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rite of burial

Christian Burial: Dividing up Cremains and other Troubling Habits

By Calvin Lane Over the past generation American Christians, including and perhaps especially Episcopalians, have increasingly favored cremation over casket burial. This shift has happened...

Your Funeral Is Not About You

A closed casket, the use of the pall, and matching hangings and vestments in the color of Easter visually shift the focus away from death and dead bodies to the resurrection.

‘Honest to God’ and the Language of Death and Mourning

The language of the prayer book acknowledges the pain and sadness of death. “Out of the deep have I cried unto thee. O Lord, hear my voice.”

Speaking of the Dead

I am disturbed that any Christian — among the laity or ordained — would demonize a newly departed Christian soul.

Justice for the Unclaimed Dead

After St. Joseph's example, my parish pledged to give up our tomb. We pay for the cremation of children for families who cannot. For babies who are unclaimed, we have made a perpetual claim. For all who need a grave, we have opened our grounds.

Why pray for the ‘saved’? Christian burial services, the unbaptized, and sinners

A theology of death should be accompanied by a healthy dose of agnosticism, since what happens after death is up to God and not to us.

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