Thanks, Peter, for pointing out the routine meaningless social performances that many funerals have become. Their functions have grown into almost a cultural "norm" where performance is valued more than the meaning or emotion behind such gatherings. Of course there is a real grief, a sense of loss; this is a very natural reaction.
But most mourners fail to understand that the end of one existence marks the start of another.
What's really to be sad about the beginning of something new?

What does the author mean by "worship of God"? Is God a megalomaniac demanding that we ignore the needs of the family and the life of the deceased? I have attended Christian funerals which have been stone cold, morbid, lacking in empathy and sensitivity, and I am a Christian. Then again, the only civil celebrant funeral I have attended was, frankly, dreadful.
God is worshipped through our care of others; through our empathy for others; through our acknowledgement of others; through our support of others etc. The idea that God can only, or must, be worshipped, through liturgical formalities is, surely, nonsense. I am planning that my funeral will be a joyful affair: a celebration of faith, family, life and music. Absolutely no black. The God I believe in is a God who worships us and understands our needs, especially at times of bereavement.

What can separate us from the love of God? In my understanding, the truth that any evidence for the existence of a god or gods is unpersuasive.
In the meantime, i will continue to worship that good old idol, money, and live what Tom Lehrer called my drab, wretched life, unconsoled by faith or fairies, though fond of Tolkien's elves.
And what music at my own funeral?. With apologies for lack of originality: Another One Bites the Dust.

Poor Peter, desperately trying to justify his beliefs and his paycheck by frantically searching for some situation, any situation, in which his apophatic -- aka 'nonexistent' -- God can get some traction. If your Sky Daddy is no longer in the sky, Peter, then his rules are no longer in force, and we can celebrate or commiserate the departure of our loved ones in any way that we choose. If that no longer brings a reliable income to the church, so much the better.

But honestly -- 'The discovery by biblical scholars and theologians that the world to come, called the kingdom of God/heaven was an emerging reality in this world ...' Who 'discovered' this, Peter? What evidence do they have that their 'discovery' is genuine? And why have they had such a hard time convincing the 95% of Christians who remain assured that God is an actual person and Heaven is real? Believe in nothing by all means, but don't try and pretend that the nothing you believe in bears any resemblance to Christianity -- or any other religion.

Perhaps if we did not have the church or funeral parlours to show us the nicety of death, which is commercial, then we may have to put up with the death a la natural, that is to have ants, blowflies, maggots etc and your own body reducing you with a watery, smelling, rotting body returning you to the elements, which you do not see when a coffin is up front with flowers, we are no different in death to any animal, we are not sacred as most people believe, this would be our ending with no one talking about an after life or God, or a house full of rooms, just rotting somewhere on our own, this is a fact.

'. The discovery by biblical scholars and theologians that the world to come, called the kingdom of God/heaven was an emerging reality in this world put paid to the hope of afterlife and knocked out a support for the faith much relied upon in previous centuries '

Peter sure knows how to make a mockery out of Jesus words, His death and resurrection. No wonder the anglican church is going down the sewer. The denial by a 'deacon' of a literal heaven and hell is sure sign of that the writer ignorance of God.