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March 14, 2023 41 mins

The Reverend Tom Long wrote the book on funerals. No, really. When grief threatens to swallow us whole, Tom reminds us of our place in a bigger story of hope and faith, of interdependence and the importance of community. He describes the necessity of ritual to pull us into a wider, truer story than the trite version our culture likes to tell.

In this warm conversation (trust me! You will laugh!), Kate and Tom discuss: 

  • What it means to be called into emotionally-expensive professions (jobs where you decide to really care!) 
  • The importance of truth-telling at a funeral
  • Seeing people through the prism of God’s love for them (more specifically—through the lens of their baptism)
  • Why people die at all and what happens with all the love we have for one another (hint: it’s never, ever, ever lost)
  • The importance of the rituals we create to walk people through death and dying


No one likes to talk about funerals, but this one is a must-listen. 

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