Funerals & Memorial Services
“I am Resurrection and I am Life, says the Lord.” – BCP, p. 491
“…yet even at the grave we make our song: Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.” – BCP, p. 499.
The death of a loved one is a solemn and painful occasion with a myriad of emotions and details to navigate. The Hickory Neck Church Customary is intended to help ease the burden on those who must plan a funeral or memorial service by describing the normal practices of Hickory Neck Church.
The liturgy for the dead is an Easter liturgy. It finds all meaning in the resurrection. Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we too, shall be raised.
The liturgy, therefore, is characterized by joy, in the certainty that “neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
This joy, however, does not make human grief unchristian. The very love we have for each other in Christ brings deep sorrow when we are parted by death. Jesus himself wept at the grave of his friend. So, while we rejoice that the one we love has entered into the nearer presence of our Lord, we sorrow in sympathy with those who mourn. BCP, p. 507