HELLO!

I begin with sad news. Judy Chaulk has died. Many of you know Derek and Judy, as they began to attend regularly with Bethe and I arrived two years ago. Derek is a superb musician, Judy a warm host, I had the great pleasure of visiting them on several occasions. On Tuesday, as I was about to begin our bi-monthly service at Glasgow Hall, I was asked to join the Chaulk family after our worship time ended. I spent an hour with them, as we sat around Judy’s bed, sharing stories. Judy died later that day. Please keep Derek and his daughters in your prayers. Before you ask, no date has been set yet for the service. I will, as always, let you know.

I spend a lot of time in cemeteries, and while I am not interested in genealogy, I do find it fascinating to read the messages people have on their headstones. When I was in Toronto, I noted something I rarely see here, images of the person, like a photo, on the stone itself. Which begs another question, at what age do you present the deceased on the headstone? My late mother lived to be 66, my father lived to be 84. There is no image on their stone, except for a Pitcher Plant (my mother’s maiden name was Pitcher) but if there was, would we include a photo of them at 20, at 40, at 60, older? On obituaries my experience is the photo of the deceased is about 10-20 years before they died, excepting three groups of people, 1) those who served during wartime (a youthful image of them in uniform, 2) a politician (an image from one of their campaign brochures) or 3) someone crowned the winner of a local “pageant”. One of the churches I served had five different women who had won one or more of these competitions and the photo on the cover of their bulletins came from those years. These three exceptions are very rare. Many funeral bulletins have a photo on the cover from an old church directory.

Speaking of cemeteries, I was asked to record a video for United Churches for Dartmouth. I am not on Facebook but am told one of these links should work: https://www.facebook.com/reel/2120304008898914 or https://www.facebook.com/share/v/19GFdeQP4q/?mibextid=wwXIfr

The Woodlawn Cemetery is a beautiful space, thanks in large part to the great work of Gerald Settle. I see Gerald there almost everyday. My only complaint, when I am presiding at a Committal service and the motorcycles are driving by, it is very hard for those standing near to hear, especially when people other than me as speaking. Since coming here, two years ago, I have been intrigued by the variety of soil/earth families have selected, for us to release into the grave as I say, “Earth to earth, dust to dust, ashes to ashes”. These sacred spaces, where their loved one felt whole and connected, often includes a garden, a cottage, a beach, a park. The biggest challenge, for me, to get the family to bring enough of the earth/soil so everyone can have a large fistful to release. One family brought plastic gloves for everyone, worried dirty hands would somehow feel unclean. That moment reminded me how distant we have become from the earth, how when we are in a sacred moment like this our first instinct is, “my hands are dirty”. Tidy can be better than messy, but not all green spaces were intended to look like golf courses. Peace, Kevin