The ministry and care of grieving families is a priority for the St. Martin’s community. We care about your family, are eager to offer comfort, and stand ready to help you understand God’s love.
All funerals at St. Martin’s follow the rich burial services found in The Book of Common Prayer, and our clergy will assist your family with the important details of memorial and burial, whether planning ahead or planning when a loved one dies unexpectedly.
Learn more about funerals in the Episcopal Church
The liturgy for the dead is an Easter liturgy. It finds all its meaning in the resurrection. Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we too, shall be raised.
The liturgy, therefore, is characterized by joy, in the certainty that “neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, not height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
This joy, however, does not make human grief unchristian. The very love we have for each other in Christ brings deep sorrow when we are parted by death. Jesus himself wept at the grave of his friend. So, while we rejoice that one we love has entered into the nearer presence of our Lord, we sorrow in sympathy with those who mourn.
—Book of Common Prayer, pg. 507