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两周前，我参观了阿姆斯特丹的伦勃朗故居博物馆，从1639年到1658年，伦勃朗·范·里恩在那里生活、画画和出售画作。语音导览将带你参观房屋的每个房间，这些房间是根据伦勃朗在面临破产时拍卖财产时保存的库存精心重现和策划的。当然，墙壁上布满了艺术品。伦勃朗的作品，他的朋友的作品，他的同事和学生的作品。但是，那天早上吸引我的想象力的不是艺术品、家具，甚至是他工作室里的画架。相反，客厅里玻璃盒里的一枚小银质纪念章激发了我的兴趣。
这是一枚丧葬纪念章。一方手持圣路加公会和1634年的武器。另一方面，伦勃朗·哈曼斯这个名字和字母 S. Saint Luke Guild of Saint Luke 由艺术家和制作者组成，他们雕刻、绘画、建造棺材、雕刻等。所有这些制作者都必须加入公会并缴纳会费才能在阿姆斯特丹市制作手艺。而且，从1579年起，预计公会的所有成员都将参加其他公会成员或其妻子的葬礼。Saint Luke's 的每位成员都会获得一枚奖章，上面印有徽章和他们加入公会的年份以及他们的姓名和职业。因此，我们有伦勃朗·哈门斯（当时众所周知），他于1634年以席尔德或画家的身份加入公会。公会成员去世后，公会的仆人会将奖章分发给他们的主人，然后主人将在葬礼上再次交还奖章。如果你未能参加葬礼并交出纪念章，则必须支付罚款，每发生一次缺勤事件，罚款就会增加。从罚款中筹集的资金用于帮助那些有经济需要的公会成员。这种做法并非没有争吵。到1621年，公会已经变得如此庞大，以至于跟踪所有人是站不住脚的，因此他们只需要自己职业或手艺的成员在场即可。但是，究竟什么构成一个人的 “手艺” 还有待商榷。1735年，优秀的画家或艺术画家（kuntschilders）似乎觉得他们不必参加房屋画家（kladschilders）的葬礼。为了解决这个小问题，区别被取消了，每个人都变成了 schilder。1尽管有证据表明并非所有人都欣赏或观察到公会的这一要求，但这让我印象深刻，这是一种了不起的练习。无论你是否熟悉，预计你都会参加社区中某人的葬礼。社区出来向自己的一个人表示敬意，用汤姆·朗在《好葬礼》中的话说，“一个人的死代表着整个社区的后腿，不仅是向死者鞠躬的机会，也是提醒自己生命的短暂性和生死意义的机会。” 2 如今，我们的社区意识并没有那么强烈。如果我们用 “教会” 代替 “公会”，那么整个会众都会出来参加教会同胞葬礼的想法会让我们中的许多人感到难以置信。当然，如果我们很了解某人，我们会参加。但这不仅仅是因为他们是社区的一员。朗（在 Companing Them with Singing 中）认为，我们的社会已经开始将葬礼视为悲伤管理和安慰失去亲人的场合。因此，我们可能更倾向于参加探视，在那里可以在更私密的环境中提供这种安慰，而不是葬礼，在葬礼上，我们只能坐在长椅上。3但是，朗说，在葬礼上，教会充当教堂。是的，葬礼是一个安慰的机会。但更重要的是，这是 “福音的戏剧性表演，它为死者、基督徒社区和圣徒的共融，乃至整个人类阐述了生死的意义。”在基督徒的葬礼上，我们讲述了一个叙述，宣称拥有最后一句话的是基督耶稣里活着的上帝，而不是死亡。因此，“葬礼上需要商人、牙医和教区居民同胞主要是为了给予或接受安慰（尽管确实如此），而是因为他们在剧中扮演重要的角色。他们需要'上台'才能在死亡之际表演福音故事。” 4 我想知道如果我们把这当作基督徒葬礼的主要目的，如果我们每个人都认为自己有 “在戏剧中扮演重要角色”，那么教会里会发生什么。我知道——世界已经发生了变化，除非所有葬礼都在周六早上或周日下午举行，否则那些工作或正在上学的人很难参加。但是*如果*我们开始举行葬礼呢 在星期六早上或星期天下午，这样整个基督的身体就可以出席，可以参与，可以上演这部关于死后生活的戏剧，能否见证圣徒圣餐超越时空的真理？我的直觉是，这将深刻地抵消我们社区中猖獗的个人主义、孤立和孤独。我确信这将帮助我们共同更好地谈论死亡、痛苦和生命的意义。而且我怀疑这将帮助我们更加优雅、谦卑和热情好客地度过会众中的棘手时刻。毕竟，基督徒葬礼的戏剧性的一部分是宣称，伊丽莎白·约翰逊说：“死亡的破坏力无法切断使人们团聚的纽带，因为这些纽带是恩典、爱和上帝自身存在的共同体。在死的时候，人会落在永生的神里，被永远忠实的慈爱所复活。” 5 就像死一样，在生活中也是如此。
I. H. van Eeghen，tr.贾斯珀·希勒格斯，“17世纪的阿姆斯特丹圣路加公会”，《荷兰艺术史学家杂志》，第4.2卷（2012年夏季），
Thomas G. Long 和 Thomas Lynch，《好葬礼：死亡、悲伤和关爱社区》（肯塔基州路易斯维尔：威斯敏斯特约翰·诺克斯出版社，2013 年），205。
Thomas G. Long，《陪他们唱歌：基督教葬礼》（肯塔基州路易斯维尔：威斯敏斯特约翰·诺克斯出版社，2009 年），92。
同上，94。
Elizabeth A. Johnson，《上帝之友和先知之友：圣徒圣餐的女权主义神学解读》（纽约：Continuum，2003），70。
You are so right. So right. My first five years of ministry were spent in a very traditional Hungarian Reformed church in urban Jersey, where everyone came to all the funerals. And they were thoroughly ritualized over the course of three days, with specific patterns of bell-ringing, and two prayer services besides the actual funeral with its processions and full liturgy and specific hymns, and then a small group of the older men, for example, would be sure to be at the graveside to sing the final hymn, not mention the quick luncheon and beer for the crew aftertward followed by the major meal at The Elks hall,, often including dancing. The joke was that you kept your church membership just for the right to get the funeral. The Funeral liturgy in the 1968 Liturgy of the RCA is one of my favourite rites in the whole tradition, and the long prayer is magnificent. Funerals belong in church, and sanctuary floor plans need to accommodate rich funerals. With processions! Yes, at funerals we become church, witnesses to the Gospel of life and death. You are so right.
Thanks for a persuasive and provocative argument for recovering the drama of the funeral service. Too often, unfortunately, the drama of God’s work in our lives is set aside for vignettes of the life just ended. Another symptom perhaps of a church whose members see themselves as solo practitioners of Xty more than members of one body.
No man is an island,
Entire of itself,
