At best, funerals for the "unaffiliated"-- those with no formal church connection-- are often planned quickly or rely too much on set worship formulae; with limited opportunity for interaction between family, friends, and the officiant, such final rites are often reported as impersonal, cold and remote. Without benefit of a preexisting relationship between clergy and family, assumptions about theological understandings of death can be difficult to avoid. Memento Mori: Funerals for the Unaffiliated presents a method for enabling clergy to be more effective pastoral leaders when working with families of those unaffiliated with the institutional church. Using insights from functional theology, a method for quickly and discretely evaluating the theological world of family members is established. Worship elements corresponding to preferred theological world are defined, and guidelines for evaluation of the effectiveness of the resulting service are provided. Memento Mori is an essential resource for religious leaders and others for creating meaningful rituals at the time of death when the setting and source of such services is not the institutional church.

Jonathan Lee is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ, Director of Institutional Advancement and adjunct faculty at Hartford Seminary in Hartford, Connecticut, and a graduate of Bates College, Andover Newton Theological School and Hartford Seminary.