Preparing for a sabbatical

It is now the last day of April and that means I have one more month until my sabbatical. I'm taking a break for a moment from trying to write some help notes abut weddings and funerals for the student who is coming to Cotton End for two months during my sabbatical and the church leaders who will be taking all the responsibility for the life of the church while I'm away. Trying to think of everything I should tell them about funerals is taxing my brain somewhat.

I never quite realised how many things you have to think about for something like a funeral. The list of possible scenarios seems to grow as I write. I guess that means that most of what I'm trying to put down on paper is actually just stuff you learn along the way. Things like how to handle choosing hymns and readings at the simplest level, how to work with funeral directors and the folk at the crematorium. But there is so much more to the practice of ministry in these situations than organisational skills.

Until I began trying to write it down I don't think I honestly knew what I do when a funeral comes up. I just carry the experience with me in my head as I make visits, talk to Funeral Directors and work with crematoria staff etc. So, for example, do I include some notes about what to do if it's going to be a Royal British Legion funeral with parades, and flags and bugles? What about the heart breaking scenario of a funeral for a child? And so on. 

Perhaps the next time someone compliments me on how I handled a funeral, I won't be so quick to think of it as a small thing that I just do, but realise that it's a part of the much bigger thing of being called and gifted by God to do this thing called ministry.