You may be wondering why you should think about funeral planning. Maybe you are healthy or young(ish). Maybe you have already talked with your family about what you want. Maybe you do not want people to make a fuss over you. Or, maybe you just don’t want to talk or think about death.

It is often said that two things are certain in life, death and taxes. I cannot help you prepare for your taxes, but I can help you prepare for your death. Humans have had some sort of burial rite since before civilianization as we know it. That tells me that it is important to have a funeral. And, funerals are to help those left behind to grieve. In fact, a funeral is an important step in the grieving process. Some of the hardest bereavement cases I have seen are those where there was no funeral.

I cannot tell you how many people have come up to me since we announced our funeral planning workshop to say, “It was so easy when my parent/ aunt/ grandmother died and they had a funeral plan written down.” As a hospice chaplain in my day job, I can tell you that we do not always have the time we think we will have. A dear church friend was on hospice with me two years ago. His wife asked me to find out what his favorite hymns were, and I wrote them down. Two days later, his wife asked me to find out if he wanted Rite One or Rite Two for his funeral and he was not able to answer the question. Cookie told me that she and Phil talked about what he wanted for a funeral, but they never wrote it down. When it came time to plan the funeral, she could not remember what hymns he wanted. It is a gift to our families to have a funeral plan written down.

I hope you can join Father Mack and me on Sunday, May 15 at noon for our funeral planning workshop. We will talk a little bit about the liturgy and then help you select readings, hymns, and other pieces of the liturgy. If you would like to sign up, please email Father Mack at fathermack.epiphany@gmail.com. I hope to see you there! Deep Peace, Katherine Frederick