VOL - II: WITNESSES
Being in the GREAT CLOUD of WITNESSES
This is a collection of Sermons, Tributes, Stories and Articles for loved ones and friends who have now died. Each entry honors someone’s Life and begins to define their Legacy. Each reflection also enriches our faith and hope in the value of life and significance of sharing our lives and experiences with others.
Author Says
After all, Death has many “faces”: sometimes it is an Angel of Mercy, sometimes an Enemy / Intruder, and sometimes an Escape. Still, each person is precious and valuable to us and in the eyes of God. The funeral is our occasion to be reminded of all those eternal realities and complexities.
Though Funeral Rituals and Traditions have been challenged by Covid and by changing cultural norms & expectations, we still need some semblance of order & opportunity to honor the dead ~ even as we commit to continuing our Journey together…with purpose.
Therefore, this is a valuable and essential resource for Celebrants, Clergy and Lay People who are asked or expected to “say a few words” to honor a dear departed friend or loved one.
The book contains faithful ways of dealing with each loss. One way is by writing a Tribute that helps organize disconnected stories and fragmented memories of a family member or friend. It takes some of the experiences out of random disorder and puts those experiences of that life into a "narrative" (a written document / “word collage”) that can be shared during a funeral.
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This work, this compilation also provides sermons that give our lives and losses a theological context and value that helps to heal and soothe the troubled and grieving hearts left behind. After all, each death threatens our emotional security, trustworthiness in the forces of nature, and the assumption & existence of God’s providence.
This work also acknowledges the many different ways death hits our lives, in both natural and tragic ways. It also accounts for traditional and non-traditional ways of ritualizing those losses and using final ceremonies that may be different or unconventional ~ based on one's religious beliefs or not. Even so, we need to acknowledge each of their contributions to our family, circle of friends, community and, perhaps, the world ~ in some way great or small.
With a variety of Contributors, this work provides many different but faith-based approaches to understanding our lives and losses. It also encourages each of us to have the faith to give the hand of a loved one over to our Creator and Savior at the End of each life.
Such trust and faith also encourages us to live fruitful lives by valuing those who have gone before us who have meant so much to us. We do all this to honor the life of the departed, as we give thanks for their example and for their putting "a face on the faith" that we have vividly seen.
All that we do at the time of a death and a funeral, should honor the Journey the departed has made and the Legacy they have left behind for us to cherish and follow.