A Christian funeral is often significantly different from a secular one, because Christians believe that, while death means parting from loved ones for a time, it is not the end; the body is gone but the spirit lives on, and all who trust in Christ will have new bodies in the resurrection. In chapter 4 of his first letter to the Thessalonians, Paul said:
Friends, we do not want you to be ignorant about people who have died, so that you do not grieve like other people who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again, and God will bring with him those people who have died in Jesus. We can tell you on the Lord’s authority that those of us who remain alive when the Lord comes will not go before those who have died. The Lord himself will descend from heaven when the signal is given by the archangel’s voice and God’s trumpet. The dead in Christ will rise first, then those of us who remain alive will be taken up together with them into the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. So we will be with the Lord forever. Encourage each other with these words.
This passage, which is meant primarily to reassure believers about the after-life, has led to all sorts of doubtful speculation, novels and films about “the Rapture”. This is the only passage which refers to believers being taken up into the clouds, and in my opinion it is poor theology to use an unsupported interpretation of a single passage to come up with predictions about how and when the Second Coming will occur.