Alister features in this excellent Anglican Taonga online article at http://www.anglicantaonga.org.nz/News/Tikanga-Pakeha/Earthed-in-Hope

“Over the last 35 years Alister Hendery has taken more than 1500 funerals – both as a priest and a celebrant. He’s also worked as a counsellor, specialising in grief and loss.

And he’s drawn from that lifetime of ministry to the dead, the dying and the bereaved to write: Earthed in Hope  – Dying, Death and Funerals, a Pakeha Anglican perspective , which was launched in Wellington last week.

Alister says he began working on the book because of the “acute lack” of any serious writing about funeral ministry – and he was dismayed by the degree to which Kiwis marginalise death.

“We live in a death-denying society,” he says. “And the church has been seduced by that denial.

“I also wrote it because I had clergy who were saying to me: ‘Can you please just give us a resource on how to do funerals? Funerals 101, if you like.’”

“So, I wanted to write something that would encourage fresh thinking, not only about how we minister in the face of death, but how we regard our own mortality.”

Alister Hendery says he hopes readers of Earthed in Hope  will draw confidence from it to:

• “Enter conversations with people about the Christian hope in the face of death, and to be able to articulate what they believe about post-mortem life.

• “Use our funeral liturgies with greater creativity and care… Our funerals aren’t ‘just for the bereaved’ – they’re far more than the popular notion of a ‘celebration of a life.’ They focus on the dead as well as the living.  They also look forward with a hope rooted in the love of God from which nothing can separate us.

• “Understand the diversity of beliefs that people hold and the questions people are asking;

• “Find a new confidence to engage with people as they ask questions about some of the toughest questions we mortals ever face.

• “Respect the uniqueness of each person’s experience of grief and to explore ways of caring for one another at times of bereavement, loss and change.

Archbishop Philip Richardson has written the foreword to Earthed in Hope , and he gives Hendery’s work high praise. He writes: “I am going to place a copy of this book in the hands of every person I ordain from now on.” ”

Order now eBooks or Print book

Order now eBooks or Print book

Here is Rev Bosco Peter’s review of Earthed in Hope – posted 27 Nov. 2014.

“Māori, the indigenous people of Aotearoa New Zealand, have a very down-to-earth approach to death. The Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia has been very open to being enriched from this tikanga (culture, custom). This means that A New Zealand Prayer Book He Karakia Mihinare o Aotearoa (ANZPB/HKMA), within a relatively small compass, provides rites, resources, and insights from before death, through being with the body (often at home), the funeral, prayers in the house after death, to the committal of ashes, and the unveiling of a memorial.

Now the Rev. Alister Hendery, out of a vast experience of funerals and counselling, and drawing on wide research, has written a book which thinks through dying, death, and bereavement. Archbishop Philip Richardson, in the Foreword, says, “I am going to place a copy of this book in the hands of every person I ordain from now on.” Certainly, this book, I think, is now the standard on this in New Zealand. But I also recommend it to people in quite different countries, cultures, and contexts, if only to set up a dialogue for what is appropriate for you, and to translate the insights into your own setting.

The book is honest and sensitive, acknowledging issues of spirituality ‘verses’ religion, and recognises that so much of our culture is death-denying and uses euphemisms. Alister is candid about the shift to celebrant-led and one-stop funeral events. He rightly challenges the stages-of-grief model that continues to be so widespread.

The book is very well organised, there are clear headings, subheadings, notes, and a helpful bibliography and index. I am honoured to be mentioned (with this website).

Alister discusses the Christian hope of life after death, and includes healthy reflection on doubt. ANZPB/HKMA (like so many funeral rites) uses language of “the sure and certain hope of the resurrection…” Such language may be appropriate in many contexts, but does it sound like overkill in some: “sure AND certain…” Similarly, I wonder about how the language of ANZPB/HKMA is heard in some contexts when we commend the dead person “to God’s judgment and …to God’s forgiveness…”

There is a sensitive chapter on suicide, a topic on which the church has done a full 180 degree turn in its approach.

In our NZ context, we are so used to Maori addressing those who have died (“E ngā mate, haere, haere, haere…”) that we may no longer notice the unusualness in our Prayer Book that we address the person who has died: “… we commend you, N, to… we commit your body to be buried/cremated…”

With a dearth of history and commentary associated with ANZPB/HKMA, Earthed in Hope immediately stands as the definitive work on Funeral Liturgies and Services in the Time of Death section of our Prayer Book. It provides ritual notes, and suggestions for adaptation. I am pleased to see that “At a funeral the Paschal (Easter) Candle, ‘symbolising Christ the light of the world, risen from the darkness of the grave,’ is lit and stands by the coffin. (pages 200, 227 – and in a different way 282). I think the idea of leading out with the Paschal candle (p227) revisions the use of that symbol, and should be added as an option to be raised with families. Sprinkling the coffin with holy water is mentioned immediately before the Commendation or at the Committal as a long-held custom within some traditions (p226). Alister provides a prayer (I’m not sure the symbol needs more words, but it is good the option is provided). There appears to be no discussion about liturgical colour. I think colour needs to be thought through – my own usage is white.

I have no hesitation in heartily recommending this book to all involved in this important ministry. Thank you Alister.”

See Bosco’s post here: http://liturgy.co.nz/earthed-in-hope