We Unitarian Universalists are known for our willingness to offer memorial services for just about anyone.  We believe there is goodness in everyone, goodness, even Godliness, that can be celebrated, if not during their lifetimes, then at the end.  We see a spark of the Divine in every life, a spark that may need to be dusted off in order to shine forth, but a spark nonetheless.  Our worship tends to be "horizontal" -- sensing the holy in the places between us as we gather, wanting to dust off those sparks of the Divine within the people who have come together.  So our memorial services are a celebration of the person's life, with music and readings reflecting the person's tastes, and words from people who were close to them in life.  Of course, those closest are never required to speak, and often the minister meets with the family to gather the stories that need to be told, so that a widow or widower, children or parents need not do anything but receive the experience of the service.  But within our own community, especially, the bereaved often want to share their memories and their appreciation of the departed. In a recent memorial service in our sanctuary, there was no formal eulogy.  Instead, there were brief remembrances, first by the adult children of the departed, then by representatives of three different communities that were important in her life.  

The feature of our memorial services that often surprises outsiders is that we most often offer an informal time to share memories.  A member of the worship team brings a microphone to people in the congregation who want to speak.  This can be a very powerfully comforting part of the service, as aspects of the person's life are brought forward and appreciated.  Because we believe in that spark of holy goodness in everyone, we also do not fear a permanent and agonizing hell for anyone after death. We send them forth to whatever comes next in confidence that they go in peace and go towards peace. And of course, as is the case with many of our ceremonies, our memorial services are never complete until we share food and drink and informal conversation with one another after the formal gathering has ended.  The holy comes among us as we speak to one another in love, especially as we speak of our dear departed with love, creating a space within our hearts where they will live and influence us even after they have left this life.