Funerals these days.
Life – and death – continue. Having just written about how to lead funerals and memorial services – and working
Category: Practical-funeral
Remember your dress pants.
Last month, I released a book about how to lead funerals. The book was barely out and my friend Dan
Four ways to offer clarity to families in a funeral.
I’ve done words for a long time. I’ve talked, I’ve earned three degrees about words. I’ve been around funerals and
The most important lesson for a funeral service.
I’ve done words for a long time. I’ve been around funerals and memorial services for a long time, too. I
Potluck and Pie
What if you and four friends said, “No one is eating alone after a funeral. Churches have meals for members. We’re going to offer meals to families who don’t have churches.” And you became known as the people who were there in the hardest moments of life, not with answers but with presence. What if you provided potluck and pie?
Graveside service for a stillborn.
What do you say at the grave of a stillborn baby? A person who was moving in the womb and then wasn’t. A person who was part of a story that parents were writing and dreaming and decorating for, and then that story stopped.
I’m not sure what you should say. But I thought it might be helpful to tell you what I said once.
One way to approach services for a stillborn or infant.
“What do we do?”
The dad was holding the baby. About 30 weeks in the womb, the first 28 of those growing, moving. The last two motionless. Now, this couple was thinking about the services that would honor their child who had no list of accomplishment to eulogize. Here’s what I told them.
Honest funeral messages.
A funeral message is a place for respect and for integrity. It’s a place to acknowledge a person’s actual humanness and God’s actual grace. With a heart toward the healing of the family and friends, we can gently describe what we know.
Elliot’s daughter found a little peace in the honest description of the dad who abandoned her and the Father who didn’t.
A conversation with kids about death.
I think they were nine and twelve. But I’m terrible with figuring out the ages of kids, and I’ve decided
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