Ask a funeral director...

Today we get back to our interview series with something a little out-of-the-ordinary: Ask a funeral director. 

Caleb Wilde is a licensed and practicing funeral director in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.  He was born from a Romeo and Juliet romance, as his father and mother are the son and daughter of two competing funeral home families.  On his father’s side, Caleb is the sixth generation of Wilde funeral directors and he would be the fifth generation on his mother’s side, giving Caleb eleven generations of genetically engineered undertaking pedigree. (At a young age, Caleb had hoped that this genetic combination would produce mutant funeral powers, but he says that,  alas, at the age of thirty, he has yet to experience anything that could make him into a superhero.)

Caleb also has a graduate degree in theology and will soon have a certificate in thanatology.  He was recently featured on ABC’s 20/20.  He is currently a consultant for a National Geographic project on death.  He blogs regularly at www.calebwilde.com, and is nearing the completion of a book that journals how death has buried his perspective of God.  Caleb hopes to pursue a Ph.D. on the intersection of God and Death.  He is currently without a publisher and a university, so if you can provide either, he promises that undertakers are the last people to let you down. 

Caleb didn’t want to be a funeral director when he grew up.  He always wanted to be a missionary.  After two years with YWAM (Youth with a Mission), he decided that he was called to be both.  For the past 10 years, he has served God in the darkness of death, where God and humanity often intersect.     

And, yes, Caleb does do the embalming.  And, no, Caleb has never seen a ghost … Caleb just thought he’d answer those questions before you all asked.  From topics like postmortem priapisms, funeral etiquette and green burials; to missional living and grieving as an act of worship, Caleb is willing to answer any of your questions. 

You know the drill: If you have a question for Calebl, leave it in the comment section. At the end of the day, I’ll pick the top seven or eight questions and send them to him. We'll post Caleb’s responses next week.  Be sure to take advantage of the “like” feature so that we can get a sense of what questions are of most interest to readers.

I've been a longtime reader of Caleb's blog and am thrilled to introduce him to you again today. (He wrote a guest post for us last year entitled, "What do you have to know to be saved?")

Ask away! 

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See  the rest of our interview series here.