Running order
The order of a funeral service, minute by minute
Gathering music, welcome, an opening reading or prayer, the account of their life, remembrances from family and friends, music, a closing, and — where there is a burial — the committal. Services run between about 30 minutes graveside and 70 for a full celebration of life.
Seven shapes, because a graveside committal and a full celebration of life are not the same event with different music. Each one says where a lay officiant can lead and where the family should expect clergy.
This is a run-sheet — the timing tool the person leading the service holds, with the clock running down the margin. It is not the printed order of service handed to guests at the door. The funeral home or the family usually prints that, and the two need to agree, so send whoever is printing it your final running order.
Choose the shape
- Celebration of life (secular)70 minNo liturgy. Built entirely around the person and the people who knew them.
- Christian service (non-denominational)60 minScripture, prayer, and a message of comfort, without denomination-specific liturgy.
- Protestant service (mainline)60 minEpiscopal, Methodist, Lutheran, Presbyterian and Baptist practice, with set liturgy woven through.
- Catholic vigil (wake service)39 minThe evening gathering before the funeral — the part of Catholic practice a layperson may lead.
- Jewish funeral55 minPsalms, hesped, and the graveside — traditionally led by a rabbi or cantor.
- Memorial service60 minHeld after burial or cremation — no casket present, and more room to shape it.
- Graveside or committal30 minAt the grave. Short, outdoors, and often without a microphone.
Questions
What is the order of a funeral service?
Gathering music, welcome, an opening reading or prayer, the account of their life, remembrances from family and friends, music, a closing, and — where there is a burial — the committal. Services run between about 30 minutes graveside and 70 for a full celebration of life.
How long should it be?
Each shape below carries a real total, built from per-part estimates at a spoken pace of about 130 words a minute plus the movement around each part. Ask the funeral director what time you have to finish by, and build backwards from it — the procession leaves on a schedule you do not control.
Is this the same as the printed order of service?
This is a run-sheet — the timing tool the person leading the service holds, with the clock running down the margin. It is not the printed order of service handed to guests at the door. The funeral home or the family usually prints that, and the two need to agree, so send whoever is printing it your final running order.
The shape is the easy part.
What takes the evening is the words that go in it. Answer some questions about them and get the whole service written out, with the timing already worked out around your choices.