Six Feet Under, Naturally

 

                                   Natural Burial image, Glenwood Cemetery,  Prince Edward County 

In life, in death, in life beyond death,
    God is with us.
We are not alone.

    Thanks be to God.

from a New Creed Statement of Faith UCC

Yesterday we found out that a former parishioner with whom we've had occasional contact since my retirement had died. She was a quirky but interesting soul, who loved the arts and creatures great and small. We discovered that she arranged a "natural" burial which doesn't involve embalming and as the cemetery in Prince Edward County where she will be interred describes it: 

The un-embalmed body is placed in a biodegradable casket or shroud and buried without a vault so decomposition can occur. Above ground, the land is restored to its natural habitat, and individual tombstones are replaced with a communal marker. 

This makes sense to me for a number of reasons. The ways in which we bury people in our society are an environmental disaster with chemicals galore for bodily burial and intense energy use for cremation. 

Her choice got me thinking about "natural" burial in the broader sense. We recently revisited the first episode of Six Feet Under, the hit series of more than two decades ago. If you'll recall, the patriarch of a family funeral home is killed in an accident while driving the hearse. His death rocks the dynamics of the family. 

                                                            Six Feet Under Burial Scene

That first episode challenges the conventions of grief at the graveside of the father's funeral -- how many times have we seen families and friends, not to mention crooks and cops in cemeteries? In this instance the mother dissolves into an "ugly cry" to the dismay of one of the sons -- this isn't how it's done. The other encourages her to let out her emotion and then peels back the lavish flower arrangements and astro-turf surrounding the grave so they can grab handfuls of earth to toss on the casket. In a much later episode they address green burial for another family member, a very different experience. 

                                                              Green Burial -- Six Feet Under 

When I began ministry in Newfoundland I was jolted by the raw emotion of funerals and the earthy ways at the graveside. Returning to Ontario I was struck by how "unnatural" and retrained funerals and memorials tended to be, although that has changed over time and with the diversity of cultures now represented in our society.

Is there a right or wrong way to "shuffle off this mortal coil"? Not really. While my faith draws me to affirm my resurrection hope through the Risen Christian it is important to keep the experience of leave-taking honest and real and perhaps as natural as possible. 

                                      Illustration from A New Creed booklet, United Church of Canada