Celebrating a Life, Mourning a Death: A Guide for Professional & Informal Funeral Celebrants

This is a book for secular (or non-religious) funeral celebrations. In a secular funeral, every word of the service can be personal (this is possible because the focus of the secular funeral is not on God or a hope for life-after-death, but entirely on the deceased). However, there are still words that can be used time and again: there are only so many ways to say 'welcome' or to introduce a reading. With this in mind I decided to create a 'book of words' for my own use. My funerals have had so much positive feedback that I decided to write this short book to share my words and provide some insights from over 20 years of experience with funerals...I don't have enough faith to work as a Priest or Minister (although once upon a time I did), and I don't have enough atheism to buy into the British Humanist Society. I have great respect for both traditions (and this book may be useful to religious and non-religious celebrants) but I fall in between the two. I suspect that is where most people are, most of the time. This book could also be of use to families putting together a service without an outside celebrant (there is no law to say you need one!). This book will give you enough information to run a service yourself without a celebrant or clergy. I believe that anyone with some confidence in public speaking could lead a funeral or memorial service...