The foundation for Christian belief is the second coming of Jesus Christ, who is the Almighty’s son. Another belief of Christians is that the acts that they have done in their lifetime will be judged during their moment of death. They believe that it is through their deeds that they will be worthy of sitting next to the throne God. In their daily existence, Christians attempt to live by the teachings of Jesus.
For devout Christians, a funeral service signifies the beginning of the journey of the soul to the life after death. It is because of this exact reason that funeral services are very uplifting, as they are an assertion of the belief that the deceased has found a permanent abode in the House of the Lord.
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 bereaved family that the dead person is with God Himself and is enjoying the bliss of heaven. This immensely helps in lessening the grief that death of a loved one causes. The Christian funeral service is conducted accordingly and with the same spirit.
Generally, a pastor is the main officiator at a Christian funeral service. The services are mostly held at the very church that was visited by the deceased when he was alive. Though the service does not have a casket generally, but when it is being conducted in a funeral home, casket is normally present. A traditional Christian funeral service does not include public viewing of the deceased at the time of ceremony.
The rituals in such a funeral service are more like a memorial, in which religious hymns and prayers are sung and texts from the Bible are read out loud. After this comes a short message from the priest and subsequently a mass prayer by all those who have assembled there.
Then the assembled people partake in the grief of family members as well as close friends and talk about their own feelings as to how the dead person has touched their lives and created a permanent impression in their minds. Nowadays, people also do a slideshow containing snapshots from the life of the dead person or play a pre-recorded video taken from the deceased’s lifetime.
The final phase in the service is that of a brief reception that is conducted in the church itself and some food is served. A service at grave is generally not included, though some Christian communities opt for that too.
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