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A practical and inspirational guide on the best practices for delivering a funeral sermon.
Every preacher will inevitably be asked to speak at a funeral. As a short, practical resource, Preaching at Funerals offers scriptural and theological examples for approaching funeral homilies. Rev. Lightcap offers guidance for how pastors might consider the value of individual lives. He explores how they can encourage their listeners to love and serve Jesus through the deceased’s examples. He suggests that preachers consider preparing a funeral sermon like a treasure hunt that will lead them to the message that a particular group of mourners will need on a particular day. Drawing on his own process for counselling grieving families and through several homilies he has delivered over the years, Lightcap offers insight into creating compelling and memorable words of consolation and inspiration for beloved family and friends.
“The Very Reverend Torey Lightcap has written a book about funeral preaching that is, at heart, a book about learning to see. He invites preachers to look at a human life with attention, honesty, and theological imagination, recognizing where the light of God has shone through the particular gifts, loves, and struggles of a person’s life. Lightcap reminds us that funeral preaching is neither sentimental eulogy nor generic proclamation of resurrection, but the sacred work of telling the truth about a human life in the light of Christ. Both deeply theological and wonderfully practical, Preaching at Funerals is a gift to those entrusted with the holy responsibility of proclaiming resurrection while honoring the particular life that has brought us together.”
“This book is a delightful amalgam of sound theology, pastoral sensitivity and poetic beauty that captures what is arguably one of the most difficult (and important) tasks in pastoral ministry—preaching at funerals. Torey Lightcap’s gifts of gracious teaching, tender writing, and humble wit present at wisdom for any who would deign to step into the pulpit for such occasions."
“Practical and theologically sound. A gifted writer and preacher, Torey shares wisdom from parish ministry that will nurture new preachers and give encouragement to longtime pastors. Filled with stories and time tested best practices, this book is a must read for all who face the challenge of proclaiming God’s love and presence in the midst of grief.”
“Fr. Lightcap is as careful with language as he is with a family across the table in a funeral-planning meeting. He brings gifts for clarity and beauty to both his best practices and the sermons that flesh them out. The result is a methodology for funeral-sermon prep that helps the preacher take a God’s-eye view of the deceased, the family, and the funeral itself, complete with helpful details about interview questions, note taking, even formatting the text for delivery. The result is the same as how Fr. Lightcap describes Jesus’ call: ‘an invitation not only to care in a general way but to show what we care about with great specificity.’”