JOLLIFYING FUNERALS
by Peter MastersFROM SWORD & TROWEL 1999 No 4
Funerals are changing. When Cranmer composed the order of service for his celebrated
prayer-book, he chose to elevate the sense of eternity, and to clothe it with reverence, dignity and awe.
God’s Word provided the authority and comfort, and in this the martyr-archbishop followed the
Reformers who went before him. The Anglican service may not be ideal for a funeral, but it certainly
sets the right tone.
When American president Dwight D Eisenhower was buried, the Presbyterian service,
broadcast world-wide, consisted chiefly of an arrangement of telling Scripture passages. Truth upon
truth commanded the attention of listeners, impressing upon hearts the solemn weight of the occasion,
and announcing the encouragement available to believers. The secular press bowed its head in respect,
and society was made to think. We do not know if the one buried had any personal Christian hope, and
the service and sermon contained serious flaws, but the overall traditional character of the proceedings
left their mark on the public.
All reformed services for the burial of the dead have placed the worship of God first,
uniting gravity with spiritual triumph. The sovereignty of God, the finality of death, the
comfort of the bereaved, the implicit warning to the godless, and the solemn reminder of eternity for the
young, have all been honoured themes in the noble tradition of Christian funerals.
How different it has become in the case of so many evangelical (and even reformed)
funerals! It is as though the burials of the show-business world have supplied the example for a new
generation of ministers and people.
The funeral service, it is now felt, must exalt the life of the deceased and lighten the hearts
of all present. The pall of death must be dissipated by frivolous anecdotes of the kind harmlessly
indulged at a wedding reception. Relatives and acquaintances must play a part, and favourite hymns
given pride of place. Solemn reading of the statements of God must yield to informality, and serious
impressions swept from the minds of the people.
All this is irreverent and immensely foolish. It is painfully trivial. It is disastrously cruel to
the lost, for whom death is God’s last messenger to the soul. It provides cheap, phoney and quickly-
evaporating comfort to the sorrowing.
The task of the minister in a funeral service is to combine seriousness with reverent confidence and comfort. This is a time for the creature to submit to the decree of the Creator. It is a time for deep thankfulness that Christ has triumphed over death for His people. It is a time to give thanks at the recollection of the one called home, but without banalities or excessive praise, and not so as to challenge in length of time or emphasis the biblical and spiritual elements of the service.[1] A funeral is a time to bring God’s purposes to every mind, and to see life as a journey to
eternity. The Lord must never be dethroned, demoted or debased. The greatest comfort to the sorrowing
comes from a powerful awareness that the deceased has safely crossed the most severe hurdle of life
and tasted the most glorious experience imaginable - the passage from time into eternity. The greater
the God Who is in the service, the greater will be the peace and security of the sorrowing.
It is not favourite hymns, but appropriate favourite hymns
that should be selected. It is not cheering anecdotes but edifying reflections expressing thanks to God
that should be uttered.
Ministers must take the initiative in formulating a service that avoids all this levity and
man-centred glorying. They have a responsibility akin to that of doctors - not to ask people what they
want, but to do the kindest thing by giving them what is right. We have before us the unanimous
example of all past Christian history when it comes to the nature of a funeral service, and we should
resist the influence of a society desperate to distance itself from death.
A true funeral is conducted with dignity and affection, solemnity and
kindliness, and with a gentle element of Gospel Truth to make it a blessing to the lost.
But we should be careful! Too strident a Gospel presentation may cause people to feel
that they have been taken advantage of. Let the message of the Gospel derive its energy
from the impact of the whole service - a few words may suffice. The appeal to the lost at
a funeral may be compared with a surfer who appears to be dashing over the wave, but he
moves by the impetus of the water, and this carries him to the shore. The funeral
scriptures themselves have enough implicit reasoning and exhorting power to carry the
simplest additional word to the heart of an unsaved mourner.
Footnote [1]A suggested order of readings and other components for a funeral service is
available on request from the Sword & Trowel (send S.A.E.).
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