These authorized rites are intended to be a supplement to the burial services in the Book of Common Prayer, adding a rich variety of material from many sources, including prayers for one who has died in military service, for one of unknown faith, for an unbeliever, and for a member of an inter-faith family. All of the major pastoral issues of the Prayer Book rites are addressed from the reception of the body to the consecration of the grave and the interment but with a freshness of language in new texts that the speak to contemporary sensibilities.

CONTENTS

Introduction with planning information

Two vigil rites before a funeral

Rites for the reception of the body

Collects, prayers and readings for the burial service, including a celebration of the Eucharist

Rites of committal

Burial of one who does not profess the Christian faith

Additional prayers

Committal at a crematory

A service of remembrance

Suggested hymns and songs