Home Funerals: Do It Yourself
June 30, 2016
Hosted by Rabbi Mel Glazer
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Guest Information
Episode Description
So Papa dies, the funeral home comes and picks him up from the hospital/hospice, and you don't see him again until (maybe) right before the funeral. Or, you pay a cosmetologist to make him up so he looks like he's not....dead, and his coffin is open for you to stare at. How does this process, in which you take no part, help you to grieve his death? Well, maybe there's a better way: maybe you bring Papa home, and you prepare his body yourselves (yes, you can wash his body at home), then he stays with you until the funeral. Which you take care of, not the funeral home! I know, it's different and more than a little scary. But being with Papa from death to funeral means you can sit with him and talk to him and forgive him and apologize to him. At 2AM, if that's what you want to do. Our guest, Lauren Carroll, is a Home Funeral Educator in Colorado Springs, and she will explain all this to us. She is compassionate, loving and caring, and she will give us lots to think about.
From Mourning to Morning
Archives Available on VoiceAmerica Empowerment Channel
Rabbi Mel Glazer dedicates his life to helping people face loss, because he himself has faced loss. His father died the day before his twelfth birthday. Yet he has moved beyond the emotional pain which accompanies loss. So can you. Drawn to a life of service to others, he became a Rabbi, a Doctor of Ministry, and then a Grief Authority so he could help others find a better way to heal from their losses. His two award-winning books have helped thousands of grievers find direction in their response to loss. Whether we are of any faith, or of no faith at all, losing loved ones inspires some of the deepest spiritual questions we will ever face in our lives. What meaning can we find in our losses? Where do we begin? Rabbi Mel connects his life as a leader of his community with his life as a supporter and comforter of other mourners. From this unique position, he has a great deal to teach us about facing loss. Rabbi Mel makes it possible for us to go “from mourning to morning.”
Rabbi Mel Glazer
It is a sad fact of life: Once we are born, we start to lose. You are here because you have lost someone or something very special, and you have no idea what to do or where to go or how to get there. It hurts. You are in pain. There may be tears and depression and hiding from the world and from your friends and family. You feel lost. We lose good friends, spouses, children, jobs, pets and our health. When that happens, we are clueless about what to do and how to move forward. Why is that?
Our parents do not teach us these lessons, nor does our society. We need to learn the correct way to “lay them gently down, to say goodbye.” Grieving means to complete the relationship with the departed, to say goodbye (not to forget about them!) and to be able to move forward to lives of joy and celebration. I, too have many losses in my life: Daddy died two days before my twelfth birthday. My first wife was sick for years and died. I have had heart disease for years. I recovered from those losses. I became a Rabbi, then I got a Doctorate from Princeton Theological Seminary in Counseling. I have written award-winning books on grief. And I am now a radio show host on VoiceAmerica.com. I did it, and so can you!
Listen to what I have to say about grief, loss and healing. You ARE strong and resilient enough. You can do this. I will take very good care of you!
