This past weekend I attended a conference at Yale Divinity School, focusing on Pastoral Leadership. I enjoy going to these gatherings because it attracts so many interesting and diverse people in ministry. The conference began with a lecture by Professor Miroslav Volf, a renowned Croatian theologian. His talk was very relevant to the spirituality of deathcare. While talking about "religious malfunctions" he compared the mystic and the prophet. As I've said before, religious deathcare falls into those two categories, if you're willing to polarize the experience. Volf argued that the mystic ascends to experience God and remains within that experience, consuming the Godly experience; whereas, the prophet ascends to experience God and returns from that experience to share the encounter with others. In other words, the mystic encounters God and is mesmerized by Godliness, and the prophet does the same but sees his/her mission as a need to speak prophetically on behalf of God. Of course, there is a moral responsibility when "speaking on behalf" of God, like not implementing one's own agenda to perversely oppress others. However, I understood Volf to be speaking about the prophetic voice and our need to speak prophetically about matters of social justice.
In regards to deathcare, the prophetic voice that is obtained when encountering and experiencing God in death is a voice that calls for the healing of the bereaved and the preservation of a decedent's dignity. The prophetic voice gained from a mystical experience within deathcare views death as a reality that is not solely ugly and can and does possess beautiful attributes, such as the 70 year old woman who lived a wholesome life and is "prepared" to die.
What I hear Volf saying is that our encounters with God (and in this case through an experience with death) leads us to a better understanding of our life and our living. Therefore, through our ascension to wholeness we gain a knowledge about justice and mercy. It is for this reason that spiritualists are called to remove excessive consumption and wastes in deathcare, fulfilling our obligation to the manifestation of God in nature. Similarly, we are called to find new and unique ways to help the bereaved mourn and find healing in their deathcare practices. There is no one right way to do deathcare, as each family needs to express themselves differently, and there is no one structure in which deathcare should be done. It is for this reason that the Institute has principles which create a just model so that families have a guideline to follow when creating their own, unique deathcare practices. However, our society currently has only two practices: cremation and "traditional." Within these two practices, families do not participate other than to make financial decisions and arrive for a brief visitation and liturgy. The construction of a family's deathcare practices fits within a previously developed format with marginal characteristics inserted into it, such as videos, pictures, and some written word.
As spiritualists, however, we are called to define our mystical encounter with God in unique and personalized ways. Our ascension is through our individualized experience and emotions, and from this ascension we gain our new prophetic voice calling for something new, something just, and something Godly.
In regards to deathcare, the prophetic voice that is obtained when encountering and experiencing God in death is a voice that calls for the healing of the bereaved and the preservation of a decedent's dignity. The prophetic voice gained from a mystical experience within deathcare views death as a reality that is not solely ugly and can and does possess beautiful attributes, such as the 70 year old woman who lived a wholesome life and is "prepared" to die.
What I hear Volf saying is that our encounters with God (and in this case through an experience with death) leads us to a better understanding of our life and our living. Therefore, through our ascension to wholeness we gain a knowledge about justice and mercy. It is for this reason that spiritualists are called to remove excessive consumption and wastes in deathcare, fulfilling our obligation to the manifestation of God in nature. Similarly, we are called to find new and unique ways to help the bereaved mourn and find healing in their deathcare practices. There is no one right way to do deathcare, as each family needs to express themselves differently, and there is no one structure in which deathcare should be done. It is for this reason that the Institute has principles which create a just model so that families have a guideline to follow when creating their own, unique deathcare practices. However, our society currently has only two practices: cremation and "traditional." Within these two practices, families do not participate other than to make financial decisions and arrive for a brief visitation and liturgy. The construction of a family's deathcare practices fits within a previously developed format with marginal characteristics inserted into it, such as videos, pictures, and some written word.
As spiritualists, however, we are called to define our mystical encounter with God in unique and personalized ways. Our ascension is through our individualized experience and emotions, and from this ascension we gain our new prophetic voice calling for something new, something just, and something Godly.
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