The vicar's funeral homily perhaps had its roots in a time when most parishes had their own vicar and most of the parish knew him.
Vicars now move parishes on average once every seven years.
It is impossible to get to know everyone in your parish. The family sit down together and write something that they feel they would most like to say about the person who has died' Perhaps a way forward is for the family to sit down together and write something that they feel they would most like to say about the person who has died. It doesn't have to be dreadfully formal, I have read out some poems written by grandchildren about their grandparents which have been incredibly funny and moving. To recount the journey of someone's life, you really have to have travelled with them' Their accounts always ring true. To recount the journey of someone's life, to do them justice, you really have to have travelled with them.