friends and family
Services at a crematorium
Church services followed by burial at a local cemetery
Church services followed by a short service at the crematorium
Wherever it takes place, we aim that the service is appropriate for you as a family and the memories of your loved one. The service will tell their story and may have hymns, favourite prayers and readings, an address. Whatever the pattern of service, the words and actions all speak of a loving God and the preciousness to Him of every human being.

A Funeral Service...
...will reflect the personality of the one who has died, and the circumstances of their death. Feelings of grief, gratitude, joy and sadness often intermingle. Sometimes, a sense of tragedy is uppermost, especially when it is a young person who has died. When it is the end of a long and fruitful life, the feelings of thanksgiving can be strongest.

Funeral services always raise profound questions about the meaning of life and death. Jesus himself believed in a life-giving God: 'the God of the living, not of the dead.' Christians believe that Christ's resurrection is the triumph of good over evil and of life over death and brings the promise of life beyond death.

Arranging a funeral
The person who has died might have left a paragraph in their Will describing the sort of funeral arrangements they hoped for. Naturally, the family will want to keep to such arrangements as far as possible.

Not everyone knows that they have the right to a funeral in their parish church even if they have not been church-goers. Nor do practising Christians always realise that they can have a Communion service as part of the funeral.

Parish clergy regard the taking of funerals as an important part of their work. They give a lot of time to visiting families, comforting those who are facing loss, finding out what service they want to use and helping them to arrange it.

If a local minister is to be asked to take the service, this should be done before any other funeral arrangements are made to make sure one is free and available. If the minister did not know the person who has died, then it would help to provide some details.

The funeral director plays a very important part in all these arrangements and will want to know if the funeral is to be in the parish church or if the minister is to take the service in the crematorium. Funeral directors know the local ministers, the local cemeteries and the crematorium. As part of a national network of funeral directors, they can, if necessary, give advice on funerals in other parts of the country, as well as on costs and fees. 

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