Funeral for a Stranger
I have seen water move rocks. I have seen thistles break through boulders.\ If water and flowers can move stones, surely love can.\ Becca Stevens, from Funeral for a Stranger\ In this meditation on living and dying, Becca Stevens shares moving and hilarious stories about her life, love, friends, and our many families.\ This delicately formed narrative is also a window into the soul of a priest. I loved it and will hold it in my heart with gratitude for years to come.\ -Phyllis Tickle, author...
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Whether you are the pastor of small congregation, a music director, or a member of a large worship planning team, use this unique tool to help create and capture your weekly worship service details:sermon topichymnsanthemsacolyteslay readersspecial services such as communion or baptismsThe planning chart provided for each Sunday includes:the lectionsliturgical dayliturgical colorshymn suggestions from The United Methodist Hymnal, The Faith We Sing, Mil Voces Para Celebrar, Songs of Zion, and Hymns from the Four WingsThe standard month-at-a-glance format includes: all the features of a great standard calendar including U.S. and Canadian national days, beginning and ending dates for Daylight Savings Time, major Jewish observances, and more. Publishers Weekly As a minister who simply cannot say no, Stevens (Find Your Way Home), an Episcopal priest in Nashville, suddenly and unexpectedly finds herself officiating at the funeral of a woman she knows nothing about. Beginning with her initial decision to accept and ending as she leaves the grave site, the book progresses through a clear narrative structure. Stevens's personal meditations, memories and musings on such an uncommon opportunity shape themselves into more than simply an inspirational memoir. It is also a parable with two themes, using the framework of the funeral to illuminate two difficult steps on the journey of belief: confronting the inevitability of death and finding compassion for the strangers around us. Each brief chapter offers a precise perspective on either theme, sometimes musing on the funeral itself but more often drawing from the author's past experiences, the voices of others and biblical theology. In discussing loss and grief, Stevens's sincerity and insight lends the slim volume a deep, comforting strength, although her discussions on charity for others only offer a hint of their potential. Overall, however, the book will be loving, spiritual balm to those who, regardless of Christian denomination, feel the pangs of loneliness and loss. (Aug.)Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
\ Publishers WeeklyAs a minister who simply cannot say no, Stevens (Find Your Way Home), an Episcopal priest in Nashville, suddenly and unexpectedly finds herself officiating at the funeral of a woman she knows nothing about. Beginning with her initial decision to accept and ending as she leaves the grave site, the book progresses through a clear narrative structure. Stevens's personal meditations, memories and musings on such an uncommon opportunity shape themselves into more than simply an inspirational memoir. It is also a parable with two themes, using the framework of the funeral to illuminate two difficult steps on the journey of belief: confronting the inevitability of death and finding compassion for the strangers around us. Each brief chapter offers a precise perspective on either theme, sometimes musing on the funeral itself but more often drawing from the author's past experiences, the voices of others and biblical theology. In discussing loss and grief, Stevens's sincerity and insight lends the slim volume a deep, comforting strength, although her discussions on charity for others only offer a hint of their potential. Overall, however, the book will be loving, spiritual balm to those who, regardless of Christian denomination, feel the pangs of loneliness and loss. (Aug.)\ Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.\ \
