HOW TO PERFORM A MEMORIAL/FUNERAL SERVICE

HOW TO PERFORM A MEMORIAL/FUNERAL SERVICE, Death, for most people, is a thing that is, at best, something we don’t dwell on often. It’s something that happens to other people, in other places, away from our daily lives. So, whenever it happens around us, we are caught off-guard. As a minister, you can’t allow that to happen.

What would you do if some friend or loved one died and you are requested to do the service? Would you give up that responsibility, just because you’re fearful about having never been the minister for a funeral before and do not know what to say?

Many years ago, I recognized this, and I began learning about funeral and memorial services. I contacted funeral homes, where I was told, among other things, that there is usually a definite need for officiants to officiate non-denominational services.

The most difficult parts for me had been combating the potential worry about the way I would feel about being near a corpse and trying to figure out what I was planning to say at the service. Until the time of my first memorial service, I’d not ever as much as been to a funeral, let alone seen a corpse. I would like to begin by saying a dead body looks a whole lot like a wax dummy. Not even a little scary. It swiftly becomes apparent the spirit has already left and what remains was merely an empty vessel.

As for the words to say, I shortly discovered that there is very little material for funeral ceremonies and virtually nothing available for clergy who desire to conduct them. What pastors need is some sort of script to follow, like at weddings. I did, after much searching, locate 1 ceremony from mainstream religion and one written by someone from another non-denominational religion. Neither was quite the truth I wanted to share, but it gave me a place to begin. I then wrote a few books which include several pages of choices for the various parts of the service.