This was a service at a Southern Baptist church for the father of a teacher at my son's school. We had developed a friendship with her over the past few years, and I had met her father, knew about his terminal illness, and I wanted to pay my respects.
I have to tell you, it was a better show than the average JW "ceremony".
First, lots of personal tributes about the man they were memorializing. Uplifting stories, funny stories, serious stories, describing a real life individual that many in that room knew and were going to dearly miss.
Lots of singing! Both from the audience, and from the men's chorus that he belonged to.
Since he had a sideline as a clown (a preaching clown, no less) named "Floppo", red noses were distributed to those gathered, and they requested that they be worn as a sign of remembrance.
The one thing that struck a sour note with me was the assertion that was made by one of the ministers (twice) was that if anyone in the audience was not a "Christian", they needed to be prepared for a destination after death that was not nearly as fun and joyful as the deceased had just moved onto. And of course, I am sure that "Christian" meant "Southern Baptist".
I must confess that I did sing along with the group from the hymnal that was in front of me. I was thrilled to sing something that was more musically complex than the "three blind mice" tunes that have become standard at the hall. SInce a bolt of lightning didn't come through the roof and smite me, I guess I will be okay for a while yet.
It was a little long (two hours) , but those hours flew like an SST in comparison to two hours at a Sunday meeting at the KH. And the daughter was very appreciative of me being there, so it was worth it.
The entire experience really drove home the point to me how sterile, unloving, and un Christian a "memorial service" at the KH is. We want bread, we are given stones.