The Christian church has another narrative, but we must teach it to ourselves over and over repeatedly, or the world will run away with it altogether. For at least fifty years, the majority of clergy in the majority of congregations have allowed the church's teaching about death and funerals to deteriorate, and have let the traditional burial service slip away in favor of any number of generic, syncretistic intrusions. Returning to the power of the Christian gospel in life and in death is not only an affirmation; as such, it is a form of resistance to the story that the secular spiritualists are telling us. My husband and I are preparing to put our funeral wishes on file with the church from which we will be buried. The list will include such things as the presence of the body in the church (covered with the church's funeral pall), real pallbearers (not undertakers), a significant sermon about death and resurrection, strong hymns, no "eulogies," and the conspicuous absence of the phrase "a celebration of the life of..." on the front page of the program. In the Book of Common Prayer, the service is called "The Burial of the Dead." If that is too stark, a fine alternative is "A Service of Witness to the Resurrection."

– The Rev. Fleming Rutledge