Volume 33

Each culture and every era has a set of burial customs and our time is no exception. But the latest trends are taking things to new highs — or lows, depending on one’s perception.

In Houston, Texas, a company called Celestis puts a small amount of cremated remains into an aluminium cylinder the size of a lipstick tube which is then placed aboard a NASA spacecraft and blasted into an orbit around the earth or the moon. LSD advocate Timothy Leary and Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry both chose that out-of-this-world option.

For those who want to stay closer to home, LifeGem in Chicago compresses cremated remains — cremains — into manufactured diamonds. After all, diamonds are carbon, which is the same material humans are made of, and the technology to make gems from carbon has been around for more than 30 years. LifeGem diamonds have a blue tint because of the boron found in human remains and clients usually have the stones set into jewellery.

In a variation on that theme, a Mississippi company called Eternally Yours incorporates cremains into original works of art. A few tablespoons are sprinkled over one-of-a-kind paintings which are customized to match a client’s home decor or the interests of the deceased. Similarly, a growing number of companies pack cremains into keepsake items ranging from pendants and fishing poles to golf clubs and guitars which are engraved with details of the loved one’s life.

Reflecting society’s growing environmental awareness, Creative Cremains of San Francisco mixes ashes and flower seeds into paper used for death-announcement cards. Friends and relatives then cut upthe cards and plant the pieces which turn into a flowering memorial garden. A Georgia firm blends cremains with concrete to form “reef balls” which are lowered into the ocean to give sea plants a home to cling to, providing refuge for fish, and a California company — Celebrate Life — puts ashes into fireworks and sets them off at sunset from a beach or barge. The fireworks are set to music.

For those who embrace the green burial movement, conventional wood and metal coffins are replaced by a simple shroud or biodegradable cardboard box which is then placed in a garden setting where the body’s natural nutrients are not wasted. Inexpensive and environmentally sound, this practice is especially popular in Great Britain.

Whether you consider these less-traditional options unique or grotesque, they point to some near-universal needs. In death — as in life — people want to make a statement, make a stand or make a difference. They want their individuality recognized. They want to be remembered. And they want their passing to reflect their passion or personality.

But the only truly lasting significance and legacy we leave comes from our relationships while living. Though it’s fine to prepare for what happens to our memory and mortal remains, we should be more concerned about our connection to the people we love and the afterlife revealed in the Bible. In that great hereafter, it’s the here that determines the after.

Heaven is rooted in faith and hope. As the writer of the Book of Hebrews says, conviction is essential. “Anyone who wants to come to him must believe there is a God and that he wants to reward those who sincerely seek him.” (Hebrews 11:6) But the Book also says that reward will be given, not on the basis of the good deeds we do, but on the quality of our relationship with Jesus.

In a nutshell, Christ came to this earth to die on the Cross for our sins. He took the punishment that we deserve and offers complete unforgiveness to those who acknowledge their need of that free gift, seek a close and consistent personal relationship with him, and live a life of grateful service to God and others. In other words, believers don’t do good things to get saved. They do them because they are saved.

By Rick Gamble. Published in Cross Current, the weekly newsletter of the followers of Christ congregation in Brantford, Ontario, Canada. Reprint at will in not-for-profit publications. To subscribe to this free weekly article, send a note to Rick at rgamble@bfree.on.ca