Christian Funeral

Planning a Christian funeral is never an easy thing to do. Saying goodbye to a loved one is difficult. People grieve in different ways. Oftentimes family tension adds to the stress during an already emotionally burdensome period. 

First, before making any plans, ask family members if your loved one left specific directions for their funeral. If so, this will greatly ease the load of making decisions and guessing what your loved one would have wanted. Be sure to find out if your loved one has a funeral or burial insurance policy or prepaid arrangements with a funeral home or cemetery. Many people take out burial insurance along with their life insurance. This is to ensure that a good portion of the funeral costs are covered.

Start by arming yourself with the right attitude. Making the funeral arrangements will be less of a weight if you recognize that it can actually help you and your loved ones work through the grieving process. Begin thinking of the service as a celebration of the person's life.

If your loved one was a member of a church, they would most likely want you to ask a pastor or minister from their church to officiate the service. If the deceased had no contact with a church, you may want to rely on the funeral home to recommend a minister, or ask family members to help decide on a minister.

Once you have a plan for the service, you should sit down with the minister and go over the details:

• Any special songs you would like to include.
• Any poems, stories, Bible verses, or readings you would like to include.
• Any special speakers or singers you would like to participate.
• Any specific photos of your loved one or family you would like displayed.
• Is there a charity or a benefit you would recommend to mourners in lieu of sending flowers?
• If guests are invited to the grave side service, an announcement should be made at the end of the service.

People have many options and choices of what to do with their remains and deciding on their final resting place. Direct burial and cremation are the most popular and the most traditional choices. Other choices include organ donation (especially after traumatic deaths) or donating one's body to science. There is a growing trend for more creative options--to be cremated and then scattered or buried at sea, to be kept in commemorative urns…

Traditional Funeral Service: The traditional funeral usually includes a viewing or visitation of the body, formal funeral service, use of a hearse for transporting the body and burial, entombment or cremation of the remains. The traditional funeral is generally the most expensive type of funeral. It involves many different services and product fees including embalming and dressing the body, rental of the funeral home and hearse, costs of casket, cemetery plot, etc.

Direct Burial: With a direct burial the body is buried shortly after death, usually in a simple container. There is no viewing or visitation, so embalming is not needed. Direct burials are usually less costly than the traditional funeral. A memorial service may be held at the graveside or later. If the family chooses to be at the cemetery for the burial, the funeral home often charges an additional fee for a graveside service.

Direct Cremation: With a direct cremation the body is cremated shortly after death, without embalming. The cremated remains are placed in an urn or other container. There is no viewing or visitation. A memorial service may be held, with or without the cremated remains present. The remains can be kept in the home, buried or placed in a crypt or niche in a cemetery, or buried or scattered in a favorite spot. Direct cremation is usually less costly.

Cremation after a funeral or disposition after other delay: Delayed cremation can occur in several circumstances where the body is cremated after some time delay.

• After a funeral service, where the body is present and then cremated instead of buried.
• After the body has been donated for use by science.
• After the body has been returned sometime after the death, if the body has been lost or missing for some time.
  
  Old Mission San Luis Rey Cemetery is Oceanside cemetery, founded in 1798, is the oldest cemetery in North County San Diego still in operation. Old Mission San Luis Rey Cemetery is a sanctuary offering peace of mind for you and your loved ones. Contact us for San Diego funeral services. Every effort will be made to ensure that families have minimal worry when death occurs. They will be assisted in setting the date and time by the cemetery office. The Mission is committed to taking care of the California cemetery as part of this National Historic Landmark. Immediate need or advanced planning, our experienced and caring staff is available to help you.
  
