Paper Writing Blues

We have this assignment for our Pastoral Care class. Write an order of service for a funeral, and a 5 or 6 minute meditation for people attending the funeral of a loved one. I have attended many funerals, most recently my Dad's. Wouldn't you think I could put something together easily?

Well, the order of service went well. I just pulled together what I would want for my own service. But the meditation part. Goodness. Where do you begin? What do you say to people? Of course, if this were a eulogy for a specific person, it could be crafted to fit the circumstances. But to just write something, well, not so easy.

Pick a text and speak from that. But everything I selected was so dark and depressing. Or too bright and cheerful. How difficult it is to get just the right mix of sorrow and hope. I wrote, scrapped, wrote again, scrapped again, ad nauseum. I tried reading a few out loud and I was depressed hearing myself. Boy, what a challenge. I have great admiration for those who do this all the time.

After a dozen attempts, I finally managed to get a direction that worked OK, and though not my finest work, it will just have to do. I never thought 5 minutes could be so challenging. At least I got a nice service order to use myself whenever the time comes. I will put a copy in my black briefcase with all the other necessary papers. Hopefully, someone will remember its there!