Presiding at a funeral last week, I followed the usual protocol of leading a short procession from the hearse to the gravesite. The hearse parked close to a tent that had been erected. The body had been cremated and there was no stand for a casket nor a big pile of dirt thoughtfully covered by a dignified piece of funeral home carpet.
“That’s the spot,” I thought to myself. I headed in that direction leading the lone urn-bearing funeral home employee. There were no pall bearers. Fortunately, I glanced behind after a few steps. I was headed to the tent. The urn was headed in another direction. Seems the family didn’t want to rent a tent. A nice, square hole had been dug. Your humble hacker and plodder semi-retired pastor made a magnificent recovery and marched to the proper spot.
Cremations. They are with us always now. This isn’t news but it is interesting.
I’m semi-retired in the Deep South, Georgia, where there are innumerable Baptist churches more likely than not to be made of red brick, with pews inside, and old hymns sung.
Things are changing.
I chatted up the funeral director while waiting for the visitation to end.
“So, how many of your funerals are cremations these days?” I asked.
He gave an immediate and precise answer: “Fifty-four percent last year. It goes up a few percent every year. Year before last, it was forty-six percent.”
I’m reading that in around half of all funerals the body is cremated.
The part of Georgia I’m in, generally the Atlanta exurban area, is not typical of other parts of the state and I wonder what proportion cremations make up in Unadilla or Nahunta. Probably less. My small group at the church I attend has a wonderful bunch of serious believers who came to Georgia from Minnesota, Arizona, Ohio, New York and other states with strange customs.
It looks odd to see the funeral director place a small urn in a big hearse, although they are made now to accommodate them. I watched as he placed the urn in the slot and secured it with some mechanism. Wouldn’t want the thing to get loose and rattle all around the back of the hearse. I rather like the deliberate, choreographed funeral with a minister, the pallbearers sometimes struggling to carry the heavy casket to the grave site, and then the dignified lowering of it into the grave after the ceremony is over. Guess my day is past.
My read is that cremations are all about economics.
“When we had Momma cremated, it only cost $2,000. When we buried old aunt Cleo, we had her embalmed, bought the casket and all that, and it cost $12,000.
What could one do with $10,000 these days? Take a lot of cruises that depart from west coast ports, I suppose.
Does a cremation make any difference to you as a pastor, theologically or practically?
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My wife sez: “You’ve got to pay more attention in the cemetery and not go walking off on your own.”
“Yes, ma’am,” I reply. My standard answer.
Makes no difference to me. Me and my wife have both settled on cremation. We’d rather leave the extra $$$ for whichever one of us is still alive. The resurrection will occur regardless of our post-mortem state
I agree it is all about the money. I do understand the financial aspects and don’t condemn people who choose that route . I believe that burial of the body is a faith statement to be made by believers. I have noticed that there are more and more secular services without a minister at present.
Dear Brother, it is about economics. I have been a blue collar worker, and not a doctor, lawyer, or Indian Chief. Just a common blue collar worker. In 2016, when the love of my life died, I opted for cremation when the costs of a funeral and all its attendant fees, charges became apparent. Even with a modest life insurance policy, the costs are prohibitive.
So, even as a believer, I had to do what I did.
I have instructed my daughter to do the same to me.
I have been going back and forth personally. I know Al Moler is not a fan of cremation. He considers it inaporopriate for an image bearer. I will be interwsted to what others say.
I realize William Thornton’s propensity for humor and sarcasm (hey I do the same myself), but I don’t think most people are debating whether to put Grandma in the ground in a nice casket, or to cremate and take a vacation…
In an unexpected situation (or maybe even an expected one) most people can somehow come up with $2000. The hurdle of $12000 for a full funeral and burial is unachievable.
That huge cost speaks volumes to the main weakness in our present economic structure in the United States.
IMO we don’t need to go farther than the scriptures in this area. Encourage people to do as they wish.
Cremation has pagan origins? So does embalming. The Egyptians practiced embalming to prepare for the afterlife. Joseph was embalmed, and thus followed this pagan custom. But there is no condemnation of him for that.
The NT contains no mandatory funerary instructions. So how about we don’t make some up.
What’s so natural and biblical about draining all of the natural fluids from the body and filling the body with chemicals? And then placing the body in a casket and then a vault only to be placed in the ground? Are we trying to delay the body’s decay? For what purpose?
Plus, cremation allows for the reinstitution of modern church graveyards, ie, columbariums.
In essentials, unity. In non-essentials, freedom. In all things, charity.
I’m sure the cost of a traditional funeral is driving this. My father-in-law died two years ago, and we ordered the basic funeral package with a casket. Still, the cost was $9000. I can’t think of a Bible passage that speaks to this issue. The Anglican Book of Common Prayer’s funeral rite uses the words, “ashes to ashes, dust to dust.” What difference does it make whether the body of a deceased person is ashes or dust?
Bro. Thornton, off topic, but very relevant, if sbc Orlando gets cancelled this June, do you have any second thoughts on off cite, local state association voting ?
There will have to be some type of meeting to fulfill legal requirements, I think, but I’ll leave that assessment to lawyers.
But no, the remote voting is bad for number reasons.
Having been a hospice nurse and well acquainted with the common methods for the disposition of one’s remains, I once thought I might opt for cremation. I have since learned about what is known as “natural burial”. There are options, but basically one is interred without having been embalmed or “processed” in any way. No concrete vault is required. One may be buried in a traditional casket, a simple wooden box, or nothing but a bed sheet. The grave is deep enough (usually about 4ft) to eliminate access by animals. One such place that I am aware of in my state (there are several) is near Gainesville, FL, and is located in an area with a perpetual designation as a nature preserve where grave sites are marked with a small plaque. Others are located within traditional cemeteries where one may add the usual headstone. As I recall, the cost is slightly higher than some cremations, but many thousands less than what we know as a traditional funeral.
