I don’t think any of us missed the body or the casket. We said our good-byes on this earth. We know the next time we will see him will be before the Lord’s throne. We have the hope of the resurrection (which the pastor preached quite powerfully). The death was not sanitized, but the message of conquering death was made clear.

We had a slide show of my father’s life. I made it myself. It went for three minutes with a hymn in the background. One thing that was made clear in the slide show was that my father, in many ways, had been dying for the last five years. He’d suffered through the amputation of both legs, my mother’s death, and the death of three of my brothers. He had a stroke the week before Easter. You could see him aging and weakening, but you could also see the hope of Jesus that he held fast.

I understand where the pastor is coming from. I agree with many of his arguments. But not all–and certainly not in all circumstances.

McCain: That is an ongoing debate among Christians and people of good intention and will can disagree. I think that no matter what we do with the dead bodies of our loved ones, everything depends on the attitude behind our practices. I have heard Christians saying, “Oh, the body doesn’t matter, so we can burn it up.” Now that is a horrible attitude, but one increasingly common. In fact, the body *does* matter and if it did not, our Lord would not have taken on human flesh to redeem us so that our bodies would be raised on the last days. On the other hand, if we are treating our Christian dead as if we have to preserve their bodies for as long as we can, as if this is somehow something that is of help and aid to them, that is problematic on the other side of the coin. I think much is involved in this question that goes to motive and “why are you cremating?” This is, of course, a separate issue from the point of this post. Even if a person chooses to be cremated, I think that it is important for there to be a time of viewing of the dead body of the loved one. Cremation can always take place afterward.

THE DEAD SISTER

“Oh, dearest grandpa, come and see
My little sister Jane;
She’s in the parlour fast asleep-
Why don’t she wake again?

“I’ve called her, but she will not hear-
She’s still as she can be;
she will not even turn her head,
To give one look at me.

“Is it because I was unkind,
That now she will not speak?
I would not give her what she asked,
Not let her kiss my cheek?

“But I am sorry for it now,
I’ll not do so again;
I’ve been to get my box of toys
I’ll give them all to Jane.

“Why was she placed in that cold room,
To sleep there all alone?
She has no other covering
But one sheet o’er her thrown.

“Poor little thing? she must be cold,
For chilly is the air,
Her crib has blankets soft and warm,
Why don’t they take her there?

“They’ve dressed her nicely all in white,
A cap is on her head;
It cannot hide the pretty curls
That round her neck are spread.

“Come see how beautiful she looks,
Although her lips are pale;
Her cheeks are white as mamma’s flowers-
The lily of the vale.

“You need not tread so softly now,
They say she’s freed from pain;
It made me very glad to hear
She’d ne’er be sick again.

“Oh! how I wish that she would wake
And come with me to play;
Papa this morning gave me leave
To stay from school to-day.

“Dear grandpa, come and wake her now,
For she has slept so long;
She’ll kiss your cheek and sing for you
Her pretty little song.”

“My Child,” the weeping grandpa said,
While sobs convulsed his breath,
“Your sister ne’er will wake again-
Her sleep is that of death.

“She’ll never join your sports, my boy,
Nor kiss grandpa again,
For God hath taken to himself
Our darling little Jane.

“It grieved us much with her to part,
But He knew what was best,
And called her to a brighter world-
A home where all are blest.

“For had she lived for many years,
Much grief she might have known,
But pain or sorrow cannot reach
The place where she hath gone.

“Come look upon her lovely form,
Which cold and senseless lies;
The soul that gave it life has fled;
It is the body dies!

“And when ’tis buried in the grave,
“Twill moulder into clay;
But God hath said ’twill rise again
Upon the judgment day.

“‘Tis then that those who loved in life,
Once more will meet again;
And we will see amid that throng
Our darling little Jane.

“Upon that day, the assembled world
Around their Judge will stand;
The dead will rise from earth and sea,
To hear their Lord’s command.

“He’ll say to those who loved him here,
Come dwell with me in light;
The wicked he will bid depart
For ever from his sight.

“Our darling Jane will then be found
Among that happy band,
Whose dwelling-place will ever be
In God’s own blessed land.

“Then let us love and serve him here,
That, when that day hath come,
With her we may be summoned too
To heaven’s bright, happy home!”

McCain: I think an open casket and the viewing of the deceased is important, for the reasons Pastor Peters indicates in his blog site. Our times have “sanitized” and “sentimentalized” death. I can’t speak to what is “right” or “wrong” for you to do. But your personal phobias certainly do not, in my opinion, change the point of Pastor Petersen’s posts. I suspect we see fewer people with these problems if we did not try to push the reality of death as far from us as possible.

McCain response: I’d say unless there is no possible way the body can be prepared for viewing, there is no good reason not to have a viewing. I do not believe cremation is the only alternative if a viewing is not possible. I’d still prefer to have the body there, in a closed casket if absolutely required.