Sunday forum

As the solemn requiem of All Souls’ Day on Thursday, November 2 approaches, the focus of forums on Sundays and Wednesday Mosaics is what the Church believes about Christian death and burial—and how they shape our lives.

“Into your hands, O merciful Savior, we commend your servant. Acknowledge, we humbly beseech you, a sheep of your own fold, a lamb of your own flock, a sinner of your own redeeming. Receive her into the arms of your mercy, into the blessed rest of everlasting peace, and into the glorious company of the saints in light. Amen.” (BCP, pg. 499)

At 10:30am this Sunday, October 22, Fr Peter will lead a discussion about this prayer and how the meaning of death for Christians is revealed in the light of Easter and the fellowship that exists between the Church on earth and the Church in heaven. All are invited to participate.

The Prayer Book burial rite includes the ceremony of commendation, a series of prayers said by the Celebrant over the deceased’s body or cremated remains before they are borne from the church to their final resting place. In addition to a ninth-century Eastern Byzantine hymn called the Kontakion of the Departed, the commendation includes a prayer composed in the seventeenth-century by John Cosin, then Bishop of Durham.