For the newspapers this week, I wrote a bit about the Eulogies and Christian Burial:
Q: Why do some churches always
include eulogies for the deceased, while others forbid eulogies during the
church service? What is the nature and
purpose of a Christian funeral?
A eulogy is commonly understood is a
speech or piece of writing that praises someone or something highly, typically
someone who has just died. In some traditions, this might be given by a pastor,
or perhaps the floor might be handed over to a close friend or relative to give
a positive description of the person’s life.
On some occasions, congregations even open the microphone to any person with
something to say about the deceased.
For many congregations, particularly among
individualistic Americans, this seems a natural thing to do during the services
following a friend or relative’s death, but for others, a eulogy would be extremely
foreign, and in fact, would be understood as a standing against what that
congregation believes and teaches. While
there are many factors which influence how a congregation or denomination approaches
the practice of giving eulogies, several seem to be most prevalent:
First, if a congregation understands
the Office of the Ministry to be something instituted by God to preach His Word
to the congregation and administer His Sacraments, it would be unheard of to
hand the pulpit over to a non-pastor in the midst of a service or to allow
non-ordained persons to speak authoritatively in the course of any service of
the church. This would immediately rule
out most eulogies.
Additionally, in congregations which
take seriously the responsibility to proclaim only pure teaching, it would be
unthinkable to allow speeches in front of the congregation which may include
elements contradictory to the congregation’s beliefs.
Similarly, a congregation’s understanding
of worship plays a large role in their approach to eulogies. Much like congregations who see worship as an
offering from the individual or congregation up toward God worship in one way,
while congregations which understand worship to be an occasion where God
delivers His grace down to the congregation, particularly those who focus that
delivery in the Word and Sacraments, worship in other ways; approaches to
eulogies follow a similar pattern.
If a congregation understands a
funeral’s purpose to be that of honoring the deceased and making the mourners
feel better, a eulogy is a natural element to include. However, if a congregation understands the
purpose of a funeral to be that of honoring God by proclaiming Christ and to
give the grieving hope in the face of death through the promise of
Resurrection, eulogies would be potentially difficult.
The most important factor, though,
seems to be the church’s understanding of salvation. The historic position of Christianity, and
that by which it stands out from the world’s other religions, is that God saves
by grace alone, through faith alone, because of Jesus alone, and that good
works play no role in this.
Historically, Christians even discourage the faithful from looking at
their good works as evidence of salvation.
In such a case, the giving of eulogies during the funeral service would
only confuse the communication of that belief, and if the eulogist is not
particularly careful, may even explicitly contradict that belief. Therefore congregations which this approach
to the idea of salvation by grace alone typically do not include eulogies.
In contrast, some denominations
believe that the Christian cooperates with God in saving themselves by doing
good deeds. Based on that understanding,
recounting the deceased person’s goodness at their funeral would fit what they
believe.
Even those which do not believe that
the Christian helps save themselves by good works often turn them back to their
deeds by other routes. For example, John
Calvin strenuously defended salvation by grace alone, but he directed believers
to look at their own good works as comfort and evidence that God had saved them. John Wesley looked at the Christian’s good
deeds even more favorably than Calvin, going so far as to assert that
Christians were capable of moral perfection in this life and relying heavily on
the Christian’s good works in their remaining saved after conversion. In these cases also, it makes sense that
eulogies would be part of a congregation’s funeral ceremony.
Like most questions about worship,
the inclusion or exclusion of eulogies comes down the connection between belief
and practice. Churches who believe in
certain ways will naturally lean toward eulogies, while churches which believe
in other ways will find them to be problematic and request that such
expressions be shared privately among the mourners or reserved for the
visitation or the funeral luncheon rather than included in the services of the
church.
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