From Burial to Resurrection

When we visited Uswaa in 2009 we attended a funeral. Most of us did not want to go. We had no connection to this person and we felt like we would be an obvious distraction to a family in grief. In the end it was quite the opposite. We all said it was one of the most, powerful experiences we could have had.

On this trip I’ve attended two funerals now and while it seems like the strangest thing to say, they have not been a disappointment. I’ve been thinking about how in the U.S. I never see dirt at funerala, it is all covered up in artificial turf and pretty fabric. Are we afraid to admit that we are dust and to dust we shall return? In Tanzania, there is dirt and somehow the dirt makes it more real.

The funeral includes a burial service in which you see the casket placed in the ground, the hole filled with dirt, a cross put in place, the burial spot encircled in rocks and then adorned with flowers. It all happens with a choir singing in the background and a perfectly orchestrated crew of family members working to bury their loved one.

The other thing is that crowds of people attend these funerals. It is an event that brings out the entire church community. They care about each other and if at all possible they make sure to attend the funeral service of a fellow Christian. The two services that I’ve attended in the last two weeks have been held right at the person’s home, burial and all. The crowds that gather pack the little yard, the back yard, the woods, and the road.

Since there were so many people at the last service I knew John would have a hard time seeing the burial.  As a pastor, I get to stand right in front (I know it sounds strange to say “get to”) and so I tried to get a slide show of the burial process. When we watched it later it seemed to say resurrection to us. See what you think:

"The grass withers and the flowers fade,

but the word of our God stands forever."

Isaiah 40:8 (NLT)