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Still A Fortnight 'Til The Funeral
Jan. 10th, 2023 08:30 amI'm looking forward to gathering up all the emails relating to my mother's death and funeral and sweeping them into the trash. I could probably lose most of them now but- as with paper documentation- I'm always afraid of putting myself in the wrong with the world by ignorantly destroying something of vital importance.
Today we'll be talking- via Zoom- with the minister who'll be presiding at the crem. Having once been on the other side of the counter in such transactions, I shall be partly engaged and partly sitting to one side taking a professional interest. When I was a curate the vicars I worked with taught me to despise the crematorium jockeys- retired or non-stipendiary priests who are retained by the crematoria or the undertakers (I'm not sure which) to conduct funerals on a disassembly line, so depriving the parish clergy (who are immensely territorial) of the chance to comfort and evangelise the relatives of dead parishoners. Now I think, "Nice work if you can get it."
I just did the calculation. I was thirty five when I quit the Ministry- and that's over half a lifetime ago. Over half a lifetime since I last had a steady job with prospects. At the time I made a pact with the Universe which went something like- "If I renounce ambition and wealth will you make sure I never actually land up in the gutter?" And the Universe said, "Why not?"
Today we'll be talking- via Zoom- with the minister who'll be presiding at the crem. Having once been on the other side of the counter in such transactions, I shall be partly engaged and partly sitting to one side taking a professional interest. When I was a curate the vicars I worked with taught me to despise the crematorium jockeys- retired or non-stipendiary priests who are retained by the crematoria or the undertakers (I'm not sure which) to conduct funerals on a disassembly line, so depriving the parish clergy (who are immensely territorial) of the chance to comfort and evangelise the relatives of dead parishoners. Now I think, "Nice work if you can get it."
I just did the calculation. I was thirty five when I quit the Ministry- and that's over half a lifetime ago. Over half a lifetime since I last had a steady job with prospects. At the time I made a pact with the Universe which went something like- "If I renounce ambition and wealth will you make sure I never actually land up in the gutter?" And the Universe said, "Why not?"
