This paper teaches some extremely important tips and ideas for the way to perform a funeral. This discussion will give you many useful tips to assist you get through the process in the most professional way possible.
Death, for most of us, is a thing that is, at best, something we dont think about much. Its something that happens to other people, in other places, far from us. So, whenever death occurs around us, we are caught off-guard. Being a reverend, you cannot let that occur.
How would you feel if some friend or someone close to you dies and you’re asked to do the ceremony? Would you give up that honor, just because you are fearful about having never officiated at a funeral before and don’t know what youre supposed to say?
Several years ago, I became aware of this so I started to create some funeral and memorial services. I got in touch with mortuaries, where I discovered, among other things, that the funeral homes have a definite need for offiants to perform non-denominational ceremonies.
The hardest parts for me were combating the potential concerns about the way I would feel regarding being near a dead body along with trying to figure out what I was planning to say at the service. Prior to my initial funeral service, I’d not ever even been in attendance at a funeral, let alone seen a dead body. First, let me say that a dead body looks a great deal like a wax dummy. Nothing to be nervous about. It rapidly becomes apparent the spirit has already left leaving behind nothing but an empty vessel.
As for the words to say, I not long after discovered that there are not many guidelines out there about funeral ceremonies and virtually nothing at all available for ministers who want to officiate them. What reverends need are the right words to say, like they have for weddings. I did eventually locate a single ceremony from a traditional religion and one written by a person from a different non-denominational religion. Neither one was quite the message I wanted to put across, but it gave me a place to begin. I then composed a few books which do include a lot of pages of options to use for the various separate parts of the service. Those books are Weddings, Funerals and Rites of Passage and its sequel. These can be purchased through the Universal Life Church Seminary store.