Simple Sermons for Funeral Services


Book Description

An affordable collection of simple sermons to help busy pastors prepare biblical messages for funerals.







There is Hope


Book Description

250,000 people die in the UK each year, and almost half will have a Christian funeral service. Preaching at a funeral is a vital part of pastoral ministry, but too often funeral sermons consist of generalities and platitudes used for multiple services rather than illuminating the hope gifted to us by the resurrection. In There is Hope veteran pastor Paul Beasley-Murray offers practical advice to help Christian leaders craft meaningful, biblically driven sermons and preach with confidence and compassion at funeral services. Drawing on his years of experience, he offers a sensitive, pastorally rich exposition of twenty key Bible passages, exploring how preachers can draw on them to show the hope beyond death that the Gospel offers. Alongside are funeral sermon examples that he has preached himself, as well as ideas, outlines and guidance for writing your own. There is Hope is the perfect book for ordinands and preachers who are new to giving funeral sermons, as well as for experienced preachers and pastors wanting to improve and grow in their pastoral ministry and are looking for new ideas for funeral sermons. Full of biblical depth, this guide will equip priests and pastors with all the tools they need to deliver comforting funeral sermons that truly deliver the message that even in death, in the Gospel there is hope.




Preaching Funerals in the Black Church


Book Description

In this guide, pastors and preachers will discover more than conventional homiletics theory about mechanics and methodology. Learn to transform the preaching moment into an incarnational engagement between grieving persons and the risen Christ. Sermon models by noted preachers demonstrate effective methods and structure. (Back cover)55.




Funeral Homilies


Book Description

Father Bill Bausch's homilies are always outstanding. He brings a deep pastoral presence and much thought and preparation to each of them. This has never been more evident than here in this book of funeral homilies. Each is crafted to reflect the person remembered as well as the message of Scripture. Each reflects the communal nature of a Catholic funeral and is sensitive to the status of the mourners: non-Catholics, lapsed Catholics, faithful parishioners, relatives, and friends. Father Bill's words are faith-filled and compassionate, comforting and challenging, communal and personal. He regards the funeral liturgy as one of the greatest teachable moments the Church offers and here this is very evident. Highly recommended for all priests, deacons, and preachers. Book jacket.




Preaching Death


Book Description

Christians traditionally have had something substantive and important to say about death and afterlife. Yet the language and imagery used in sermons about life and death have given way to language designed to comfort and celebrate. In Preaching Death, Lucy Bregman tracks the changes in Protestant American funerals over the last one hundred years. Early-twentieth-century natural immortality doctrinal funeral sermons transitioned to an era of silence and denial, eventually becoming expressive, biographical tributes to the deceased. The contemporary death awareness movement, with the death as a natural event perspective, has widely impacted American culture, affecting health care, education, and psychotherapy and creating new professions such as hospice nurse and grief counselor. Bregman questions whether this transition--which occurred unobserved and without conflict--was inevitable and what alternative paths could have been chosen. In tracing this unique story, she reveals how Americans' comprehension of death shifted in the last century--and why we must find ways to move beyond it.







Matter of Life and Death


Book Description

With the sensitivity born of time and experience, Charles Hoffacker presents an unusually warm and caring approach to preaching at a pivotal transition in human life, one which goes to the very heart of the Good News of Jesus Christ. Hoffacker teaches the reader, whether a seasoned preacher or a novice homilist, to find the key to unlocking the mystery of Jesus' promise of eternal life in a mortal life now ended.







Conduct Gospel-Centered Funerals


Book Description

Bring Gospel Hope in the Midst of Death The phone rings: “Pastor, can you do my mother’s funeral?” Or, “Please help us—our baby just died.” Death comes unexpectedly, giving you two to three days of time to prepare a sermon—in the midst of caring for a grieving family. This helpful book walks a pastor through the logistics of memorial services, burials, and working with funeral homes—using the four P’s: Plan, Prepare, Preach, and Perform. It shows how to magnify Christ and the gospel in the midst of all the details, demands, and sorrow that surrounds the death of a loved one. The Practical Shepherding series of books provides pastors and ministry leaders with advice and practical help to do the work of pastoral ministry in a local church. In Conduct Gospel-Centered Funerals, experienced pastors Brian Croft and Phil A. Newton offer readers a concise guide to conducting funerals that glorify God and offer a timely message of hope.