Drugs death - and lousy funeral

TheOldHippie

A friend of the family was found dead by overdose some days ago, a beautiful young woman in her late 20s, who had a young child that had been taken away from her some years ago and whom neither she nor her family - unlawfully - have been allowed to see ever since.

I went to the Lutheran funeral, church all filled up, must have been 300 present, and the priest gave such a lousy performance that I have felt sick ever since. Not a word about the tragedy, not a word about what a terrible place this world is to quite a few, what monsters are lurking out there, not a word of warning when considering her fate towards all the youths in church, not a mention of her child (who, together with the foster parents and family were NOT present), no consolation, no comfort. Just stiff rituals, hear the word of the Lord, listen to what the apostle Luke says, listen to what the apostle Peter says, hear the word of the Lord in the Psalms, let us say a silent prayer, let us say the Lord’s prayer, stand up and receive the blessing, sit down, who has lost these car keys (said within the frame of the sermon!), cleaning his voice, drinking a glass of water because of a soar throat, hear the word of the Lord.

I felt embarrassed to call myself a Christian, at the thought of people unfamiliar with Christian faith thinking such stiff nonsense is all I have to offer, too. I have been to quite a few funerals, and they mostly are the same, although I have been to a couple where the priest has had good and comforting things to say, I have no problems in admitting to that. And I have been to a few JW funerals where the elder has not been up to it, but I have been to quite some JW funerals where the elder HAS given a good, warm, comforting testimony. And, I have held a dozen myself, receiving heartfelt thanks because I have always striven to hold funerals similar to what I would like my own to be – warm, comforting, and above all personal. Real personal.

OK, ending this one now, but I just HAD to let off steam at the lousy performance of this priest.

luna2

I think when whoever is giving the funeral talk doesn't know the deceased its probably hard to do be very personal. Of course there are always those who don't really care if they do a good job or not and just want to get through it. The dubs often just give a sermon with very little that's personal even if they knew the person well....its simply another chance to advertise for the WTS.

I'm sorry your friend died. I'm sorry her life was so messed up that her child got taken away. Very sad.

crazyblondeb

I'm sorry for your loss.

unique1

It is very sad that the preacher was able to offer no comfort. Deepest Sympathy to you and yours.

JWdaughter

That is a sad way to say goodbye to a person who was loved by others. No one should be in the business of giving funeral sermons if they can't do a proper job of it. I am sorry about your friend. My condolences.

Sunspot

Sorry for your loss, OldHippie, and for the disappointment in how your friend's funeral "talk" was delivered.

I have attended many funerals at the KH (or delivered by JW elders at a funeral home) and every one, without exception was an infomercial for the WTS even instructing those in attendance who were not JWs.....to ask a JW to start a study to learn more about their beliefs. It always sickened me to have them use such cheap tactics and to prey upon those in mourning to gain recruits.

Obviously this was not the case in a Lutheran ceremony, but as has been pointed out by another poster----it seemed apparent that the pastor had zero to zip knowledge about the deceased and was trying to wing it. There may have been an underlying cause as to his aversion to be anything but warm and loving while delivering his speech. The situation may have hit closer to home than any of the "hearers" had realized. On some level...he MUST have known things weren't going very well and how it MUST have been affecting those that loved her first-hand.

Whatever the case, it sounds like it was a terrible way to say goodbye...on all counts.

hugs,

Annie