Cremation

Yesterday I attended the last of five funerals (Celebrations o f Life) within the last two months. In reflection I noted that in each case the family has chosen to have the deceased family member cremated. This is something that was unthinkable to me growing up. I suspect I even considered it wrong and probably sinful.

Of course, by now I have changed my mind and I have spelled out my own desire for

cremation in the appropriate papers and have even paid for it in advance.

While most Protestant Churches (and some Roman Catholics) now approve cremation I try to recall my earlier views and one still held by some today. Some opposed cremation because they judged that the person desiring it somehow or other thought cremation would make resurrection impossible. Resurrection is, of course, a belief that cannot be proven. It is a matter of faith and hope and for many a surety. Others decried cremation because it seemed to dishonor the sanctity of the human body. Still others just never considered that option.

It was not considered an option in my youth. I was born in and lived in a house with the Zion

Lutheran Cemetery just a hundred yards or so away. Every single member of Zion was buried in that cemetery at a very low cost, maybe even at NO cemetery charge. I know all the graves were dug at no charge by members of the church. Now even that cemetery has built a columbarium and

my late brother-in-law law Raymond will be the second person to have his cremains there. I have been active in my current congregation, Calvary Lutheran in Solana Beach CA to install a  columbarium in our sanctuary. Of course, a columbarium holds only cremains. In a couple of days I am assisting in placing the cremains of a former military officer in a three-person space at Fort Rosecrans National Memorial. In the San Diego area burial at sea is very common..

Because I lived in Hong Kong, worked with Chinese brothers and sisters and participated in many burials (no cremations) I checked to see about current practices there. I found that cremation is now becoming quite popular and that in Mainland China the government has dictated that in all major cities all bodies must be cremated. However, the Chinese often still seek very earnestly to have a gravesite for those cremains as they feel it a family duty to return to their ancestors’ burial sites and bring offerings and remembrances.

I close this blog with a somber reflection on the death and cremation of our eldest son David just four years ago. My wife Jane and I took his cremains and decided to strew them in the sea at a spot we loved, to enjoy viewing together from our balcony. I am glad he was cremated and his remains ae part of the Pacific Ocean.That episode is fodder for another later blog. I am glad he was cremated and his remains are now a part of the Pacific Ocean.

And this I believe, that while the mysteries of the after-life are many, the hope of the resurrection of

the body whether after cremation or dissolution remains firm.