  
  
  

Leadership Team Retreats

Whether you need an executive brain storming retreat or are trying to improve staff communication, increase creativity and motivation, or just trying to make your company feel more like family, a retreat away from the office is the perfect answer. The next time you plan a leadership team retreat, consider incorporating the following tips:

• Invite the right people.  Consider carefully who you respect and trust enough to share in guiding your business's success. Ask yourself: Are key opinion leaders present, or at least represented?
• Plan with purpose. Keep a clear purpose in mind of what you want to accomplish. Then, make sure to communicate that purpose with a published agenda and overview that you distribute to retreat invitees prior to the event. Carefully consider where you'll meet. Choose an environment that will be conducive to your purpose. The best environment for meditation is one that is peaceful, sedative, relaxing, soothing and surrounded by raw nature. Usually meditation retreats are located among cool, serene and natural surroundings, by the side of lakes, rivers or atop mountains. This is what an ideal retreat aims to be.
• Make it matter. Match your retreat to your attendees' interests and knowledge base by soliciting ideas and giving each participant one or more retreat-related tasks to accomplish before, during, and after the event. If your team believes they're contributing, they'll take ownership in making the event a success, and everyone will grow and learn as a result.
• Eliminate distractions. Stay away from e-mail and the phone as much as you can, and at the most once a day. Take a break from social media, too. The reason for this is that when we turn off the television and cell phones.
• Hire some help. Consider bringing in an objective outside facilitator to help increase productivity and make the day run smoother. A respected outside consultant who is a specialist in guiding participants can help avoid unnecessary conflict by navigating the often tricky interpersonal terrain and by keep everyone on track.
• Good food actually helps keep all retreat attendees happy and positive minded. Be sure and send an email to all attendees to see if they have any dietary requirements and send that to your retreat facility at least two weeks before your retreat. Select a menu of good foods and build in time for everyone to network and socialize a little. A comfortable setting supplied with tasty food increases your odds of everyone bonding and contributing their ideas.
• Follow up on decisions. Plan a follow-up to the retreat once you're back at the office. Setting a date for team members to report on their actions will create commitment and increase the likelihood of things getting done.
• Maintain your focus. Remember that the overall goal in organizing and following through on a leadership retreat is to facilitate your business's success. When done right, retreats provide a powerful environment to gain alignment, make decisions, and increase commitment.
• Don't forget the fun! No matter what your goals for the retreat, be certain to allow for some downtime for you and your employees.

There are several things to consider when planning a retreat and finding a proper retreat center. Always visit the camp in person. Meet the staff, tour the facilities, and get as much information as possible. You can learn a lot from simply being with the people who will be serving you. Are they friendly? 

For more information on Retreats and Retreat Centers visit California Retreats in Old Mission.

Cremation And Burial

While the forms of “burial” differ greatly, most people still are offered some sort of traditional burial ceremony that closely follows the above description. Even those who are to be cremated are still often given a viewing and a service before the cremation takes place, and then a special ceremony similar to an internment is conducted at a cemetery near the spot in which the ashes are to be buried or in which a permanent memorial is to be place.

Cremation dates back to the early Stone Age; it's still popular today and it's cheaper than traditional burial. In the United States, 32 percent of corpses are cremated. By 2025, the Cremation Association of North America estimates that number could rise to about 57 percent.

The word cremation comes from Latin “cremo”, meaning “to burn”—in particular to burn the dead. Temperatures in a crematorium range from about 1400-2100 degrees F. It became the most common method of disposing of bodies in ancient Greece and Rome, and was introduced to Western world by the Greeks as early as 1000 B.C. Greeks had first used it as a way of providing burial for soldiers—those slain in foreign lands were incinerated on the battlefield; their ashes were then gathered and sent home for funerals attended by family and fellow citizens. An Italian professor, Brunetti, developed the first modern cremation chamber in the 1870s. This invention started a movement toward cremation in Europe and North America.


The early Christian church initially rejected the practice because of its association with the Pagan societies of Greece and Rome. When Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire, and the followers of other religions were exiled or exterminated, burial became the only method of disposing of bodies throughout Europe. Christianity didn’t expressly forbid cremation, but there was concern that cremation would prevent resurrection of the body.

