Yesterday Senior was put to rest. He was 83 years of age. I had not seen or spoken with Senior for I would say at least four years. The last time I had any contact was when he had had a stroke and was transferred to the unit where I work in a hospital.Now as far as I can remember, Senior was never interested in religion, of any sort, but particularly Jehovah's Witnesses. As I said, I had not had contact for at least four years however I am certain of the fact that he was demented and so whatever his state of mind at the time of passing, his beliefs when he was of a clear mind should be taken into consideration. This statement is a forethought to what I am about to report.
The service was being held in a United Church. Okay, I accept that; this church is very amenable to all other religions. They are open to just about anything. They have gay ministers in some locales for goodness sake. I thought perhaps the service would be in the chapel of the funeral home handling the burial but this would be okay too. In any case, I arrived just after the service started in the morning... didn't miss much at all really. I slipped into the back of the church and sat down on the last pew. I looked around at the people who were showing their respect for Senior and his family. There was Senior laying up at the front of the church in an open casket. I sat and listened as the Minister (I didn't pay particular attention as to his identity) carried on with his Eulogy. As I sat there my attention was certainly brought back directly to the Minister as the Eulogy had a distinctive familiarity to it. The Minister referred to "Jehovah" which as a former J.W. was not completely foreign to me. What did seem out of place was the fact that a United Church Minister was using God's formal name and quoting scriptures. I truly felt like I was in a time warp. I focused on the speaker and it occurred to me that this was not just any Minister, this was Junior! (I won't point him out in the group pic and he is not the one of the couple in the other pic, I will leave this for you to decide). I didn't recognize him at first because I had not seen him for probably 10 or more years. I was aware that he had succumbed, oh sorry become a baptized Jehovah's Witness but was not aware of at what level he had reached. So there he was, giving a Jehovah's Witness sermon to a room full of non-Jehovah's Witnesses in a United Church with a Cross on the wall and Je.... oh wait.... Jesus! To my utter dismay I took note that the Jesus who had been hanging on the cross at the front of the church had been cloaked with a black sheet. Now, I realize that the United Church tries to be open to all, but come on... seems a bit disrespectful to presume to take over another religious order's tools of the trade and core belief. Now I'm not an organized religion person by any stretch; I am a Christian however. It is no wonder that non-Jehovah's Witnesses think that the JW's don't believe in Jesus Christ. I don't know how many times when I have reported that I had been a Jehovah's Witness that people have asked me a question about whether JW believe in Christ's sacrifice to save us. This experience certainly does not support my usual answer that yes they do believe and that their only salvation is through the belief that Jesus Christ died for us so we could live (it is just where they will live is the gigantic difference between what Christianity believes and what the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of Brooklyn New York teaches). I wondered what the people who run that United Church must have thought being requested to cover up Jesus their Savior.
I don't know who arranged the location of the service. I have been to a few other funerals where the service and eulogy was held in the chapel of the funeral home. My own mother's service was in the funeral home (and not in the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses; yes she was a baptized Jehovah's Witness). My mother did have a Jehovah's Witness Minister sermonize her eulogy - even though he hadn't spoken with her for YEARS. The whole time my mother was hospitalized (and even a few years before) there was very little (almost non-existent) contact with my mother who had been baptized in 1948. In fact I had called this minister who I had known and my mother had known for years and years - (he had been an Elder in the congregation we attended for years) at least a week before she died and she was still lucid to come and visit her but alas, his wife told me that he was busy selling off his BUSINESS (surely he could either take half an hour out of his day or at least send someone else). I'm sure that she would have appreciated ride to and from the Kingdom Hall should they have thought to ask. You see, my mother was different. She was diagnosed finally in her elder years as schizophrenic. She was certainly not a popular Jehovah's Witness. She never fit into any of the various "popular groupings" that usually could be found in any congregation. She died in 1994. Although she had been baptized for almost 50 years, her funeral attendance pretty much consisted of her family (pretty much all of whom were non-Jehovah's Witnesses), a neighbor who lived across the street on Bannerman Avenue, my friend (also a former Jehovah's Witness) and her son, one elderly female Jehovah's Witness who probably was the only one who visited her on a more regular basis and the Minister. I had written the obituary and wanted to speak at the service, however the "Minister" wouldn't allow it. I'm a woman of course and women hold no positions of authority in this "religion". However I digress; back to the here and now.
I do not know who suggested the service be held in a United Church or why. Junior could have done his sermon in the funeral home chapel. There would be no statues or images to cover up. No crosses to worry about covering. I don't know for sure if Senior wanted Junior to do a service for him, no idea, didn't ask that question after the service.... wanted to keep it low key out of respect for his children and grandchildren and cousins etcetera. Funeral's over, another chapter begins.... these questions had to be asked though. I have retold this experience to a couple of other people, one of whom is a spiritualist and even they could not believe how disrespectful this appears. It would have been better to have had a non-denominational minister provide a service with the family saying their respective pieces... even Junior if he wanted to do his sermon because that is his belief. Spirituality is like a food plan. Dietician's promote a balanced diet partaking of all food groups (in moderation). One will never get all the nutrients a body needs unless they have variety. The same goes for the spiritual body. The same menu/diet day by day by day is not only unhealthy but BORING. You have to be aware or even try other foods to be able to choose to keep eating it or to reject it. Isn't this what our mother's tried to teach us as children that we had to eat the green vegetables too? I try not to be biased because believe me I was certainly indoctrinated to be biased. I had my rosy glasses on for a very long time. I have eaten from the tree of knowledge and now have an open mind. Nobody is perfect, everything is not all as it appears, and sometimes a lot of people get hurt before the biggest and most important get taken down by the Powers that Be. And that goes for every religion on this planet.
Well, that's enough from my soapbox. I'd be interested in your thoughts in this matter.... be they positive or negative..... as I said, I have an OPEN mind (if I haven't earlier, I meant to). I read, I listen and I CHOOSE. Jehovah God created us to CHOOSE whether they be good or bad choies. Keep in mind this is my soapbox. This was my experience, my perception; your experiences will certainly be different (or similar perhaps.. whatever). A psychologist I met with a few times quite a few years ago to deal with all the negative experiences I had had in the past and was going through at the time told me that writing things down would help a great deal (by the way the Society do not condone going to secular psychologists/psychiatrists... but as far as I know they don't have any of their own because when I attended they frowned on post-secondary education, but perhaps they have recruited some). Hence I am writing this down. Had to get this off my chest. There, done. Phew!
