A Sacred Calling:
​Crafting End of Life Celebrations

DEBORA-ELLEN BROWN
This is a practicum designed to give participants co-supervised practical applications in crafting relevant, compassionate, healing celebrations of life as more frequently desired by individuals traversing a spiritual vs traditional religious path in order to commemorate the life of a loved one.
Program Objectives and Outcomes: Participants will have the opportunity to craft Memorial and Committal Services drawing from their own faith traditions and those of the fictional decedents based on the stories, clues, family albums, or even family ramblings presiders might gather in their limited or extended meetings with family members. Participants will collect hopefully some new, amazing resources for songs, prayers, poems, rituals, even dances that will enhance their own treasure chest of meaningful celebrations of lives well lived.
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Who will benefit from this program?: This would not simply be for ministers; my prayer would be that the exchanges we have, the rituals we create, the Aha's that move our hearts and plant seeds for our future, might be informative for our own personal life celebration, for family members or cherished loved ones who call us forth to remember, to celebrate, to send forth.
Prerequisites: A tender heart
Start Date: September 27, 2020
​Number of Classes: 9 classes: Sept 27th, Oct 11th and 25th, Nov 8th and 22nd
Dec 6th and 20th, Jan 10th and 24th
Number of Participants: Min 7 /Max 12
Day/Time: Sundays, 6:30-8:00pm
Cost: ​ $112.50
Location: Zoom
Required / Suggested Reading:
* The Rebecca Notebook by Daphne D Maurie
* Heartfelt Memorial Services by Beverly Molander and Dave Savage
* Beyond Absence: A Treasury of Poems, Quotations and Readings on Death and Remembrance Edited by Edward Searl
* Funerals and Memorials by Dayna Reid
* The Healing Power of Grief: the Journey through Loss to life and Laughter by Gloria Lintermans et al
* It's ok that you're not OK by Megan Divine
* It's ok to Laugh (Crying is cool too) by Nora McInerny Purmort
*** And anything or everything that will make your rituals come alive, take wings and fly
About Debora-Ellen: I tend to think of myself as a lover of life and an instrument of healing. Once scared by death, now truly at peace with it----peace began when my first Novice Directress realized my phobia and true peace surrounded me as my step-mother and siblings accompanied my dad into his next realm of life.
​Qualifications / Certifications relevant to teaching this class: Master's of Pastoral Studies; Master's of Divinity; Training and certification in Spiritual Direction from the Haden Institute; Graduate studies in Thanatology and Ritual from the University of Dayton, Catholic Theological Union, and Notre Dame; 20 -25 years experience in creating and presiding over life rituals; 8 years working with Service Corporation International --a Dignity Provider for Cemeteries and Funeral Homes in the Chicago market; An ordained Interfaith Minister through the Tree of Life Seminary