An interesting post over at Annie Rambles. Annie is thinking ahead and laying down her ideas of what she would like to happen once she dies.
She doesn’t want a traditional funeral and she doesn’t want a lot of expense or bother. She outlines a lot of what she doesn’t want, but what does she want? I would like the few people who care to gather at some point after my death and look at my scrapbooks, talk about me (hopefully in a kind manner), eat some food, sort through my things and give them away.
I know exactly what Annie means.
I don’t want my body displayed in a coffin either, but if it helps my immediate family to deal with my death then I’d be OK with that. A public viewing is certainly not what I’d want.
I want to be cremated and like Annie, I don’t want my ashes stored anywhere. There won’t be any part of me left in those ashes so I’m happy for them to be scattered …. anywhere.
Annie doesn’t want a service but I’d be happy for a service that celebrated my life. I want my friends to get together and have a great time remembering the times we shared. I want some of my cycling friends to turn up on bikes. I want video and photos projected on a big screen. I don’t want to be honoured like you would honour anyone famous, I just want to be remembered as someone who enjoyed his family and faithfully served God to the best of his ability.
I would also hope that the service would be a time where family and friends could forgive me for the times I’ve fallen short or let them down.
After the service I’d like friends to get together with a coffee or a few beers, or even better still with a glass of red in hand, to reminisce. I’m confident I’m on may way to somewhere better so I want those who remain to celebrate.
How about you? Have you ever thought about how you would like to be remembered? What would you like to happen when you’re gone?
UPDATE: Claire has left a comment which raises questions about cremation. I didn’t want her comment to be left unnoticed so I thought I’d point you towards it. Once you’ve read what she has to say you might like to leave a comment yourself about how you would like to be remembered or about what you think of cremation vs burial. Thanks Claire for your thought provoking comments.
Posted by Rodney Olsen
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Interesting…I thought quite a bit about this after my second stroke (almost 3 years ago). For me it is important to not be cremated. I think it stems from the pagens using fire/cremation in the Old Testament and I don’t ever want to be associated with anything pagen. But, that is just me. I have other friends who desire to be cremated. I think the other reason is that our body is important to God. I look at the death of Sarah in Gen 23 and read how important the burial was. As I read Gen 2:7 about God forming Adam and he became a living being (nephesh). Adam wasn’t a living human being until he had both material (physical) and immaterial (spiritual) components. So the essence of humanity is not just spirit, but spirit joined with body. Your body does not merely house the real you—it is as much a part of who you are as your spirit is. Even though I know that God can restore my body from ashes when He gives me my resurrected body, I’m just not going to choose that path on my own.
This is my first visit to your blog, I’ve popped in from Saija’s blog. Thanks for causing me to stretch my thinking! I’ll be back for more interesting reading.
I haven’t given it a great deal of thought, but have had a few thoughts on the matter.
1. Donate any organs that are still useful.
2. Have a simple funeral much as you described.
3. Be cremated.
4. Have my ashes scattered by somebody riding a bicycle along a picturesque stretch of road somewhere.
I like your style Bruce. 🙂