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Senior Pastor's Report
Rev. Dr. Fred G. Garry
Changes in Death and Dying
If the earthly tent we live in is destroyed we have
another house, a home not made with hands,
eternal in the heavens. 2 Corinthians
When any person departs this life, let the corpse
be taken care of in decent manner; and be kept a
proper and sufficient time before internment.
When the season for the funeral comes, let the
body be decently attended to the grave, and
interred. During such solemn occasions, let all
who attend conduct themselves with becoming
gravity; and apply themselves to serious
meditation or discourse: and the minister, if
present, may exhort them to consider the frailty
of life, and the importance of being prepared for
death and eternity.
Directory for Worship in the Form of
Government of the Presbyterian Church.
From 1789 until 1960 the only direction for
funerals given to the church, its pastors and
parishioners, was the above. It was brief; it
was mostly about decorum; and it was meant
to foster a moment of sober reflection.
After the 1960s this “direction” would
undergo a number of revisions, from minor
to completely new. With each revision the
directions became more involved and
elaborate. Mostly though each new direction
described a worship service in a church. The
early direction was about a burial and prayers
at that time. But then all this changed.
Essentially the change was twofold. The first
was that the original direction for burial was
for people living in an agrarian world where
friends and family prepared bodies for
burial. As we became a more urban/
suburban people we no longer did this.
There were no family plots on the farm
or in the churchyard.
The second change was that people started
to live a lot longer and the infant mortality
rate fell. With this death became more of
an event than a normal part of life. Death
didn’t really have a place in life. Death in
the 20th century became a kind of strange
occurrence rather than an essential balance
and rhythm of life.
As a culture we have yet to truly process
these changes. We don’t really know what
to do at the time of death. We talk about
being prepared as if it is something “out
there” not something ever present.
After Easter I will offer a short class on the
resurrection. I will call it an Easter Class.
During the meetings we will talk about the
parts of a funeral and where they come
from; we will look at the changes in our
culture and how we view death and dying;
and then we will talk about grief. At the
end of the classes you should walk away
with a booklet that will help your family in
the event of death, but you will also walk
away with a good understanding of what it
means to put hope in the “house not made
with hands”. Understanding this doesn’t
remove the challenge of loss, but it does
make it clear what we lose and gain.
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