Legacy

The service you are planning will happen once. Not once a year. Once, in a room full of people who loved this person. And what happens in that room is what they will carry, not for weeks, but for years.

This book is for the family member, the friend, the daughter or son or spouse who has been asked to help plan something worthy of the person who is gone.

Legacy is a calm, intentional guide to planning a funeral or memorial service that honors a specific life. Written by a minister who has stood at the front of these rooms for many years, it walks alongside you through every decision you will face, from the first conversations with the funeral home to the words spoken on the day itself.

It is for those grieving a recent loss, and it is for those preparing in advance for a loss that is coming. Both paths are held with equal care.

Inside, you will find guidance on:

• The first decisions and how to make them when everything feels urgent
• Working with the funeral home, the officiant, and the people in your life
• Choosing burial or cremation, and understanding the implications of each
• Telling the story of a life with specificity and truth
• Building the elements of the service: tributes, eulogies, readings, music, the committal
• Making the service personal in ways that genuinely honor who this person was
• Being present during the service itself, including when things go differently than planned
• The days, weeks, and anniversaries that follow

Plus practical appendices including:

• Questions to ask the person you love while there is still time
• Questions to ask the family for gathering stories after a loss
• A planning checklist
• A sample order of service
• Sample readings, both faith-based and secular
• A guide to preserving what was said

A service planned with intention becomes something the people in that room hold onto. It gives the grief somewhere to land. It tells the story of a life in a way that honors it.

That is the gift this book is trying to help you give.

For everyone preparing to say goodbye, and for everyone who already has.

This is what it means to honor a life.