In the Shadow of Death

I don't know if it's the rain or what, but I'm inspired to write a bit about death. Every year our church has an All Saints Memorial service when we remember church members who have passed away in the last year. I also usually include some mention of prominent people who have died in the last year as well, whether within the church or not.

This year, Studs Terkel passed away 2 days before the service. In doing so, he did me a great personal service (I'm assuming without meaning to). His obituary in the Saturday paper was what reminded me that I'd completely forgotten to print out the bulletin inserts with which we would have our extra bit of ceremony.

(It went something like this: "Oh! Studs died! That's so sad! I wish I could have included him on the list before I printed it. Oh wait... I never did that, did I? Oooops!!! Well, now I can add Studs! Thanks, Studs!")

So I added Studs and the service was really good. I preached about how church ought to be a place where you can have real feelings, including the need to cry if you want to.

So then, I kept thinking about Studs a little more. And I wondered if our Ecumenical Book Group should read one of his books this spring. I asked them about it and they seemed interested. The only thing is that the book Studs wrote that has the most direct connection to anything that could be called a faith issue, is "Will the Circle Be Unbroken?" which is basically a book about death.

Normally, Studs' books are full of interviews with famous and ordinary people who have a particular issue in common. In this book in particular, it's a bit different since the thing in common is not something they've all been through, but rather something they (and we) will all eventually go through. I think it's probably a really great book.

My question is: What will it be like to spend 12 weeks or more talking about death for an hour every Tuesday? Will it be too much?

I think we will probably take the plunge despite this concern. And who knows? We might even get some new members this way. I've already interested the hospital chaplain (although he's tried to play along before and can't ever make it).

Here's the thing. I believe churches are vital to our society for many reasons, but one of the most important is their inter-generational nature. (Which, I might add, is endangered by certain types of church growth methods! boo!)

The fact that churches bring young people and middle-aged people into contact with old people outside their own families means that we are given multiple models for how to age and how to approach and deal with death. It may not be a gift we want, but it is a gift we need. And where else would we learn those things? No where, that's where.

So anyway, I think we will read the book about death. And I think we'll be fine. And I may even try to recruit a few more young people to join us.


P.S. And it may not be just the rain that inspired me, so this post is dedicated to the memory of Kay Kelley of Tucson and Diane Thomas of Berkeley, friends who passed away earlier this week.