TOPIC: Rent-A-Preacher

Yesterday I attended a funeral in East Moline, IL for my great-uncle.  Was kind of hard because all of the brothers of that generation look a like.  Pete looks just like my grandpa (who passed in '97) and my other great-uncle that passed in '84.  So it was really hitting hard, but then the guy who was conducting the service opened his mouth.  It was so horrible, I was torn between bursting out laughing, and being really apalled.  <br /><br />"While I didnt know Pete in life, I am sure he was a great guy." Was the best phrase he uttered the entire time.  It was very apparant that he had not wrote anythign ahead of time, and did not even have a plug and chug script.<br /><br />So I was thinking, how about rent-a-preacher.com  Available for all weddings and funerals with a set script, that a bit of plugging in for personal stuff can take care of.  With people being able to be ordained online in 5 minutes (which I do know is legal to be used in Indiana for marriages, as well as IL), it would be really easy to make some cash, and provide services for dear loved ones.<br /><br />My dad is apalled by the idea, but then he got to thinking about it, and started to laugh.

The non-denominational guy that married the wife and I was pretty cool - before we hired him for the job - he had two interview sessions and got from us exactly what we wanted to hear/see in the ceremony.  We were warned ahead of time about his improvisational skills - and were very happy about his wit and use of the personal information we gave him during the interviews.  There are definitely people out there that can be tapped to give public speeches and the like...it all comes down to the personal situation of if such a thing is needed or not.<br /><br />Condolences on your loss...always good to find some humor in everything though.

Which is why I am careful which churches I go to - I have a horrible tendency to giggle uncontrollably in church - LOL.  I mean no disrespect, I just have this ability to hear things differently - or dis-ability.<br /><br />Sorry for your loss. 

Uncle Pete was a very difficult man at the best of times, at least he is at peace now.<br /><br />I stopped playing weddings years ago with my little quartet, after Elmer Fudd performed the service.<br /><br />"Wuv, is a wunderful wang."<br /><br /><br />I hid my head behind my cello, and about died.

LOL!!!!  Majored in Music.  I know exactly what you mean!  =D

Am I the only one thinking of the wedding scene from Princess Bride now?<br /><br />Mawwaige, that dweem wit in a dweem.<br /><br />Skip to the end.<br /><br />Do you 'ave da wing?<br />

Rent-a-preacher is an interesting concept, but I think it is actually done quite a bit.  I think a lot of the time without any real religious connotation.  The Las Vegas kind of stuff for weddings and the funeral home services.  I think we see a lot more of it with religion playing a smaller role in a lot of our society's lives.<br /><br />It might be of interest for you to know that I have conducted several weddings and funerals.  Both are difficult in their own ways.  Hardest funeral--a child who drowned.  Saddest funeral--messy suicide of a father leaving his wife and young sons.  Maybe the most difficult was a young man killed in a car accident and I had to arrange for his wife to get home from Somalia--she was serving in the army.  It is really hard to tell someone through the Red Cross that their husband has died.  Most personal--I conducted and spoke at my father's funeral.<br /><br />I would never ask anyone to perform a wedding or conduct a funeral who charged for it though.  I think these kinds of tasks are labors and gifts of love that we should do for one another with no monetary considerations.<br /><br />Just my thoughts.<br /><br /><br />Widseth

Most ministers charge for doing a wedding and it is proper etiquette to give a minister some money for doing a eulogy. <br /><br />I myself have been ordained from www.ulc.org since September 2002 and have done 6 weddings and 1 eulogy. I've done it for friends and family. I charged for the weddings (a bottle of Irish whiskey).<br /><br />

Our pastor did not charge to do the wedding. We did have to pay a damage few do use the hall (for the reception), but it was refunded after a few weeks. <br /><br />I do think that my FIL gave the pastor something for his time, but it was not a fee that had to be paid.