Al's Funeral

[poliphilo]

Al had always said he didn't want any religion at his funeral. So the undertaker provided this beardy guy (they always have beards, I don't know why) who we were informed was a humanist minister.  He started off pretty well- with a long, detailed account of Al's life- but then- about five minutes before the end- he allowed Jesus to creep in through the side door and invited us to praise him, thank him and ask him to do us favours. Ailz turned to me and said. "If Al can hear and there's room in that coffin" (which there won't have been because he was a very big guy) "he'll be spinning!"

It was the coldest night thus far. The temperature at Dukinfield cemetery was two degrees below. On our way there we had the sun setting to the left of us and the moon rising to the right of us in a totally cloudless sky.

Comments

[baritonejeff.livejournal.com]

I am always appalled when someone officiating, especially at a funeral, clearly doesn't have a clue about the beliefs (or lack of) of the person involved.

Often, when situations such as the one you describe occur, it's the family circumventing what they know to have been the beliefs or preferences of the deceased. Sometimes there's a perverse sense of power on the part of the survivors, now that the person is unable to speak for themselves. Other times, it's often the officiator's having been left in the dark, and feeling the obligation to supply what is "expected."

Either way, it's a shame, considering the finality of the situation.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I don't know what happened exactly. We weren't there when he called and spoke to the family. We were told he was an ex-Methodist minister and assumed that meant he was someone who'd left Christianity behind. Well, clearly not. I don't suppose anyone there was offended by what he did. Ailz and I weren't- we just thought it was funny. "He doesn't quite get this humanist thing, does he? she said. "But he's working at it," I replied.