Immediate help
By Douglas
Death can turn our world upside down.
We understand that you might just want to know who to contact immediately to gain some assurance, so here are the details.
Please feel free to contact one of our parish priests at any time about your loss: Northmoor Team Ministry Clergy.
And if you do not yet have an undertaker, these two national associations can help you find one locally: The National Association of Funeral Directors and the National Society of Allied and Independent Funeral Directors.
The government also has a step by step guide on what to do when someone dies, as does the Church of England here.
And AtaLoss.org also offers wide-ranging advice and counselling for further care.
Below we describe how we care and what our funerals offer you. There are other choices not involving a Church of England funeral service or burial, and we are happy to be here for you whatever path you choose.
Helping you in your loss
We are sorry for your loss, and it would be our privilege that you might allow us to serve you, with two thousand years of experience and our deep understanding of death and loss.
We offer our care, we are deeply experienced with emotional, practical and spiritual support.
The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
We can talk, we can listen, we can pray with you, we can hear confession, we can anoint the dying.
We will be there for all of you whenever you want: before death, at the point of death, funeral organisation, during the funeral and we offer consolation after the funeral, for as long as you wish, years even.
Oh, and you might know someone who is recently bereaved. Helping them is a beauty and an act of love.
Understanding grief
Grief is something that we experience rarely, but when it hits it can hit hard. We know this.
Grief honours the dead and appreciates the value they gave us in their living.
Grief is unique. You are unique, the person who has died is unique, your relationship with them is unique… each and every loss is unique.
Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal.
Grief is shock, sadness, pain, anger, guilt, anxiety and numbness… and yet it is love, memories, delights, gratitudes, smiles… Grief is complicated.
And it is yours, in your very own way.
Words might be difficult, life might be confusing, your loss might be all-consuming… and yet care can be around you. We are here for you, alongside friends and family, as you will.
A Christian funeral
At the heart of every funeral led by a Church of England minister is the good news of God’s love for every unique human being, offering a message of Christian hope and comfort, drawing on timeless words that have helped generations of people.
There will be prayers and a reading from the Bible at the very least, the service will be led by a priest, and we will talk about the love of God and the compassion of the Divine.
This still allows for a high degree of personalisation, and we talk about this below.
Our funerals: a deeply personal good-bye
Each service is designed by the bereaved with the help of the parish priest to reflect the love and joy the deceased had in life. We will work with you to tell the story of their past life in a way that you want and they might smile at.
It can start with your choice of venue, whether in a church, a crematorium or at a green burial site, and whether the funeral takes place in one location or moves from service to burial at different spots.
And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Choices widen from there, from coffin styles to hymns and prayers, and from flowers to readings, from an organist to your own musicians. Tributes and eulogies, read by the minister or others, are a powerful touch as well.
All these and more we can help with.
Who can have a funeral?
Everybody, Christian and non-Christian alike, has the right to a Church of England funeral in their local parish.
Just call one of our ministers here to arrange a ceremony for someone you knew and loved, or the funeral director who you have chosen can help too.
The parish graveyard is also open to all; there will be guidance and rules on the types of gravestones that can be installed over the grave.
Planning a funeral
Usually there are two main people who can help you in planning a Church of England funeral, a funeral director from the undertakers that you have chosen and your parish priest.
Most people choose the undertaker first, as they have a detailed knowledge of all the practicalities and the means to fulfil them.
It would be wrong for us to recommend any particular one, but if you want help in choosing there are two national organisations: The National Association of Funeral Directors and the National Society of Allied and Independent Funeral Directors.
The funeral director will contact us, and we will get in contact with you through them.
You are still welcome to contact one of our parish priests directly or later, and our contact details are here.
Someone from the church will visit you to listen to the story of the person you knew, and will go through all the details of the funeral service itself.
