Download or read book A Humanist Funeral Service and Celebration written by Corliss Lamont and published by Prometheus Books. This book was released on 2011-07-29 with total page 53 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First published in 1940, this book has been helpful for over half a century to people not comfortable with the religious format of typical funeral services. The author, renowned humanist Corliss Lamont, last revised the text in 1977. Now, from her own experience as a humanist chaplain, Beth K. Lamont, widow of Corliss Lamont, has added two new scripts of humanist services, and has welcomed a new updated edition by humanist J. Sierra Oliva. Mr. Sierra has added new dimensions and a new emphasis on celebrating the deceased's life in these suggested scripts for last rites. As in earlier versions of the book, there are meditations and eloquent passages of prose and poetry to express appreciation, grief, and farewell when a friend or loved one dies. One may choose according to individual preference the text and music deemed to be most appropriate. The service is dignified and reminiscent of past relationships with the deceased, stressing love, the beauty of life, the human kinship with nature, and the naturalness of death. In the quest for solace at a time of grief, one can turn to this nonreligious service for security, comfort, and purpose in accepting the finality of the loss of a loved one.

Download or read book Funerals Without God written by Jane Wynne Willson and published by Prometheus Books. This book was released on 2009-12-02 with total page 64 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The main purpose of this booklet is twofold: to help Humanists who are thinking of becoming officiants on a regular basis; and to help families and friends who are faced with the need to organize a ceremony themselves at short notice. A third group who may find parts of it useful are funeral directors coping with funerals where there is no officiant and the family has no wish to play an active role. The booklet aims to set out clearly the basic format of a Humanist ceremony, to suggest possible readings and turns of phrase, and to state simply the various practical measures that need to be taken. In short, it is a straightforward working manual. "[It was] the first funeral I had attended where I felt comfortable, and comforted by the words spoken." " . . . it gave me a sense of great peace." "To hear others publicly proclaim their love, respect and admiration for my husband made the funeral an uplifting experience. Afterwards so many who had attended told me that it was the most interesting, most moving, most relevant and best funeral that they had ever been to. Their remarks gave me a great deal of comfort and I knew that I had treated my husband''s atheism with the respect and dignity that it deserved." "A large number of those present, from a wide range of beliefs and backgrounds, later expressed what we can only call enthusiasm for an experience that was new to them, and in many cases compared very favourable with the often awkward and impersonal alternatives with which they were familiar." "Bearing in mind that this is a form of ceremony which has not yet gained wide acceptance, we consider ourselves fortunate . . . to have received such expert and personal attention."

Download or read book The Dash written by Linda Ellis and published by Thomas Nelson. This book was released on 2012-04-16 with total page 97 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When your life is over, everything you did will be represented by a single dash between two dates—what will that dash mean for the people you have known and loved? As Joseph Epstein once said, “We do not choose to be born. We do not choose our parents, or the country of our birth. We do not, most of us, choose to die. . . . But within this realm of choicelessness, we do choose how we live.” And that is what The Dash is all about. Beginning with an inspiring poem by Linda Ellis titled “The Dash,” renowned author Mac Anderson then applies his own signature commentary on how the poem motivates us to make certain choices in our lives—choices to ignore the calls of selfishness and instead reach out to others, using our God-given abilities to brighten their days and lighten their loads. After all, at the end of life, how we will be remembered—whether our dash represents a full, joyous life of seeking God’s glory, or merely the space between birth and death—will be entirely up to the people we’ve left behind, the lives we’ve changed.

Download or read book Atheism and Agnosticism written by Graham Oppy and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2018-05-17 with total page 97 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This Element is an elementary introduction to atheism and agnosticism. It begins with a careful characterisation of atheism and agnosticism, distinguishing them from many other things with which they are often conflated. After a brief discussion of the theoretical framework within which atheism and agnosticism are properly evaluated, it then turns to the sketching of cases for atheism and agnosticism. In both cases, the aim is not conviction, but rather advancement of understanding: the point of the cases is to make it intelligible why some take themselves to have compelling reason to adopt atheism or agnosticism.

Download or read book The Humanist Approach to Grief and Grieving written by Jennifer Hancock and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2013-04-05 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How to grieve and maintain your sanity. A rational and compassionate approach to bereavement. Non-religious individuals who are experiencing grief need a resource that they can turn to as they process their grief. They need a resource that will help them cope, as Humanists, with the emotional trauma that is the grieving process. This is that book. While there has been a lot written about grief, not much has been written from an explicitly Humanist perspective. The needs of a Humanist, while grieving, are slightly different from others because Humanists, being rationalists, refuse to allow themselves to be comforted by the false hope of reunion that is a staple of religious belief. I decided to write this book to help people who are experiencing grief come to terms with it in a rational and compassionate way. After presiding over my first funeral as a Humanist officiant, I realized that a book on Humanist grief was needed. I felt the pain the bereaved were feeling and I longed to be able to provide them comfort. I know that Humanism provides an excellent framework for coping with grief, but it is impossible to share all that I know about how Humanists approach grief during a funeral. It also wouldn't do much good even if I could. The bereaved need ongoing support because grief is a process that takes time.