Having someone open a grave and lower my shrouded body into it has a certain appeal to me though I am perfectly content to delay that day until God calls my spirit home.
Ray,
I have heard of this as well and think it’s a great option!
Many cemeteries require a vault because of settling and future maintenance.
Cremation is definitely cheaper. Funeral homes generally prefer it. I read this Russell Moore article years ago and it has always stuck with me. I never condemn choosing cremation, but I encourage burial. http://www.touchstonemag.com/archives/article.php?id=20-01-024-v
A traditional funeral is a dying business.
Wa!!!!!!!!!
For a lot of families, it’s a cost issue. In Memphis, cremations start at $595. Traditional burials start at $2k, which doesn’t include the plot and opening or closing the grave.
Cremations also allow the family to have a funeral or memorial service at the time and place of their choosing. It’s sometimes hard to get family from all over the country in under a week. If a person is cremated, there’s no time constraint about the timing of the funeral.
Green burials are getting to be more common again – simply put the remains in a grave – no chemicals, no concrete. Just a simple pine box or shroud.
Incidentally, modern American funeral embalming came largely from the Civil War. Men died very far away from home – they were embalmed for the trip home so their family could see them one more time. We kept the tradition for some reason.
European cities don’t have room for sprawling graveyards. People rent a grave for a period of time – anywhere from 3-75 years. etc. The bones are then put in columbarium.
That’s not a green burial. That’s Jewish.
Whether the body is buried, burned, or consumed by animals will not prevent God’s power in resurrection. I do not relegate cremation to the category of sin against God – as something inherently evil. The main impetus toward cremation is practical – particularly that of cost. Cremation is much less expensive than burial. This is a true concern for many. (However, burials can be made much less expensive than they often are, but probably never as inexpensive as cremation.)
Burial is the common, dominant and preferred method of disposal of the dead recorded in the Bible. There is a consistent thread of preference for burial among God’s people. God Himself buried Moses and in His determinate counsel chose burial for His Son Jesus. Burial was performed by the early disciples for their own members. The great initiatory ordinance of baptism incorporates the allegory of a burial.
We may not be bound by these descriptions and customs – but maybe it is better to follow our forefathers in the faith than the changing customs of our society?
This whole subject burns me up! Really, when you get down to it the whole process we now have is tradition. We may not want to call it that but that is what the R. Moore link cited above is really about. A Christian religion tradition that was made by man. So to me that means it is an individual choice. Remember the Hebrews wanted signs and to follow tradition, so they buried Joseph. My Mother had a traditional 12000 dollar funeral 2 years ago , lived to be 98 good years, and it was what she wanted and it was nice tribute to a faithful Christian. My Mother in law passed about the same time, asked to be cremated (her choice) funeral was prepaid so money not an issue. She had a lovely memorial service and it too was a nice memorial to a faithful Christian. So if you are into tradition and that is worth it to you and your family that is great , if you are more comfortable with a memorial service with your loved ones that is great.
This has been a helpful conversation. One of the reasons I have been leaning towards cremation is because I am not from anywhere. My Dad was USAF and I have lived in a half dozen places in three states. My kids are also scattered. I really do not want to burden them with a grave to decorate and visit. I think I am back on the cremation side. Thanks!
We pre-arranged our funerals about 20 years ago, and they are the traditional sort. Cremation was uncommon that many years ago, and we gave it no thought. But the nice thing about our arrangements is that our kids will only have to buy flowers, if they want flowers….
Flowers are biblical.
It’s a Gospel Issue you know.
My great-great-great-grandfather William Fariss died in 1835 and was buried at the family farm, out in the boonies of northwest Georgia. About a hundred years later, some “people” got upset that Walker County’s only veteran of the Revolutionary War was buried out where virtually no one could see his grave. So, they got whatever necessary papers signed to re-inter his last mortal remains in a place of honor in the town cemetery in Lafayette, next to his son and daughter-in-law. Well, they went out to the old homeplace and dug down six feet; of course, they found no actual remains, but they took dirt and put it in a wood box. They tied it to the running board on one side of the car (remember this was the 1930s), and the old headstone on the other side, and processed back to the new grave.
When they got there, instead of burying the box, they pried the lid off and tilted it to put that dirt into the new grave; nothing came out. They tilted it further, and still nothing came out. Finally they turned it upside down, and still nothing came out. All the dirt had blown out between the cracks in the boards of the wood box!
Everyone stood around awkwardly, not knowing what to say. but there was an old African-American woman there, said to have been born a slave, and she said, “Lawd ha’ mercy! On de day of resurrection, when de dead come forth from da graves, po’ ole Mister William’s gon’ hafta rise all up and down Main Street!”
Theological concerns over cremation? When you get right down to it, the only difference in cremation verses decomposition is the speed at which each happens. One is no more beyond God’s power to resurrect than the other; and any supposed Old Testament prohibition (I have been told there is one, but have never found it) is really about who one worshiped in life rather than the mode of interment–even if that mode happens to be as dirt scattered along a town street!
At the resurrection when our dust comes together to form a new body, does that mean if a Christian donated their organs to several different people who were not Christians they would drop dead on that day.
Sounds like one of those questions like was posed to the Catholic and maybe Lutheran churches back in the 1600s: if a rat eats left-over bread which has been consecrated for communion, is the rat now saved?