Funeral service order
Celebration of life (secular): the order of service, minute by minute
A Celebration of life runs about 70 minutes and has 10 parts, from the gathering music to the closing music. 3 of them are the ones that hold the service together; the rest depend on the family.
No liturgy. Built entirely around the person and the people who knew them.
The defining feature is personalization — there is no fixed order. No ordination is required; a friend, family member, or celebrant leads.
The running order
Times are clocked from an 11:00 AM start — the funeral director’s schedule sets yours.
Gathering musicoptional
Music plays as people arrive and find seats.
Welcome
You greet everyone and say why they are here.
Opening readingoptional
A short poem or passage to open reflection.
The life
The account of who they were — work, character, the people they loved.
Remembrancesoptional
Invited speakers, or open sharing from the room.
Musicoptional
A song that mattered to them, live or played.
Silenceoptional
A held moment for private reflection.
Symbolic actoptional
Candle-lighting, a planting, or another gesture the family chose.
Closing words
You thank the room on the family’s behalf and close.
Closing musicoptional
Music as people leave or move to 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 Celebration of life?
A Celebration of life runs about 70 minutes and has 10 parts, from the gathering music to the closing music: gathering music 8, welcome 4, opening reading 3, the life 10, remembrances 20, music 5, silence 2, symbolic act 4, closing words 4, closing music 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 Celebration of life?
Gathering music. Music plays as people arrive and find seats. 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 Celebration of life?
Gathering music, Opening reading, Remembrances, Music, Silence, Symbolic act, Closing music — 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
- 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.