Download or read book We all know how this ends written by Anna Lyons and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2021-03-18 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Wonderful, thoughtful, practical' - Cariad Lloyd, Griefcast 'Encouraging and inspiring' - Dr Kathryn Mannix, author of Amazon bestseller With the End in Mind End-of-life doula Anna Lyons and funeral director Louise Winter have joined forces to share a collection of the heartbreaking, surprising and uplifting stories of the ordinary and extraordinary lives they encounter every single day. From working with the living, the dying, the dead and the grieving, Anna and Louise reveal the lessons they've learned about life, death, love and loss. Together they've created a profound but practical guide to rethinking the one thing that's guaranteed to happen to us all. We are all going to die, and that's ok. Let's talk about it. This is a book about life and living, as much as it's a book about death and dying. It's a reflection on the beauties, blessings and tragedies of life, the exquisite agony and ecstasy of being alive, and the fragility of everything we hold dear. It's as simple and as complicated as that.

Download or read book There is Hope written by Paul Beasley-Murray and published by Inter-Varsity Press. This book was released on 2021-12-16 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 250,000 people die in the UK each year, and almost half will have a Christian funeral service. Preaching at a funeral is a vital part of pastoral ministry, but too often funeral sermons consist of generalities and platitudes used for multiple services rather than illuminating the hope gifted to us by the resurrection. In There is Hope veteran pastor Paul Beasley-Murray offers practical advice to help Christian leaders craft meaningful, biblically driven sermons and preach with confidence and compassion at funeral services. Drawing on his years of experience, he offers a sensitive, pastorally rich exposition of twenty key Bible passages, exploring how preachers can draw on them to show the hope beyond death that the Gospel offers. Alongside are funeral sermon examples that he has preached himself, as well as ideas, outlines and guidance for writing your own. There is Hope is the perfect book for ordinands and preachers who are new to giving funeral sermons, as well as for experienced preachers and pastors wanting to improve and grow in their pastoral ministry and are looking for new ideas for funeral sermons. Full of biblical depth, this guide will equip priests and pastors with all the tools they need to deliver comforting funeral sermons that truly deliver the message that even in death, in the Gospel there is hope.

Download or read book It Tolls For Thee written by Tom Morton and published by Watkins Media Limited. This book was released on 2021-02-09 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A funeral celebrant's story about how celebrating death, and creating personalised space for grief, can enrich lives and give meaning to death. After a close encounter with death, Tom Morton realised he needed a change of pace and perspective. He decided to become the only independent funeral celebrant on the remote Shetland Islands, an unusual new profession that would lead him on an extraordinary journey into the world of the dead. In a vivid narrative that reveals the fascinating realm of the unspoken - from extraordinary undertakers and death cafés, to pilgrimages and taboos - Tom quickly learns that death and speaking for the dead requires you to think on your feet and often take a magpie approach to faith and philosophy. From Humanism to hymns, Theravada Buddhism to Star Wars theology, he discovers the importance of ritual, humour, and the empowering act of trying to find words for something beyond language itself. This is an accessible and thought-provoking guide to celebrating mortality. When grief must be an inevitable part of life, Tom shows how we can mourn together in a way that feels appropriate to the life of the one who has passed on, and ultimately cultivate a healthy attitude to our own eventual demise.

Download or read book Voices of Bereavement written by Joan Beder and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-01-11 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Voices of Bereavement presents counselors with specific, sometimes unusual bereavement situations and their subsequent treatment. Joan Beder blends theoretical content with suggestions for intervention, helping the reader appreciate how theory informs practice. In addition, a section on counselor struggles focuses on what feelings were provoked in the counselor during each case and how these feelings were managed.

Download or read book A Brief History of Death written by W. M. Spellman and published by Reaktion Books. This book was released on 2014-04-15 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'A brief history of death' offers a topical survey of views concerning death and its aftermath in the Western tradition, from prehistory to the present. It explores how humans understand and come to terms with the fact of mortality and looks at the physical and social aspects of death, how dying people are treated, how the dying conduct themselves in the knowledge of their approaching demise and how survivors choose to remember the dead. W. M. Spellman examines the work of archaeologists and palaeoanthropologists to give insight into prehistoric perspectives on death through the interpretation of physical remains.

Download or read book Death Is Nothing at All written by Canon Henry Scott Holland and published by Souvenir PressLtd. This book was released on 1987 with total page 32 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A comforting bereavement gift book, consisting of a short sermon from Canon Henry Scott Holland.

