FUNERAL-NOT OF OUR FAITH

I attended a funeral on Friday of a close family friend. I was grateful that I was able to go because I was the only family member there. Our family needed to be represented. I’m thankful that our faith gives funeral services that are more personal than theirs. I felt sorry for the family that they didn’t share good memories of her. This is the 2nd funeral that I’ve attended of this faith. This particular service was a tiny bit more personal than the first one that I attended, but not much.
This is basically the funeral: Someone reads the obituary word for word. Then the preacher gets up and begins his sermon. It is a word for word generic message that has nothing to do with the person that has passed on. The preacher reads one sentence, then the congregation recites (reads) the next sentence. The message has to do with Christ. This goes on for awhile. Then, the congregation sings a song with -no chorister. This format goes on for awhile, changing back & forth from the preacher and congregation readings to more songs. Finally, there’s a small message that slightly mentions the deceased, saying something like: “They know that the deceased knows where they are at now and are much happier”. Now the format goes back to what I’ve already mentioned. There’s a few places where the preacher asks the congregation to stand and pray-word for word. There’s a few more places where the preacher asks the congregation to answer him. Something like: “Live Forever More-Amen”.
I know our faith has funerals that are known to be rather long. However, I still feel the more personal funerals are better.