Fifteen Crazy Things That Happened at Funerals

As I promised in last week’s article on weddings, I have fifteen stories from pastors about funerals.

For the most part, these stories are repeated only with minor changes. The essence of the stories is unchanged. Like the stories of weddings, there were so many great submissions of funeral stories. I probably need more posts of this ilk in the future.

  1. The pastor was preaching on the resurrection during the funeral when Siri on someone’s iPhone began to speak, “I’m sorry; I don’t understand what you just said.”
  2. Three different pastors told us they fell in the grave.
  3. Three different widows jumped in the grave.
  4. The deceased’s dog died shortly after the deceased died. The family put the dead animal in the casket with her.
  5. The family released a dove at the end of the funeral. A hawk was waiting. You know the rest of the story.
  6. One lady gave a testimony at her deceased pastor’s funeral: “Having Jim as my pastor was like being in a love affair.”
  7. The pastor was interrupted during the funeral and asked to adjust the deceased in the casket because she did not look perky.
  8. The best friend of the deceased gave a eulogy sharing how he and the now deceased picked up women.
  9. During the viewing of the deceased, a song was on continuous loop: “How Much Is That Doggy in the Window?”
  10. The pastor was asked to pose with the urn of ashes for photos after the funeral.
  11. The funeral home showed up with the wrong body.
  12. This funeral had two ambulances: one to pick up a man having a heart attack; and the other to get a woman in labor.
  13. There were two funerals close together. They finished at the same time. One funeral released doves. The other funeral had a salute with several guns. There were many dead doves.
  14. The widow began shouting and praying for her husband to rise from the dead.
  15. An Elvis impersonator was one of the key speakers.

I would wonder if some of these pastors were stretching the truth if I had not been in some similar situations at funerals. Life in the ministry is never dull.

Let me hear from you, particularly if you have some funeral stories to share.

Posted on June 1, 2016


With nearly 40 years of ministry experience, Thom Rainer has spent a lifetime committed to the growth and health of local churches across North America.
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149 Comments

  • My husbands aunt passed away. She and his uncle had divorced several years before. He attended her funeral out of respect for the mother of his children. She had been dating a man from Mexico. The song played at the end of the funeral was “wasted days and wasted nights ” by Freddy Fender. Mexican country singer.

  • A fire broke out in a home next door to the church. Everyone had to be evacuated in the middle of the funeral.

  • Daniel Heeringa says on

    The Freemasons did their part at the graveside with a man leading that had worked hard on memorizing his part, but missed it just a little: O, Great, Impotent One!!

  • Christopher says on

    At an older gentleman’s funeral, his grandson was supposed to be leading the music with his praise team. Before he sang, however, he decided to preach a sermon. The first thing he said was, “They don’t usually let me speak at funerals but I have to say something.” He then proceeded to preach a sermon for the next 40 minutes that had nothing to do with his grandfather or the funeral or anything in the Bible. He kept encouraging the congregation to “flow in the Spirit” and at one point shared a “prophecy” his wife had given about how life is like a road. I wanted to stand up and say, “That’s not a prophecy, it’s a metaphor, at it’s not even an original metaphor.” Finally, they sang their song and then in the middle of the song, while the instruments continued to play, he preached another sermon, or the same sermon, I don’t know, by that point no one was listening. When the pastor finally got up to give his message, he just pretended like nothing had happened.

  • My husband was a pastor, and I often assisted him with funerals because he was legally blind. At one funeral, I had to tell him that a friend of the deceased had just put a bottle of hard liquor in the casket. At one graveside service, he and I led out singing “Amazing Grace” (neither of us is a talented singer) and assumed that everyone would join in. They didn’t, and I hope no one remembers our duet that day.

  • Christopher says on

    I have had several questionable song choices including:
    “Stairway to Heaven”
    “Free Bird” (long version)
    “Knocking on Heaven’s Door” (Guns ‘n Roses version)
    Several beer drinking songs
    a song about a corvette
    and finally, a song from a “Curious George” video.

  • Brian Horton says on

    The first funeral I ever did was for a church member no one liked. Literally. I was youth pastor, and my senior pastor was leaving for Israel the next day. He asked me to handle it for him. When I expressed my nervousness, he said, “Don’t worry. No one will be there.” He was right. A total of 6 people, including the funeral home staff, myself and the deceased. The closest family member was a great neice. Her own children wouldn’t come. In fact, she laid in the morgue for 2 weeks until one of the kids came to identify her body.

  • Michael Clifford says on

    During a funeral I performed early in my ministry I kept getting interrupted by someone on the front row. They were giving commentary on what I was preaching. It was the deceased’s drunk mother.

  • Calvin Naylor says on

    I was leading a funeral possession to the graveyard and a car on the other side of the road stopped to show respect. The other car behind him didn’t stop and rammed into the back of the car. I didn’t know what to do. I was a witness to the wreck, but at the same time I was leading the funeral possession.

  • L. Carpenter says on

    My husband had not been pastoring very long when we were asked to sing two songs for a funeral of people who were not members of our church. When we got to the funeral home, the director asked if my husband was the officiating minister to which he replied, “No, we were are the singers.” The directors of the funeral home directed us into the room to the piano. Minutes later, to our surprise, we looked at the eulogy flyer to see his name as the officiating minister. Nothing like always being prepared!! Good thing he had brought his Bible with him.

  • Our senior pastor was conducting one of those funerals where it was very questionable whether the deceased was saved or lost. During the service, the phone of one of the funeral home employees started receiving a call and his ringtone was “I’m Going Down in a Burning Ring of Fire” by Johnny Cash.

  • My husband is a worship pastor and understandably close to the pastor of my mother’s church. When my sister died unexpectedly, we asked him to officiate. He later told my husband that her best friend had asked him to put 2 cold beers into her casket so she could “Share with [the best friend’s] dad.”

    He didn’t comply. He hid them in the podium and then told the staff at the funeral home where they were. I couldn’t believe it, and yet … I could.

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