Download or read book The Life That I Have written by Leo Marks and published by Souvenir Press. This book was released on 1999 with total page 32 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This poignant, haunting poem, originally written for the author's fiancée Ruth who died in a plane crash in 1943, was given to the SOE agent Violette Szabo as her code poem, before she was dropped into occupied France in 1944. It afterwards became famous through the film of her life, Carve Her Name With Pride, starring Virginia McKenna, and has been a source of inspiration ever since to those who have lost a loved one or are themselves facing death.Only in 1998, with the publication of Leo Marks' remarkable book about his works with SOE, Between Silk and Cyanide, did it become known that he was the author of this and many other poems used by SOE agents during World War II.Now one of the best loved poems in the English language, The Life That I Have is presented as a special illustrated gift book, with pencil drawings by the artist Elena Gaussen Marks, the author's wife. Her pencil sketch of Violette Szabo, based on a photograph, is also included.

Download or read book Empire of Eloquence written by Stuart M. McManus and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2021-04-08 with total page 315 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An exploration of the culture of public speaking in the Iberian world, which places the classical rhetorical tradition within the context of Iberian global expansion in Europe, the Americas, Asia and Africa between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries.

Download or read book Antigone Interrupted written by Bonnie Honig and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2013-05-02 with total page 341 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sophocles' Antigone is a touchstone in democratic, feminist and legal theory, and possibly the most commented upon play in the history of philosophy and political theory. Bonnie Honig's rereading of it therefore involves intervening in a host of literatures and unsettling many of their governing assumptions. Exploring the power of Antigone in a variety of political, cultural, and theoretical settings, Honig identifies the 'Antigone-effect' - which moves those who enlist Antigone for their politics from activism into lamentation. She argues that Antigone's own lamentations can be seen not just as signs of dissidence but rather as markers of a rival world view with its own sovereignty and vitality. Honig argues that the play does not offer simply a model for resistance politics or 'equal dignity in death', but a more positive politics of counter-sovereignty and solidarity which emphasizes equality in life.

Download or read book In My Gut I Don t Believe written by Joe Armstrong and published by . This book was released on 2020-12-10 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In My Gut, I Don't Believe is an intimate coming of age memoir, set in Mount St Mary's, a Catholic seminary, in 1980s Dublin. Making extensive use of contemporaneous private journals, Joe Armstrong shows his personal, psychological, emotional, sexual and intellectual growth, from boy to young man, escaping a difficult mother and a Church demanding the submission of his mind, body and will.Torn between faith and doubt, safety and risk, love and fear, the memoir is a portrait of the young man trying to live the vow of celibacy while becoming aware of his need for affection, intimacy and love. It shows his efforts to live the vow of obedience while awakening to his need to obey himself. It provides an authentic, peerless, fly-on-the-wall insight into Catholic seminary life. This is a story of learning to listen to and trust yourself, discarding other voices, and making the hardest decision of your life. It shows that nobody knows you better than you know yourself. It illustrates how hard it is to grow beyond the worldview you were born into. It's a siren call to listen to your feelings, thoughts and hunches - not those of other people - if you are to become yourself.Set in the decade before the clerical scandals of priests fathering children in secret became known to the public and before the crimes of paedophile priests and their cover-up by the hierarchy caused many to lose their faith, Joe Armstrong's personal journey from belief to doubt anticipates and articulates the experience of millions. Praise for 'In My Gut, I Don't Believe''A fascinating, courageous and moving account of an individual leaving the trammels of religion for the good light of humanism - an educative story on many levels, well told.' - Professor A. C. Grayling

Download or read book The Little Book of Humanist Funerals written by Andrew Copson and published by Piatkus. This book was released on 2023-06-08 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the Sunday Times bestselling authors of THE LITTLE BOOK OF HUMANISM A humanist funeral allows us the freedom to remember and celebrate the life of someone in exactly the way we want to and - as the most popular alternative to a religious ceremony - put us more closely in touch with the precious nature of life. In a beautiful collection of insights from humanist celebrants, as well as quotes, poems and meditations from humanist writers and thinkers throughout history, THE LITTLE BOOK OF HUMANIST FUNERALS is the perfect introduction to the humanist approach to life and death.

Download or read book The Brink of Being written by Julia Bueno and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2019-07-02 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Wise and compassionate . . . a profound game-changer of a book." --Caroline Leavitt, author of Pictures of You Though approximately one in four pregnancies ends in miscarriage, it remains a rarely talked about, under-researched, and largely misunderstood area of women's health. This profoundly necessary book--the first comprehensive portrait of the psychological, emotional, medical, and cultural aspects of miscarriage--aims to help break that silence. With candor, warmth, and empathy, psychotherapist Julia Bueno blends women's stories (including her own) with research and analysis, exploring the effect of pregnancy loss on women and highlighting the ways in which our society fails to effectively respond to it. The result is a galvanizing, urgent, and moving exploration of a too-often-hidden human experience, and a crucial resource for anyone struggling with--or seeking to better understand--miscarriage.