Although cremation has now been done in America for about 125 years, it didn’t really take root here until about 25 years ago. Now about 1 in 4 Americans chooses cremation over traditional burial. Cremation gains favor as society becomes more secular. The trend is fueled by changes in not only religious thought, but also social values and even scientific knowledge. The practice has become common in Europe and Asia faster than in the U.S. It is now almost universal in Japan.

A "traditional burial" in the USA involves the internment of the deceased's body, usually in a deep grave at a cemetery or churchyard. This is the most common type of service. Burials today can be as varied as the personalities of the deceased. Some people are buried at sea; some, today, are buried “naturally”- without the use of a casket. Burial usually includes:
A viewing or visitation period for family and friends to pay their last respects. The casket may be open or closed according to your preferences.

A formal funeral service in a church, chapel or synagogue. The service may be contemporary or religious, and it may include readings, a eulogy, music, a funeral procession, and military honors.
A hearse to transport the deceased to a final resting place.
Earth burial, entombment or cremation.

Cemetery plots vary by location and city. An ocean view is going to cost much more than a plot in the middle of the cemetery. You also have to keep in mind that cremation plots or scattering gardens are generally cheaper than a casket plot.

Old Mission San Luis Rey Cemetery is Oceanside cemetery, founded in 1798, is the oldest cemetery in North County San Diego still in operation. The Mission is committed to taking care of the California cemetery as part of this National Historic Landmark. Immediate need or advanced planning, our experienced and caring staff is available to help you. Contact us for San Diego funeral services.

Purpose Of Spiritual Retreats

Retreat is a time for renewal and regeneration of spirit, mind and body. You need to look closely and reflect on your thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and motivations. Periodically examining your experiences, the decisions you make, the relationships you have, and the things you engage in provide useful insights on your life goals, on the good traits you must sustain and the bad traits you have to discard. 

We need to understand that there is energy of goodness within us, and that this increases or decreases according to our habits of thought and feeling. Knowing more about our selves, and how we function, gives us the power to think and act more positively. Periods of silence in which to reflect on our higher feelings, values, and purpose in life. We have to recharge own sense of well being, and learn how to maintain this strength in everyday life. Lectures, meditation, workshops, walks in the beautiful grounds, and a peaceful atmosphere all contribute to that process. Retreats are for ordinary people at any time in their lives. There are no expectations on anyone going on retreat and you don't need to be a churchgoer.

Spiritual retreats can be a short stay of 24 hours on weekends and can be long enough to last for a few weeks and even months. Usually meditation retreats are located among cool, serene and natural surroundings, by the side of lakes, rivers or atop mountains. This is what an ideal retreat aims to be. Each retreat should offers exploration on a spiritual theme, with discussions, workshops, seminars and creative activities, such as art and drama. Meditation is an important. Additionally, medical experts agree that meditation can help lower cholesterol, ease depression, speed healing, curb insomnia, boost the immune system, and control anxiety. With these benefits in mind, there has been a rapid growth in meditation retreats all over America. You begin to see that it is possible to approach life in a peaceful way. Take along meditation, relaxation, motivational audios, etc. Maybe set aside a 2-4 hour time period where you just relax and absorb the motivational messages or simply relax and give your mind time to rest. Watch a spiritual movie, i.e., one that motivates, inspires you or makes you laugh.

The retreat will explore how we can find inner strength at a time of relentless change and pressure, inspire and motivate each other to give our best and make a true contribution to the lives of those around us. The retreats should consist of a mixture of talks, informative dialogue and workshop activities, sharing of personal experiences as well as silent reflection and meditation commentary, interspersed with a variety of cultural inputs. (readings, live music). 

The best environment for meditation is one that is peaceful, sedative, relaxing, soothing and surrounded by raw nature. Usually meditation retreats are located among cool, serene and natural surroundings, by the side of lakes, rivers or atop mountains. This is what an ideal retreat aims to be.

Spiritual retreat center allow you to discover a whole new self and help you in removing the limitations that your mind is occupied with. Retreat Centers offers a place for solitude, healing, and revitalization with a wide variety of spiritual and educational programs.