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That is tough man. I am confident though you are the right person to help them through this. *NM* everynametaken Send a noteboard - 08/11/2009 10:07:13 PM
I got a call a few days ago from the local funeral home. There had been a death and while the family were not regular church attenders, they wanted a Christian funeral, and so the Funeral Director started calling around.

I often get called in that situation. Preachers and other church workers develop reputations rather quickly, and I am one of a handful who do not use funerals of the unchurched as a recruitment hour, but rather do my best to support the family.

In this case, the deceased lived to ripe old age of four hours, and his mother only woke from her induced coma yesterday. There is no father on the scene. This is the actual reason I was called... the family is apparently Baptist, but did not feel it was appropriate to ask their own pastor to do the funeral of "that kind of baby." This ruling was made by the great-grandmother. Grandma and mother just want to mourn the child.

So on Monday I will do the funeral of a child who had a whole four hours in our world, and do my best to comfort a family whose approach to sin would have been right at home in the Middle Ages.

Based on what they have told me about their pastor, I am more than happy to take his place as their source of pastoral care. But that still leaves me with a funeral where I am not sure I will know the words to say. The only worse situation I have context with is a friend who during a hospital chaplaincy did a funeral for a still-birth.

Pray for me, and for them, if that's your thing.
But wine was the great assassin of both tradition and propriety...
-Brandon Sanderson, The Way of Kings
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One of the harder parts of my job... - 08/11/2009 09:03:06 PM 1017 Views
Will do. *NM* - 08/11/2009 09:51:07 PM 241 Views
Done. - 08/11/2009 10:01:18 PM 534 Views
That is tough man. I am confident though you are the right person to help them through this. *NM* - 08/11/2009 10:07:13 PM 239 Views
I can't even imagine how tough that must be. *NM* - 08/11/2009 11:04:50 PM 406 Views
Re: One of the harder parts of my job... - 08/11/2009 11:35:01 PM 654 Views
A baby out of wedlock... *NM* - 09/11/2009 12:37:39 AM 241 Views
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I will. Especially them. My heart is crumpling up *NM* - 09/11/2009 01:20:01 AM 244 Views
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Well said *NM* - 09/11/2009 08:36:28 PM 244 Views
So I have some questions for you.... - 09/11/2009 10:05:19 PM 600 Views
Have I ever told you that you are confusing as hell? - 10/11/2009 03:46:20 PM 587 Views
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As I said to everynametaken - 10/11/2009 07:32:21 PM 560 Views
Have fun with your strawman. - 10/11/2009 07:42:37 PM 563 Views
*haha* (and yes, I am laughing at you) - 10/11/2009 08:55:24 PM 611 Views
Ah, so we are doing this again. - 11/11/2009 03:45:45 AM 745 Views
Dear Danny - 11/11/2009 03:23:52 PM 563 Views
First of all - the spelling is Heresy. - 10/11/2009 09:05:32 PM 551 Views
*heh* - 10/11/2009 09:44:56 PM 572 Views
Well I don't really need to worry about it much - 12/11/2009 04:40:11 PM 556 Views
Saddest funerals - 15/11/2009 05:35:28 PM 603 Views
How odd. - 15/11/2009 05:50:32 PM 514 Views

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