The grief associated with death is a universal emotion.  When a loved one dies friends and relatives are bereft and look to rituals such as funerals and memorial services for solace and meaning.

Immediate pastoral counseling is followed by the civil rituals of burial or cremation and also a Celebration of the person’s life.   These services include rituals, stories, tears and often laughter.  We recall the life of the deceased as they lived it.  We remember them as a whole individual.  While family members and friends may hold different beliefs on the nature of the soul, we all know that those who have died live on in us.  The Celebration of Life is intended to provide understanding and love in our time of grief.

Memorial gatherings can also occur months or years after a death.  These may include prayers, rituals and reminiscences.  

Rev. Church presides over Celebrations of Life.

…May I reach
That purest heaven, be to other souls
The cup of strength in some great agony,
Enkindle generous ardor, feed pure love,
Beget the smiles that have no cruelty,
Be the sweet presence of a good diffus’d,
And in diffusion ever more intense!
So shall I join the choir invisible
Whose music is the gladness of the world.
-George Eliot