No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. I begin now with the eulogy of my great aunt, Carrie Turner. Moreover, I have decided to share these eulogies on my blog.
Therefore, I have embraced this vocational season of my life as one not only filled with losses, but also filled with unexpected synchronicity. If so, this is certainly a good thing since I am currently writing a book-length biography of my grandfather. But their similarities led me to the conclusion that if I am good at eulogy, then perhaps I am also good at biography. There are also key differences that need not be enumerated here. Like biography, the eulogy goes beyond factual details of a life in order to place an individual in personal and/or social-historical context and to draw lessons from their life experiences. Eulogies are a form of life-writing, a form of biography. But it was at my great aunt’s funeral last weekend that I understood the import. This is an odd skill set, to be sure, and I am not hanging a shingle here. As I have fulfilled this responsibility over the past months, I have heard a common refrain: I’m pretty good at delivering eulogies, quite good actually.
The first three loved ones passed away within three months of my last day on the job. Preface: When I left my church ministry position in 2017 to focus on writing a book and starting a nonprofit, I had no way of knowing that I would preach five eulogies in eighteen months for various members of my family.
0 kommentar(er)
