In case you need some further inspiration, I thought I would share with you the thoughts I have about my own funeral and what I would like to include. These thoughts do change and I am sure will continue to, but here goes:
Location and style
I want the service to be in the marquee at Athelington Hall (which is generally only available in the summer months!)
I would like to be buried but I have no preference where that will be.
I would like the service to be led by a friend of mine from our college days.
Readings
For a Bible reading I would like Philippians 1:18-26, with the message to emphasise being in verse 21: “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.”
My final reading at the end of the service will be the final passage from The Chronicles of Narnia:
“And as He spoke, He no longer looked to them like a lion; but the things that began to happen after that were so great and beautiful that I cannot write them. And for us this the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on for ever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.”
Music
Before the service I would like my favourite songs played on shuffle from my phone for everyone to enjoy.
Entry music – everyone to be singing The Splendour of A King (How Great is our God) as the coffin enters.
Hymns to be sung during the service:
- Who Breaks The Power (This is Amazing Grace)
- I See Your Face in Every Sunrise (You’re Beautiful)
Music as I leave will be Some People I Know Lead Fantastic Lives by China Crisis. Why? Well, because I believe I have done and have loved the life I have lived.
If there are refreshments afterwards of any sort my music can be put back on shuffle – there are enough songs on that playlist!
Donations and memorial
Donations will be for The Cogwheel Trust International for which I am a director.
Finally a memorial of slate with the words of Philippians 1:21:
For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.
I hope these ideas for my own funeral have helped to provide you with a little inspiration. Feel free to get in touch with me if you’d like to find out more about planning and personalising a funeral or celebration of life service.
