Caring Through The Funeral

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

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.

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.

Thomas Long begins this fascinating volume by describing how the Christian funeral developed historically, theologically, and liturgically, and then discusses recent cultural trends in funeral practices, including the rise in both cremations and memorial services. He describes the basic pattern for a funeral service, details options in funeral planning, identifies characteristics of a "good funeral," and provides thoughtful guidance for preaching at a funeral. Long also notes a disturbing trend toward funeral services that seem theologically right and pastorally caring, but actually depart from the primary aims of the Christian funeral. He argues that a new, less-theological and less-satisfying service that focuses on the mourner has begun to erode the Christian view. He contrasts the ancient grand community drama with today's trend toward body-less memorial services that focus primarily on the living and grief management. This is a loss for the church, he argues, and he calls for the church to reclaim the classic metaphor.

Contemporary forms of living and dying in Swaziland cannot be understood apart from the global HIV/AIDS pandemic, according to anthropologist Casey Golomski. In Africa's last absolute monarchy, the story of 15 years of global collaboration in treatment and intervention is also one of ordinary people facing the work of caring for the sick and dying and burying the dead. Golomski's ethnography shows how AIDS posed challenging questions about the value of life, culture, and materiality to drive new forms and practices for funerals. Many of these forms and practicesnewly catered funeral feasts, an expanded market for life insurance, and the kingdom's first crematoriumare now conspicuous across the landscape and culturally disruptive in a highly traditionalist setting. This powerful and original account details how these new matters of death, dying, and funerals have become entrenched in peoples' everyday lives and become part of a quest to create dignity in the wake of a devastating epidemic.

The blogger behind Confessions of a Funeral Director—what Time magazine called a "must read"—reflects on mortality and the powerful lessons death holds for every one of us in this compassionate and thoughtful spiritual memoir that combines the humor and insight of Smoke Gets in Your Eyes with the poignancy and brevity of When Breath Becomes Air. 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 act of embalming a little girl that offered a gift back to her grieving family 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 offers an intimate look into the business and a new perspective on living and dying