Readings: Proverbs 1:20-33, Psalm 19, James 3:1-12, Mark 8:27-38.
The Church World Service CROP Walk coming
up: Please support walkers who are looking for sponsors during Coffee Hour
and consider walking yourself. The walk is scheduled for Sunday, October 25th.
Gretchen Behr-Svendsen is our contact person.
Our Annual Harvesting Party will take place
a week from Saturday – on September 19th, beginning at 9 AM! This is the
event at which we harvest the gourds and squashes that Gretchen planted in May,
wash them down, and prep them for sale at our booth at the Sandwich Fair. [See
last week’s MEMO for more details.]
Calling all bakers!!! It’s Sandwich Fair prep time! If you’re willing
to help with some baking, please call Chris Mills at 603-452-4049 or email at alba4me@yahoo.com. She has a standard
recipes to share for the whoopee pies and I will provide more details to anyone
who calls or emails. Make some now and freeze them, or commit now to baking
later and have us count on you! Thanks.
Contacting Elizabeth Wiesner. Elizabeth
is now at Epsom Manor, 901 Suncook Valley Highway, Epsom, NH 03234. She can be
reached at her cell number: 603-520-4220. She continues to be grateful for the cards,
prayers, and messages from the parish. She expects to return home on September
22 to continue her recuperation.
Food for thought from the Rector on Green Burials and Home Burials...
What
are they? And an opportunity to learn.
At the
time of Karl Svendsen’s death in July, many of you became aware of the concept
of what has become known as a “green” burial. Very briefly, green burials
represent a return to the very traditional burial practices of our forebears,
before the days of funeral homes, when deaths took place at home and the family
and close friends were present for the person’s passing, and were involved in
tending to the body at home, building the coffin, and ultimately interring the
body without embalming, so that the earth itself is not chemically polluted. It
offers an intimate and tender approach to the death of a loved one.
Even if
all aspects of a green burial may not be a preference for you
personally, it may well be that some (or many) aspects of it might be. For
Christians in our tradition, a funeral may be held in the church one to three
days after the death, followed immediately by the graveside committal service,
or the order may be reversed – with the body interred with a brief graveside
liturgy a day or two after the death and a funeral/memorial service following
at a somewhat later date.
Saint Andrew’s
has been privileged to be involved with two such deaths and burials – that of
Peter Booty (son of Kitty Lou and John, brother of Jane Booty Horn, and husband
of Diane Decker Booty) several years ago, and that of Karl Svendsen (husband of
Gretchen Behr-Svendsen) this past July.
Gretchen
and Diane will be teaming up Julie Lanoie, a hospice coordinator and
local green burial educator and support person, for a two-part presentation next Wednesday, September 16th, at 7 at the
Cook Library. The first session will focus on several local people sharing
their experiences, their reasons for choosing home burials, and how caring for
their own helped them with the grieving process, etc. The second session, on September 30th, also at 7 pm, will focus on
the "how-to" details, supported by photos that clearly demonstrate
the process of moving, preparing burial site, etc. I am sure that explanation
of legalities (yes, it’s legal) and the necessary specifics of permitting regulations
will also be discussed.
I expect that
most of us in this parish grew up with a sense that the process around death
and burial was a topic of discussion and inquiry that was to be avoided as best
as possible. Of course none of us can
possibly avoid it completely, but within a relatively few generations what
was at one time considered a normal and necessary part of life has been “handed
over to the professionals” (i.e. funeral homes and the burial industry), and a
myth has been perpetuated that grieving family members should be relieved of contact
as quickly as possible with someone who has died, lest the presence of the body
be too upsetting. Furthermore, in our culture we’ve been
persuaded that the expensive services offered by funeral homes
are somehow necessary indications of our love and respect! Thanks in part to the Hospice movement, we are learning to
befriend death, and we are coming to realize something very important is lost from the
grieving process when the body is immediately whisked away.
There is
power and comfort in being aware of alternatives, and the best time to give
serious thought to such things is when you are still alive and thinking clearly! Even if you think you have absolutely no personal
interest in a “home” or “green” burial, I encourage you to push past any
hesitations you might have and come to these presentations! As a community of
faith, we owe it not only to ourselves but also to each other. Afterall…
None of us has life in himself,
and none becomes his own master when he dies.
For if we have life, we are alive in the Lord,
and if we die, we die in the Lord.
So, then, whether we live or die,
we are the Lord’s possession.
Romans 14:7-8 and the Burial Office, BCP p. 491
and none becomes his own master when he dies.
For if we have life, we are alive in the Lord,
and if we die, we die in the Lord.
So, then, whether we live or die,
we are the Lord’s possession.
Romans 14:7-8 and the Burial Office, BCP p. 491
We're familiar with the adage, "It takes a village to raise a child." It may also takes a parish family to companion a person and his or her family in a holy death and burial.
See you in
church,
Blessings, Heidi+
Blessings, Heidi+
