The Funeral Service

A Service of Witness to the Resurrection

Christians through the years have expressed what they believe about death, and life after death, through the care they have shown for their dead.

From the beginning Christians buried their dead believing in the redemption that their baptism into Jesus' death and resurrection promised. (see Romans 6:3-7)

A Christian funeral service helps those who are alive to come to terms with the death of the person who has died. It does that in several ways:

• It holds before us the stark reality of death.
  While we try to forget our mortality, death reminds us that life is finite, and encourages us to live our lives well.
• It helps us to remember and to honour the person who has died, and in telling stories of their life, we are helped to come to terms with the fact that their life has ended.
• It holds before us the promises of God, the Christian belief in the resurrection, of life in Christ beyond this time and age. In a funeral service we commend the person who has died into the loving care of God.

If you are struggling with the loss of someone who has been close to you, you may contact our Minister.

You may also find it helpful to read this pamphlet called Handling Grief.

The Memorial Garden

The Memorial Garden is for the interment of ashes. It is a witness to the Christian belief in the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ and to our assurance that we share in his resurrection to eternal life.

Interment Service
Most commonly, a funeral service is held and the cremation follows. At a later time the ashes are returned to the church - either by the undertaker or by the family - and a brief Interment of Ashes service is held in the Memorial Garden.

In the Memorial Garden, ashes are interred, that is, poured into the soil. The service includes the words, "earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust" in reference the words of Genesis 2:7 "the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being".

Our Christian practice is to mingle the ashes with the earth. This is quite different from the practice in some public Crematoria where ashes are buried in the ground enclosed in a plastic container and maybe recovered at the end of the contracted period and disposed of where the contract is not renewed.

Because the ashes are mingled with the earth Memorial Gardens are not subdivided, nor are records kept to indicate where a particular interment occured. It is quite inappropriate - indeed impossible - to recover particular ashes at a later date.