The Art of a Good Funeral
"All of us go down to the dust; yet even at the grave we make our song, Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia." BCP 499 Last year at St. Peter's, I participated in 21 funerals. An average of 1.75 per month, though the experience was not as spread out as the average. It was a record year for me. As a parish priest, I lead or participate in a fair number of funerals on a regular basis, but even for the larger, well-staffed, parish I currently serve, we had a lot of funerals. Some of the additional funerals were because of previous COVID delays, but most were simply the passing on of church and community members. Many people tend to think that funerals are upsetting and sad, and they can be. They can also be a celebration and a gift of shared grief, human connection, and joy about life. A good funeral is a service of celebration and grief, a letting go and holding on, a paradox of the heart. A good funeral brings people together and allows the building of connection. A good funeral