The Perfect Stranger's Guide to Funerals and Grieving Practices

Based on the How to Be a Perfect Stranger: A Guide to Etiquette in Other People's Religious Ceremonies.

The handbook for how to respond in an appropriate way when someone dies―no matter what their faith or denomination.

Few of us are ever prepared for the loss of a relative, friend or colleague. This stressful situation can be made worse if we are unfamiliar with the practices and rituals of the deceased person's religious tradition.

This complete guide provides all the answers you need to express your condolences and show your respect in the appropriate way regardless of the religious tradition involved, addressing many common concerns, including:

Will there be a ceremony―what will it be like, and how long will it last? What should I wear? What should I avoid doing, wearing, saying? Are flowers appropriate? What is the appropriate behavior if viewing the body?

These are just a few of the basic, very practical questions answered in this unique etiquette guide covering all the major (and many minor) denominations and religions found in North America―from Hindu to Presbyterian, from Mennonite to Sikh―helping you to do the right thing in a difficult situation.

Covers all the major (and many minor) denominations and religions found in North America: African American Methodist Churches • Assemblies of God Baha’i • Baptist • Buddhist • Christian and Missionary Alliance • Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) • Christian Congregation • Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) • Church of the Brethren • Church of the Nazarene • Churches of Christ • Episcopalian and Anglican • Evangelical Free Church • Greek Orthodox • Hindu • International Church of the Foursquare Gospel • International Pentecostal Holiness Church • Islam • Jehovah’s Witnesses • Jewish • Lutheran • Mennonite/Amish • Methodist • Mormon • (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) • Native American/First Nations • Orthodox Churches • Pentecostal Church of God • Presbyterian • Quaker (Religious Society of Friends) • Reformed Church in America/Canada • Roman Catholic • Seventh-day Adventist • Sikh • Unitarian Universalist • United Church of Canada • United Church of Christ • Wesleyan

Stuart M. Matlins is founder, editor-in-chief and publisher of Jewish Lights Publishing and SkyLight Paths Publishing. Both imprints focus on religion and spirituality from a broad non-denominational perspective. He is author or editor of several books, including the best-selling How to Be a Perfect Stranger: The Essential Religious Etiquette Handbook (SkyLight Paths); The Jewish Lights Spirituality Handbook: A Guide to Understanding, Exploring & Living a Spiritual Life (Jewish Lights); The Perfect Stranger's Guide to Wedding Ceremonies: A Guide to Etiquette in Other People’s Religious Ceremonies; and The Perfect Stranger’s Guide to Funerals and Grieving Practices: A Guide to Etiquette in Other People’s Religious Ceremonies (both SkyLight Paths).

Stuart was the 2014 recipient of the Abraham Geiger Medal, an award recognizing outstanding service to religious pluralism, and the 2006 recipient of the American Jewish Distinguished Service Award, an annual presentation of Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion. He was a member of the First Catholic/Jewish Lay Conference at the Vatican in October 2007, an event under the auspices of the Interreligious Information Center.

Among his many speaking appearances, Stuart has been the scholar-in-residence or guest lecturer at the National Funeral Director’s Association convention, Temple Isaiah (Palm Springs, CA), The Jewish Center of the Hamptons (East Hampton, NY), Temple Sholom (Plainfield, NJ), Israel Congregation (Manchester, NH) and at the annual gatherings of the Jewish Community Centers Association and the Jewish Outreach Institute. He also has been a featured speaker or panel member at many Book Expo America conventions, and at the biennial Festival of Faith and Writing at Calvin College, as well as at churches and other conferences.

Before publishing took over his life, he was a management consultant for over thirty years as a managing partner with Booz Allen Hamilton, Inc. and then heading his own consulting firm.

He is the cofounder of an innovative synagogue in Woodstock, Vermont, with his wife, Antoinette Matlins, and served as lay spiritual leader for nineteen of its twenty-one years. He has served for over twenty years on the Board of Governors of Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion, and was chair of the Board of Overseers of its New York School. He is widely recognized as a leader in the spiritual transformation of Judaism in our time.

Stuart is listed in Who’s Who in America.