Caring through the Funeral


Book Description

Caring through the Funeral is a guidebook to take pastors through the complete funeral process, from the moment the call is received to the weeks following the funeral. More than just a "how-to,” Caring through the Funeral uniquely addresses the funeral process from the perspective of pastoral ministry—of pastoral caring throughout the time of mourning, from the death through post-funeral grieving. Many times the funeral is the most momentous means of pastoral caring for the bereaved, and often it is the only time that the church has an opportunity to care for the family and friends. Gene Fowler explores what pastors go through at each stage of the funeral process. Both descriptive and conceptual, Fowler's practical advice, solid pastoral and theological grounding, and case illustrations take pastors and student pastors through many issues: - the language of loss—the vocabulary ministers need for this caring ministry - bereavement and grief - pastoral care of family members - pastoral care of non-family members, including groups within the church and community - the funeral as worship service, including a comparison of our Protestant liturgical books and the elements that comprise a Christian funeral - practical issues of planning the service, including sample services - funeral service as means of caring for the bereaved and as a rite of passage, and the interrelationship between funerals, mourning, and grief - how funerals often launch mourners on a spiritual journey - questions asked by the bereaved - role of resurrection in pastoral care - pastoral care after the funeral




The Ministry of Lament


Book Description

For pastors and congregations, caring for those who are grieving is a very important but difficult job. Gene Fowler believes that the church needs a theological understanding of bereavement that can inform the ministry of caring for grieving people. The heart of The Ministry of Lament addresses the relationship between bereavement and the Christian faith in the service of caring ministry. Throughout the book, Fowler brings the psalms of lament into dialogue with a contemporary understanding of mourning so that the entire grief process can be addressed theologically.




The Good Funeral


Book Description

"Before long I began to understand that showing up, being there, helping in an otherwise helpless situation was made heroic by the same gravity I had sensed when I first stood in that embalming room as a boy„the presence of the dead made the presence of the living more meaningful somehow, as if it involved a basic and intuitively human duty to witness." „from Chapter 1, "How We Come to Be the Ones We Are" Two of the most authoritative voices on the funeral industry come together here in one volume to discuss the current state of the funeral. Through their different lenses„one as a preacher and one as a funeral director„Thomas G. Long and Thomas Lynch alternately discuss several challenges facing "the good funeral," including the commercial aspects that have led many to be suspicious of funeral directors, the sometimes tense relationship between pastors and funeral directors, the tendency of modern funerals to exclude the body from the service, and the rapid growth in cremation. The book features forewords from Patrick Lynch, President of the National Funeral Directors Association, and Barbara Brown Taylor, highly praised author and preacher. It is an essential resource for funeral directors, morticians, and pastors, and anyone else with an interest in current funeral practices.




Caring for Your Own Dead


Book Description

A guide to help the reader in making choices in dealing with death, funeral arrangements, and burial, also includes many of the legal implications.




Confessions of a Funeral Director


Book Description

“Wise, vulnerable, and surprisingly relatable . . . funny in all the right places and enormously helpful throughout. It will change how you think about death.” —Rachel Held Evans, New York Times–bestselling author of Searching for Sunday We are a people who deeply fear death. While humans are biologically wired to evade death for as long as possible, we have become too adept at hiding from it, vilifying it, and—when it can be avoided no longer—letting the professionals take over. Sixth-generation funeral director Caleb Wilde understands this reticence and fear. He had planned to get as far away from the family business as possible. He wanted to make a difference in the world, and how could he do that if all the people he worked with were . . . dead? Slowly, he discovered that caring for the deceased and their loved ones was making a difference—in other people’s lives to be sure, but it also seemed to be saving his own. A spirituality of death began to emerge as he observed the family who lovingly dressed their deceased father for his burial; the nursing home that honored a woman’s life by standing in procession as her body was taken away; the funeral that united a conflicted community. Through stories like these, told with equal parts humor and poignancy, Wilde’s candid memoir offers an intimate look into the business of death and a new perspective on living and dying. “Open[s] up conversations about life’s ultimate concerns.” —The Washington Post “As a look behind the closed doors of the death industry, as well as a candid exploration of Wilde’s own faith journey, this book is fascinating and compelling.” —National Catholic Reporter “[A] stunner of a debut.” —Rachel Held Evans, author of Inspired




