Yearly Archives: 2016

The funeral season is well known to funeral directors and pastors. 

Usually the time frame for an unusual amount of deaths is over the Christmas season and into the first few months of the new year.

Perhaps, in northern climates, this deals with the dismal season called winter.  Perhaps, during the Christmas season, this deals with depression and suicide.  Perhaps people just run out of breath.

Because that is really what happens.  I was with a dear friend of mine who passed away as the year was finishing.  As she drew her last breath, there was a completion of life, and then she was gone.  When there is no breath, there is be no life.

This Christmas I was a part of three funerals, all held in a week’s time.  Two of them were ones in which I was the officiant.  The other I sang at and was also in on the planning.  All three were related to my parent’s past.  One was my uncle, another a friend from his childhood, and another double-dated with my parents.

Oh the fun!  And I say that with all seriousness.  I enjoy being a part of funerals where there is a strong witness to the life that Jesus Christ gives. 

With this as a background to get me going, I’m starting to write a novel.  The idea of writing a book has been on my heart for a few decades.

The main character is a funeral director.  Out of his character I’m hoping to express the joy of dying, the tensions of serving as a “friend to death”, and a realization of the phrase, “God has a wonderful plan for the rest of your life, and death is part of it.”

I’m calling the book – “THE DIRECTOR”.

And so, the writing has begun.  My mom had a great phrase when things didn’t seem to be getting done as fast as they might have been – “as slow as molasses in January”. 

Well, it is January . . . I’ll keep you informed on my progress.

In the last few weeks I have become particularly aware of a cultural shift.

An atheistic or agnostic society has adopted church type rituals. 

There is now an athiest church.  Celebrations of life at someone’s death.  Midwifery can become a ceremony in itself.  Even destination marriages.

None of these require God.  And all of these contain elements of ritual for which the church is truly suited.

I think we need to be aware of our society’s rituals.  At the same time, is there a way in which our rituals are welcoming for a society lost without God? 

Lost because our pathway ends up going nowhere without God – we live and die . . . and that is it?  What if our society had greater hope than that, and their rituals were from birth to grave and then beyond?

Sounds like the church has all those rituals in place already!

Maybe we just need to tap into the needs of our society and see how we can be of service to them.

These past few months I have been silent on this site. 

• Part of that is moving into retirement – and giving myself space to “do nothing.”  Well, time is up!! 
• Another part is a desire to start writing on a grander scale than just blogging.  That has started to happen. 
• But, I miss the short, pithy pages that outline my life and some of my off the wall thoughts.

So, I’m back.  With a posting on an interesting thought:  “Why do we have things: “

1. Cash – they are a trade commodity. We gain greater (or lose more) money depending on the current value of the commodity. Cash is expected to provide a better life – or at least the option of purchasing better or more enjoyable things.

2. Comfort – there are many aids to our lives which make them easier – drugs, household appliances, paint to highlight walls, desks for writing, beds for sleeping and homes for shelter. At the least these things help us to enjoy our lives by not requiring us to sacrifice or overdo ourselves.

3. Collection – Good art and unusual things are often collected for the sake of cash or comfort. This category goes a bit further, in that aesthetics (the love of the beautiful) plays a part in a collection that does not necessarily provide money or comfort. A collector has a desire to gather around themselves that which is pleasing to them (and perhaps themselves alone!).

4. Creation – Some love to create things that flow from their innermost being. In this case, there is not a particular desire to make money, or to provide a comfortable living situation, or even to keep that which is created (in fact, this may be a point at which the desire is to give to others).