None of us is Unclaimed to God

 

A callout was posted online this week, looking for volunteer pallbearers to help at the burial of an unclaimed body in Oshawa, and the response it got was tremendous. 

The earth will never be the same again

rock, water, tree, iron, share this grief

as distant stars participate in pain.

 

A candle snuffed, a falling star of leaf,

a death, O this particular los

is heaven mourned; for if no angel cried,

if this one was tossed away as dross,

the very galaxies then would have lied.

 

How shall we sings our love’s song now

in this strange land where all are born to die?

Each tree and leaf and star show how,

the universe is part of this one cry,

that every life is noted and is cherished,

and no one loved is ever lost or perished. 

                                            Adapted from a poem by Madeleine L'Engle 

When I was in ministry in Sudbury, Ontario, a rather solitary congregational member who sometimes volunteered as an usher died. He lived alone in an apartment above a downtown store and he was a private person. Even those who ushered with him knew little about him. with the exception of a barber in the congregation -- Gene knew about everything and everyone in Sudbury, or so it seemed. 

It turned out that the deceased fellow had no family and no will so his bank and the public trustee had the responsibility of wrapping up his affairs. We learned that cremation would take place and then...nothing. I didn't like this at all so I contacted those responsible and asked if there could be a service of some kind and they agreed. The funeral director involved was a member of the congregation and he was willing to provide a room. I contacted roughly a dozen people who knew him and we held a brief memorial service. It just seemed right to do this. 

I thought of this experience when I heard about the dramatic rise in burials of unclaimed bodies in Ontario -- last year there were more than 1400 -- and the funeral directors who put out public calls for pallbearers, the people who carry a casket or urn to a grave. Sometimes a handful of people show up for the burial of a total stranger who is identified only by a first name while in other situations there are more pallbearers than needed. The example given in the CBC story by Haydn Watters was about a man named Michael who was buried in Oshawa and those who responded, including a woman named Mandi Howard. She offered: 

"I do have family out there who are 'unclaimed due to homelessness or addictions,'" she said, shortly after the burial. "I feel like this was healing for me … because none of us are unclaimed."

About a dozen people showed up for the short service at an Oshawa cemetery Wednesday. After making small talk in the parking lot, the group was tasked with hoisting the coffin from the hearse. They laid flowers, read a poem and broke into an ad-hoc humming rendition of Amazing Grace. Howard brought along a drum and played a travelling song.

"I don't feel like I was with strangers," she said. "It truly feels like we were a group of relatives coming together to send somebody off who really deserved to know that they were loved."

While it sounds ad hoc it was respectful of this person who was given a name by others and loved along the way. 

It is disturbing that the number of unclaimed bodies has increased in this way. We think of those who are unhoused, perhaps living in camps and bereft. We don't consider that many of them die this way as well. Thank God for those who are willing to give the gift of their time.