What an interesting sight!
As we approached the Clearview country cemetery, sunlight reflected off parked vehicles. The dirt road had been winding through harvest-ready fields. Now silhouettes of people were outlined on the crest of the hill. The scene was reminiscent of movies of the Old West — a procession of people winding their way to the graveyard — the graveyard an abandoned piece of land in the midst of grain fields
The occasion was a memorial service for distant relatives of our family — Oliver and Dorothy Winger. Their ashes were to be buried in a cemetery that would overlook their old farmstead. Both died this past year — Dorothy in her late 80’s and Oliver in his early 90’s. Neither had actively farmed for years, but their heart was always with the land.
The service included scripture, tributes, prayer and singing. At the end of the service, all were invited to place a shovel full of dirt over the urns buried in the ground. Drops of rain began to fall. As I left the graveyard I looked around once again. The church building has been gone for years. Imagine the services held here. You came for the day and disbursed for the week, to once again eagerly return next Sunday.
My father had attended this church in his younger days. I can almost see him as a young person eagerly greeting all those who came. Fifty years ago he moved from the district. Could he remember how to get to the church? No problem — the memory is indelible.
At the reception, Dad greeted old friends once again. They no longer look 20. They have aged in half a century. He peers into their faces and sees a likeness. They do the same. The years evaporate. And then those years return as my parents shuffle to the car.
Aging is God’s idea — to steal a phrase from Max Lucado. Being old just means we will soon die. The Christian’s hope? As ones who have accepted Jesus, we will be resurrected in a better body and in a better place.
But until then we will gather at cemeteries to mourn a loss and celebrate a hope.