Every man is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manor of thy friend’s
Or of thine own were:
Any man’s death diminishes me,
Because I am involved in mankind,
And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;
It tolls for thee.
John Donne
Having just attended a Saturday backyard white-tent party memorial for a dear friend at odds with the church yet whose life and acts of grace touched many family/friends/strangers from many walks of life—many of whom also attended—this article resonates deeply with me. At the same time I’m saddened not to be able to attend the funeral of a community pillar, the first principal who I served under as a rookie teacher, whose death was just announced yesterday and whose funeral will be tomorrow, a Friday.
Thanks so much, Laura, for this claim that the church, not only the family, remembers and also celebrates (I use that word deliberately) that “In Life and In Death” we belong to God. The quotes refer to the first ever “Pastoral Guide for Funerals” in the CRC, much needed then and still so helpful, written and compiled by Len Vander Zee; I had the privilege of helping get that published back in 1992, part of my work as music and liturgy editor at that time in the CRC, a very different time in our church and in our culture.
This morning, I received notice of the death of a colleague’s wife, neither of whom I know well. Yes, I will attend the funeral, because that is what we do as the church. Surprisingly, and sadly, the service it is not in the church.
Oddly, though I did not grow up in the church, our family always attended the funerals of relatives, friends, and neighbors. In fact, I was told I went to my first wedding at 3 months old, and my first funeral at 5 months old. Perhaps we were more “church” than we ever knew!
Your careful parsing of this this subject during your time with us has had such a profound influence on my view of funerals. Also, playing funerals for 52 years and watching them become occasions for 40 minutes of remembrances that, I believe, belong within the circle of the family, leaving about 15-20 for the Word to be spoken. David is right. Thank you for caring about this part of our lives – from birth to death – a member of the body.
Once again,we’ll put. Keep putting it so clearly and tightly. It’ll preach and needed now more than ever.
As missionaries in our early 20’s in Zambia we were stationed in a place where there were no other Western missionaries present. When a young girl whom we loved died of sickle cell disease we took our cues from the church people and began attending the multiple days of mourning at the home. Multiple choirs sang in the afternoon and evening from multiple denominations along with multiple sermons and a central meal in the evening for anyone present. Then people bedded down in the house and yard to sleep. Because we had resources and a motorbike we volunteered to help source food. Each night around ten pm we were told to go home and rest there. So we did as instructed returning the next day with food in the afternoon. It all seemed as natural as breathing. Years later in our presence the most senior member of the denomination stood up at a meeting and told the story about some young missionaries who once upon a time attended a funeral as though they were members of the family and how that had forever endeared themselves to their Christian bothers and sisters. We didn’t know it at the time but had since learned that showing up counts and showing up at times of celebration and mourning counts even more. Thank you for reminding me of this truth.