Funerals
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  & What Do Christians Believe About God, Jesus and
         and the Questions of Life and Death?

        & Rite of the Burial of the Dead

        & Services at Christ Church
 


What Do Christians Believe About God, Jesus and the Questions
of Life and Death?

Over time, Christians have come to this understanding about God, about Jesus, and about who we are in relation to God, based on the example and commandments of Jesus’ life, teaching, and resurrection: Creation is Good God has made all that there is, and all that God has made is good, including us. We Are Chosen God has chosen us (initially meaning the people of Israel, but now all who believe in God) as a special people, and has promised to love, care for, and be faithful to us forever. We Turn Away From God Because we are human, however, throughout history and again and again, we have not kept our promises to God, nor followed the ways that God has called us to follow—we make mistakes, and worst, we choose (either by action or inaction) to harm others, the creation, and ourselves, and thereby turn away from God. God Did Not Abandon Us Yet God has never given up on us. God has sent us prophets, teachers, and others to call us back to God from the selfish and harmful things we do. God Sent Us Jesus Christ Ultimately, Christians believe, in order to save us from the consequences of our own actions, God sent us Jesus Christ, God’s Son. In Jesus, God became a human being, born of a human woman, to live with us, to share our weakness, to suffer as we suffer, and to die as we die, in order to show us directly how God loves us and wants us to live with one another. Jesus was Raised from Death to Life We believe that as a fully human person, Jesus died on the cross at Jerusalem, just as all humans die, yet death could not keep him, and so he was raised from the dead to life again. We celebrate this miraculous truth on Easter, and in fact, on every Sunday. God won the Final Victory Over Death Through the miracle of Jesus’ Resurrection, God has won the ultimate victory, once and for all, in the human reality of life and death: Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we understand that although we, too, will ultimately face death as Jesus did, God will not abandon us, either, and we, too, will have new life. All that we are, which is so precious to God, will be brought to new and unending life. In Jesus, we see God Christians believe that Jesus is the complete revelation of God to us, and as such, Jesus, although fully human with us, is also fully God—fully divine. His two natures, both human and divine, make it possible for us to be related to God in a way that was not possible before. Through Jesus Christ, we are adopted as children of God. We are the Body of Christ As Christians, we believe that together we form the Body of Christ: Our love of God and of one another binds us together and makes us One. Our principal mission is to carry on the work and life of Jesus Christ, to spread the good news about God’s victory over death, to lift up the poor and heal the sick, and to work to heal the divisions among people, so that we can live together in the fullness of the example of Jesus Christ. Together, we continue to be Jesus’ human presence in the world. Christ will Come Again Jesus promised his disciples, before he was taken away to his Father, that he would come to us again. Christians live in hope, waiting for Christ's coming again, when he will sit in judgment over the living and the dead, and his reign will never end.

Rite of the Burial of the Dead

The burial office is an Easter liturgy. The liturgical color is appropriately white, and the Paschal candle should be lighted as a visible reminder of Jesus' resurrection and our hope of life everlasting in Christ.  At the Burial of the Dead, those who mourn may express grief and sorrow as they share in the community's expression of faith, hope, and mutual support in Jesus Christ.

The funeral rite for burial of a baptized Christian, includes anthems, psalms, scripture readings and prayers. The Book of Common Prayer provides both traditional and contemporary liturgies. This rite may serve as the liturgy of the word at a Requiem Eucharist. When there is communion at the Burial of the Dead, the commendation and the committal follow the communion of the people and the postcommunion prayer. The burial rites also include the Apostles' Creed, a special form of the prayers of the people, forms for the consecration of the grave, and additional prayers that may be added after the Lord's Prayer.

The Book of Common Prayer also provides an Order for Burial which permits the composition of a rite to suit particular circumstances "when, for pastoral considerations, neither of the burial rites in this Book is deemed appropriate". The Order for Burial also provides appropriate texts for the burial of a person who was not a baptized Christian or who rejected the Christian faith.


Services at Christ Church

If we can assist you in any way, as a family member, close friend or other interested party, please call Fr. Lowry or at (516) 627-2184.