Do Funerals Matter? is a creative interweaving of historical, sociocultural, and research-based perspectives on death rituals, drawing from myriad sources to create a picture of what death rituals have been; and where, especially in the Western world, they are going. The Classic Edition includes a new preface from the author reflecting on changes in the field since the book’s initial publication. Death educators, researchers, counselors, clergy, funeral-service professionals, and others will appreciate the book’s theory- and research-based approach to the ways in which different cultural groups memorialize their dead. They will also find clear clinical and practical applications in the author’s exploration of the five ritual anchors of death-related ceremonial practice and help for professionals counseling the bereaved surrounding funerals. Based on nearly four decades of research and teaching on funeral rites, this volume promises to fill an important gap in the cross-cultural literature on bereavement, while answering an important question for our generation: Do funerals matter?

Examines the embalming process and the impact the standard funeral has on the environment while also discussing alternative eco-friendly burials.

With the sensitivity born of time and experience, Charles Hoffacker presents an unusually warm and caring approach to preaching at a pivotal transition in human life, one which goes to the very heart of the Good News of Jesus Christ. Hoffacker teaches the reader, whether a seasoned preacher or a novice homilist, to find the key to unlocking the mystery of Jesus' promise of eternal life in a mortal life now ended.

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.

Key Selling Points A young girl befriends a boy who hasn’t spoken since his parents were killed in a car accident. Sorry For Your Loss examines themes of grieving, friendship and the nature of family. This book shows a behind-the-scenes view of what happens after someone dies. The author's father runs a Jewish funeral home, which served as inspiration for the setting of the novel. The author has written several other middle-grade novels and has been nominated for the Red Maple Award and the Manitoba Young Readers’ Choice Awards. This book has all the elements of an excellent middle-grade story: an unusual setting; diverse, relatable characters; and the perfect blend of humor and pathos. Free Discussion Guide available for download at orcabook.com.

Noted author of the Fifty Classics series, Tom Butler-Bowdon says this on the cover of It’s a Matter of Life and Death: Growing Up in a Funeral Home and What I Learned Since by Lawrence J. Danks: "Larry's book combines positive psychology, motivation and memoir to provide a powerful reminder to really live while we are alive, regretting nothing. His lively reminiscences of growing up in a funeral home are not morbid, but lie in the tradition of a Zen Buddhist meditation on death: facing the great uncertainty and inevitability of death, we are reminded of the opportunity to love, and most of all, to be grateful for everything." It's a Matter of Life and Death is intended to help anyone who is: seeking happiness curious about life in a funeral home facing a serious illness or knows someone else who is grieving and working their way back toward recovery a health care provider, counselor, or practitioner in the funeral industry trying to help others cope with illness or loss Samples from over eighty topics include: Part I: Seeking Happiness Finding Happiness: It's about finding true gratification, not hedonism or smiley faces. Death Teaches Us to Value Life Even More Take the Long View: Plan to Live to Be One Hundred It's Never Too Late To Make a Difference in Your Life and in Those of Others Get Better Sleep: It Can Make a Big Difference Advice from Courageous Survivors and Physicians For Those Facing a Terminal Illness Your Thinking Probably Needs Some Improvement Mid-Life Crisis is Not a Crisis Part II - Growing Up in a Funeral Home My Father, the Coroner My Sister, the Embalmer My Parent's Faith The Importance of Humility The Medical Examiner's Office and Autopsies The Critical Importance of Having a Will Do Funeral Directors Charge Too Much? Life in the Funeral Home The Condition of the Body Cosmetic and Presentation Skills Part III - The Takeaway from Seven Decades Drug Abuse Giving the Ego a Rest Hospice Care - It Should Often Start Sooner Finding What to Say at Viewings and Funerals Eulogies Can Be Excellent Teachers After Things Are Over, It Can Get Awfully Lonely Advice from a Grief Counselor on Handling Grief and Loss and Moving Ahead Thinking We Understand Death People Who Die Before Their Time Honoring Those Who Died, but Honoring Yourself Too Life after the Death of a Partner Danks says, “No one clamors to read about death and funerals, but people have a curiosity about what happens in funeral homes – even though they don’t necessarily want to live in one. A frequent question I got as a boy was, ‘How can you live there?’ It was easy. My sister and I never knew anything different than living over one. It was a blessing though. It taught us about life and about what truly matters – finding happiness and peace.”

Honor your loved ones and the earth by choosing practical, spiritual, and eco-friendly after-death care Natural, legal, and innovative after-death care options are transforming the paradigm of the existing funeral industry, helping families and communities recover their instinctive capacity to care for a loved one after death and do so in creative and healing ways. Reimagining Death offers stories and guidance for home funeral vigils, advance after-death care directives, green burials, and conscious dying. When we bring art and beauty, meaningful ritual, and joy to ease our loss and sorrow, we are greening the gateway of death and returning home to ourselves, to the wisdom of our bodies, and to the earth.

A longstanding annual favourite has a new editor and a new, refreshed look. What hasn’t changed is its year-long reliability as a resource for preaching at the principal and the second service (for which preaching resources are scarce) every Sunday of the coming year. Ideal for preachers in all churches that use the Revised Common Lectionary, it also includes sermons for holy days, major saints’ days and special occasions such as Mothering Sunday, harvest, rogation and Christmas services. If preparation time is short, the sermons are complete and can be used as they are, but they will also act as a framework for creating your own sermon texts. It also includes: - an introductory essay for preachers - all-age talks for special occasions - hymn suggestions throughout the year - an index of topics and names A boon for hard-pressed clergy, readers and local preachers everywhere.

Death is something we all confront—it touches our families, our homes, our hearts. And yet we have grown used to denying its existence, treating it as an enemy to be beaten back with medical advances.We are living at a unique point in human history. People are living longer than ever, yet the longer we live, the more taboo and alien our mortality becomes. Yet we, and our loved ones, still remain mortal. People today still struggle with this fact, as we have done throughout our entire history. What led us to this point? What drove us to sanitize death and make it foreign and unfamiliar?Schillace shows how talking about death, and the rituals associated with it, can help provide answers. It also brings us closer together—conversation and community are just as important for living as for dying. Some of the stories are strikingly unfamiliar; others are far more familiar than you might suppose. But all reveal much about the present—and about ourselves.

Creating Meaning in Funerals is a book about the ways in which bereaved families and communities create meaningful ceremonies against a backdrop of what is culturally appropriate, even when their choices might make little economic sense to those outside the culture. The culmination of these customs and practices, this book maintains, is how bereaved individuals, families, and communities are drawn into significant meaning making in early bereavement. Readers will be repeatedly challenged to suspend their own biases, observe the customs and beliefs of others thoughtfully, and provide counseling support and encouragement to bereaved individuals for whom funerals were or were not effective means of coping with their loss. Discussion questions at the end of each chapter make the book useful for educational settings such as funeral service classroom instruction, thanatology classes, and grief counseling courses. Each chapter is also accompanied by its own reference list to make chapters more useful individually.