| The Parish Church of St James |  |
| St. James's Road, Hampton Hill, TW12 1DQ (Parish Office 020 8941 6003) | |
| WORSHIP/SERVICES | |
| Section Contents: Services
| Christian Year and other Special Days | Rites
of Passage | Christian Calendar | Worship
| Worship/Services Through the
Years |
|
 |
|
| Rites of Passage Contents: Rites of Passage | Baptism | Confirmation | Marriage | Marriage Readings | Funerals / Interment of Ashes |
Rites of Passage - Funerals and Interment of Ashes
 |
A funeral marks the end of a human life on earth. It is the time for friends and family to express their grief, to give thanks for the life of the person who has died, to celebrate their life and to commend the person into God's keeping. Funerals and Interment of Ashes in St. James's churchyard are arranged as required. Please contact the Vicar to discuss this. |
In most funeral services the minister will say, In this way, people are reminded that we are all human and made by God. After the funeral service at the church or by the graveside, the coffin is buried underground and a memorial stone can be placed at the head of the grave. However, St. James's Graveyard is full so there are no more burials there. Usually, after the funeral service, a cremation takes place. |
 |
 |
Cremation is when the body is burned at the crematorium and the ashes
are then returned to the family to be scattered in a favourite place,
buried in St. James's Garden of Rest or placed at the crematorium Garden
of Remembrance, so that people have a place to visit and remember their
loved one. |
There
is a sense in which a funeral service is the end of a journey. It marks
the ending of a person’s physical life and human journey. Yet
it is itself a series of journeys. If someone wishes it, the Church
can accompany someone through illness to the time of death and then
on and through the funeral seeking to be supportive to bereaved people
in the future. Any accompanying of people along this journey involves both the proper acknowledgement of the intensity of loss in this world yet also pointing to what is to come. We move from the human to the divine, from earth to heaven. We remember a specific life in the setting of a wider belief about the purpose of life and belief in God. |
 |
Funeral services today are
much more tailored to being personal for those who are bereaved than
once was so and this is expressed in tributes, music, and so on. Yet
still the Church journeys with people and points to the journey that
continues to be made as a person draws ever closer to God even after
the end of their physical journey. |
| Further Information |
|
 |
Contact
the Parish
Office 020 8941 6003 or the The
Vicar 020 8979 2069 |
 |
Associated pages on this website: The Churchyard |
 |
Links to other websites: Funerals (REQuest) | Funerals (CofE) |