Pink Is the Color for Funerals

I officiated at my first funeral this week.  I’ve helped with a half a dozen or so since seminary, but this time it was just me.  It was for an older (95 years old!) church member who I had not yet met (and now will not meet this side of glory).  I got the call Monday morning that she had passed, and then a second call, asking me to officiate at the service.  I met with two of her sons that afternoon, and they took me over to her house, just half a mile from the church.  It is a pink house, her favorite color.  I had my 23 month old with me, and she roamed around the yard, as the sons explained that once upon a time their family had owned and farmed many of the surrounding acres that I saw. 

I had my daughter with me again at the viewing.  She explored every crevice of the room, climbing in to each and every chair and amusing the grandkids and great-grandkids.  At one point she went over to the open casket, and I watched to see what she would do.  First, she sat down on the kneeler next to it, as it was just the right height for her to sit.  Then, she pointed at the coffin and asked me, “Who’s that?”  After I answered her question, she said, “Night, night.” 

The sons had asked for a short and simple service, and so it was.  I was thankful for a friend’s text that reminded me to “trust the liturgy and trust the Holy Spirit.”  I read the prayers and the chosen Scripture reading and gave a (very) short homily. 

The funeral director offered me a ride in the hearse over to the burial site, which I accepted.  I was amused that an Ozzy Osbourne song was playing when I got in the car!  Also, the pane of glass behind the front seat was reflective, so that you could not see into the rear.  (Perhaps this normal, I don’t know; it was my first time riding in a hearse.)  The director is a native of the area, and so the drive was part tour, part history lesson, and part tourism as he recommended a favorite farm to visit in the fall for fresh-pressed apple cider and activities for children. 

At the cemetery, I led the gathering in the prayers for committal, and that was that.  Short, simple, to the point, not many people gathered outside of the family (since she had outlived almost all of her contemporaries).  The family thanked me and I thanked them for allowing me to a part of this time in their lives.