Funeral service order
Memorial service: the order of service, minute by minute
A Memorial service runs about 60 minutes and has 10 parts, from the gathering music to the closing and invitation. 4 of them are the ones that hold the service together; the rest depend on the family.
Held after burial or cremation — no casket present, and more room to shape it.
No processional and no committal, because disposition has already happened. Usually more participatory than a funeral.
The running order
Times are clocked from an 11:00 AM start — the funeral director’s schedule sets yours.
Gathering musicoptional
Music as guests arrive.
Welcome
You welcome everyone and frame the gathering.
Opening reflectionoptional
A prayer, or a secular opening.
Readingsoptional
Scripture, poetry, or another meaningful text.
Musicoptional
A song that mattered to them.
The life
The core account of who they were.
Open sharingoptional
Family and friends invited to speak.
Photo or video tributeoptional
A slideshow or montage.
Closing reflection
Final words of comfort.
Closing and invitation
You close and point people toward the reception.
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.
Questions
How long is a Memorial service?
A Memorial service runs about 60 minutes and has 10 parts, from the gathering music to the closing and invitation: gathering music 8, welcome 4, opening reflection 2, readings 6, music 5, the life 12, open sharing 20, photo or video tribute 6, closing reflection 3, closing and invitation 4 — minutes per part, worked out at a spoken pace of roughly 130 words a minute plus the movement around each one. These are the same figures the run-sheet uses.
What comes first in a Memorial service?
Gathering music. Music as guests arrive. It runs about 8 minutes, and it is what the clock starts on — 11:00 AM in the example below.
What can be left out of a Memorial service?
Gathering music, Opening reflection, Readings, Music, Open sharing, Photo or video tribute — none of these is required, and cutting them is how you get the service back inside the time you were given. The rest carry the shape.
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.
This is the shape. The words are the other half.
Answer some questions about them and get this running order filled in with a full word-for-word script, cue cards for each part, a day-of checklist, and a sheet on what the funeral director handles.
Other shapes
- 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.
- Graveside or committal30 minAt the grave. Short, outdoors, and often without a microphone.