Funerals


Book Description

Death will strike your congregation. Are you ready? Are they? Death has become a four-letter word. Whereas in previous generations, the practice of memento mori ("remember death") was embedded in family life, people today have found ways to distance themselves from death. As Western culture becomes increasingly more secular, the Christian understanding of death and the funeral appear more and more strange. Fear of death affects us all, and so pastors have significant hurdles to overcome. What Christians need today is a renewed vision of the traditional Christian funeral liturgy. In Funerals, Tim Perry recovers the rich theology inherent to the Christian funeral: communion with the saints in death, peace in forgiveness, hope in the resurrection, and joy in life eternal. Perry guides pastors through the practice of funerals, from planning the service to preaching the eulogy, and offers wisdom for the hard cases. Perry's Funerals will help pastors disciple their people to see through the valley of the shadow of death and into the hope beyond.




Verbal First Aid


Book Description

Words as Medicine What to say to your children to get them through the bumps, bruises, and crises of childhood. Falling off a bike, having a bad dream, getting stitches...sometimes a kiss isn't enough to make it all better. But what you say to your child in those first moments of pain or fear could make all the difference. Using techniques the authors have taught to doctors, nurses, and first responders, Verbal First Aid(tm) explains how words can be used to promote healing from burns, bruises, nightmares, asthma attacks, and more. It provides scripts and tips on how to short-circuit traumatic memories, sometimes just by speaking a sentence or two. This revolutionary book gives parents the responses they need to immediately stabilize their children's emotions. And these methods will build a foundation of confidence and inner strength that will help kids heal at the deepest level, and weather whatever hardships and difficulties they encounter throughout life.




Enhancing Compassion in End-of-Life Care Through Drama


Book Description

'Healthcare professionals spend much of their time listening to stories of sickness related by patients and their families. It thus seems appropriate that drama, which is primarily concerned with exploring narratives, change and crises and relies, like the clinical situation, on communication, is an ideal medium for healthcare professionals to gain new insights into care.' From the Introduction Good communication forms the heart of patient-centred care and is the cornerstone of a trusting relationship. Enhancing Compassion in End-of-Life Care Through Drama explores a broad range of plays from Greek tragedy to the present day and investigates how particular theatrical dynamics help to understand complexities in the setting of end-of-life care. It examines fresh ways to interpret the action and subtext represented on the stage and finds symmetries in a clinical context. It is ideal for use in a range of educational contexts, with practical ideas for workshops and summaries of key concepts in each chapter. This book will motivate all members of the multidisciplinary palliative care team including palliative care professionals, doctors, nurses, psychologists, spiritual advisers and social workers. Although based in the setting of palliative care, the learning points are relevant to all areas of clinical practice.




A Pastor's Practical Guide to Funerals


Book Description

This straight-forward book integrates the pragmatic “how to” of the funeral process--especially in dealing with “difficult” funerals--with the art of being a caring and healing presence before, during, and after the funeral. While conducting a funeral is one the great privileges of ministry, pastors must be skilled and ready to guide grieving family and friends through the process of saying goodbye and burying a loved one. With sample services, prayers, sermon themes, and Bible readings, this book will help pastors hear, name, and integrate relevant illustration into a respectful story of the deceased's life--a story that is appropriate to the particular circumstances of each situation. Contents include: Preparing for Death; Caring through Anticipated Death; Caring through Sudden Death; Meeting with Family before the Funeral Service; Creating the Funeral Service; Creating the Funeral Sermon; and Following up with Grievers




The Ministry of Lament


Book Description