wfn.org | Cremation gains wider acceptance among Christian faith traditions

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

Nov. 15, 1999	New media contact: Linda Green·(615) 742-5470·Nashville,
Tenn.     10-21-30-71BP{611}

NOTE: A photograph and sidebar, UMNS story #612, are available with this
report.

A UMNS Feature
By Linda Green*

Several years ago, Richard and Joyce Reeves' decision to have their bodies
cremated at death would have been unusual.

Today, however, increasing numbers of people are choosing cremation for a
wide variety of reasons.

"We both opted for cremation," said Joyce Reeves of Decatur, Ill. "It is our
belief that we've used the body and now the spirit has been released."      

When Richard died June 2, Joyce followed through with his wishes to have the
body cremated, and now the family is considering the appropriate places to
scatter the ashes. Richard, 79, a prominent United Methodist layman and a
major benefactor of Africa University, was recovering from bypass surgery in
the hospital when he died.

Cremation was also the choice for the family of John F. Kennedy Jr., the son
of the late president. He, along with his wife and sister-in-law, died in an
airplane crash last July. Their bodies were discovered after a search of the
waters near Martha's Vineyard. The families chose to have them cremated, and
their ashes were buried at sea. Kennedy was returned to the waters where he
had enjoyed sailing, sea kayaking and even searching for a sunken pirate
ship.

The practice of choosing cremation instead of bodily burial has been gaining
wider acceptance among Christian faith traditions. The United Methodist
Church, like other Protestant denominations, provides for that as an option
in its funeral and burial liturgies.

Historically, however, such general acceptance has been gradual.

Cremation has been practiced throughout the world since ancient times, with
religions and nations developing unique customs and rituals. The process
represented the rebirth of the soul for ancient civilizations, which
believed that the burning flame would purify the soul and ward off evil
spirits. 

What has remained constant among religions and nations practicing cremation
has been the belief that it is a meaningful form of memorializing someone,
according to the Cremation Association of North America (CANA). 

Cremation is forbidden by some traditions, including the Parsi and Baha'i
faiths, but it is widely practiced by Hindus, Buddhists and Sikhs. Beliefs
differ among Christian groups; some, such as Protestants, have no
objections, while others, particularly Roman Catholics, generally frown on
the practice because they see it conflicting with their belief in the
resurrection of the body.

A CANA survey showed that of the U.S. residents and Canadians whose remains
were cremated in 1996-97,  55 percent were Protestants, 26 percent were
Catholics, 11 percent were Buddhists, 3 percent were Jews and 2 percent were
Hindus.

Christian practices

The Scriptures do not speak directly to the issue of cremation, but "the
practice was repugnant" to early Christians because of their belief in
bodily resurrection, said the Rev. Dan Benedict, an expert on worship
services at the United Methodist Board of Discipleship in Nashville, Tenn.
Based on the evidence of the catacombs in Rome, burial was more common in
those days, he said.

Through the centuries, the Roman Catholic Church forbade cremation, though
the practice had been informally permitted since 1963. In 1989, the Vatican
announced that cremation was no longer forbidden and bishops' conferences
could seek permission to perform the act. Last year, the Vatican gave
approval for U.S. Catholic bishops to allow for the full celebration of the
church's funeral rites in the presence of cremated remains and approved
language of texts to be used in the rites.

Protestants have not been opposed to cremation and do not see any conflict
with the belief in the resurrection of the body, Benedict said. God will
accomplish the "resurrection of the body" whatever the disposition of the
corpse, he said.

"The Scriptures make it clear that we are dust and to dust we shall return,"
said the Rev. Hoyt Hickman, who is the former director of worship resource
development at the Board of Discipleship. "Resurrection is not relevant.
Paul says it is 'sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body.'" 

Although the United Methodist Book of Discipline does not specifically
address cremation, the disposition of the body is a profound matter of
stewardship, Benedict said. "The act is a way to be good stewards of our
bodies in death, and a simple and humble way of letting go our bodies."

The denomination has no proscriptions against cremation, according to
Hickman. He helped create the United Methodist Church's funeral and memorial
services, and he noted that all of the denomination's liturgical resources
clearly indicate the act as an option. 

The church offers "an implicit recognition" of the practice and an
invitation to consider the act, as evidenced by the United Methodist Book of
Worship, Benedict said. The "Service of Death and Resurrection," contains a
reference to placing the pall over the urn (the pall is a black or white
piece of velvet used to cover a coffin, urn, hearse or tomb), and the book
also provides for the "Service of Committal" to be "adapted for cremation or
interment of the ashes..."

The name, "A Service of Death and Resurrection," has two intentions. It
stresses the emphasis of the service as a truthful recognition of death and
a faithful witness to the resurrection. The name also invites flexibility in
the means of disposition of the body, Benedict said. 

"To call the service a funeral, or burial of the dead, or a memorial service
would lend itself to a more restricted sense of what is appropriate," he
said. "The service is designed for adaptation to a number of usages and
practices." 

When ashes are spread in a memorial garden, people feel that what's growing
there is being nurtured by the remains, Hickman said. "By scattering, the
ashes are returned to the cycle of nature.

"Cremation does rapidly what nature does slowly," he said.

A congregation's journey

Although cremation is becoming more widely accepted, it is still a concept
that often requires people to change their way of thinking about death and
burial.

Members of St. Timothy United Methodist Church in Mandeville, La., came
around to the idea of having a memorial garden only after a lot of prayer.
Older members wanted to know how they could have a beautiful and sacred
resting place despite the rising cost of funerals and burials. 
The congregation realized that with land expenses and Louisiana government
regulations, building a cemetery was out of the question. 

The congregation came to grips with cremation and the spreading of ashes
when they realized the meaning of the phrase "ashes to ashes, dust to dust,
and to dust we shall return," said the Rev. Frances Hooton, associate
minister. "The hardest part of cremation is a loved one's accepting that
what is in that little box or urn that weighs 25 to 30 pounds was a person."

After much questioning and praying in the congregation, "we realized that
there is no theological reason for United Methodists not to be cremated,"
Hooton said. Once members concluded that "the soul goes to God and the
person lives on forever in memory," they embraced the idea of having the
garden, she said.

Three years of planning, fund-raising and other work followed. The garden
was finally opened in March and consecrated in May. 

The congregation spreads ashes and does not bury urns because of government
regulations, Hooton said. In addition to spreading ashes, people can place
plaques on the wall of the garden.  The garden, surrounded by a wrought-iron
fence, contains two flowing fountains, three wrought-iron benches, two
"eternal flames" and a handcrafted cross.

Using the Episcopal Church's Book of Common Prayer as a basis, Hooton
created a private ceremony to accompany the new memorial garden as a place
for prayer, remembrance and the interment of ashes.

A place to grieve

Cremation or any other funeral service options should not be selected as an
attempt to hasten or circumvent the grieving process, which is a necessary
part of readjusting to life after death has delivered a great sense of pain
and loss, according to the National Funeral Directors Association, based in
Brookfield, Wis.

Some people need a conventional burial to help them with their grief,
Hickman said. It helps them to go to the cemetery and visit the gravesite.
But regardless of whether the person is buried or cremated and the ashes
spread or placed in a columbarium, the remains only represent the person, he
said. 

St. Timothy's memorial garden provides loved ones "a place to grieve, a
place to remember, a place to grow and hope," Hooton said.

"We are connected to the past, present and future when we go to the memorial
garden," she said, "remembering that God not only gives us abundant life
today, but eternal life for all time."

# # #

*Green is news director of the Nashville, Tenn.,-based office of United
Methodist News Service.

*************************************
United Methodist News Service
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