Planning A Funeral For A Non Religious Loved One
In times of death when comfort is needed, a lot of comfort centers around religious beliefs. If your family is non-religious and your deceased loved one would prefer a non-religious funeral, you will have to make some additional arrangements to ensure that their last wishes are met. Taking the reins in making the arrangement will take some careful dictation and planning from beginning to end. Here are three tips for creating a beautiful ceremony for your loved one who was without any religious beliefs.
Concentrate on life celebration
Instead of talking about an afterlife during the funeral, you should concentrate the speeches on celebrating the person's life. Have family and friends get up to speak about their best memories and favorite times with the loved one who has passed on. Create a eulogy that represents the wonderful things that the person was able to accomplish during their lifetime. Keeping the speeches and wording centered around life achievement and life celebration will make sure that it celebrates the parts of your loved one that they wish to be remembered for.
Have the funeral at a funeral home
Rather than finding a place of worship, you should coordinate with a funeral home to hold the services for your loved one. Be sure to speak with the directors and let them know that you want a completely non-religious ceremony. They will be able to have someone coordinate with you if need be, who can help to run a non-religious funeral. When the preparations are being made the day of the funeral, be sure to give the space a once-over to make sure that there are not religious symbols left in the room prior to the ceremony.
Find affirmations and encouraging words
Instead of using verses from a holy book, you can instead read off affirmations and encouraging words. Many famous humanitarians and philosophers have talked about love, loss, family, and death. You can use some of these at the funeral to be read off in order to offer encouragement to the grieving family. You can print these out and have them read off by the officiant of the ceremony or you can assign this task to family members and friends. If your loved one had a poet that they enjoyed or a writer that the loved, you can find quotes of encouragement for them in order to give the ceremony a special touch.
Contact a funeral home, like Ryan-Parke Funeral Home, for more help.