URC Advice on
Wedding and Funeral Services
UPDATED 24th March
Wedding
and Funeral Services
Questions
arise in many congregations about whether we can host and conduct wedding and
funeral services in the current emergency. This update responds to the Prime
Minister’s broadcast on 23 March. It is possible that guidance could change in
the days and weeks ahead. But this is how we appear to stand just now.
Wedding services are NOT allowed at the moment. These are among the various kinds
of gathering that the Government has banned. That ruling will be very distressing
for couples who are on the threshold of a new life together. But for the next
few weeks we have not been given a choice.
Funerals are
still allowed, but we must keep them very small. Plan a simple committal ceremony at
cemetery or crematorium with an intentionally very small number of people
present. Tributes can be paid in other ways – either online, or in a church
newsletter – or given in a memorial service later in the year. All of that will
surely feel unsatisfactory. But there is not a satisfactory way to deal with
these issues. We don’t want anyone’s life to end because someone attended a
funeral.
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