Here was the salad section of the funeral lunch serving table today.......nice and colorful. When there's funeral at our church, members get called to bring a salad or vegetable or dessert. The lunch committee prepares whatever main dish the family of deceased requests. Today the family had a friend make smoked pork slices which were served on a bun. Whoa.....they were really smoky and spicy. The guy who made the pork slices was there to serve them, which was different.
About a dozen or so of us church members met yesterday to put up the tables and chairs and set out the silverware, napkins, cups, etc. Then after the lunch, everyone lent a hand to clean everything up again. Sometimes I almost suspect that being a mutual-aid society is the main purpose of our church community.....more so even than worship of God. There is one lady who rarely comes to church services but shows up to help at every funeral lunch......she was there today, helping us in the kitchen.*
Can you spot my dark, forbidding Mississippi Mud Bars?
We lunch servers did not go into the church for the funeral service. There is a speaker system to pipe sounds from the church over to our parish hall kitchen, but it was not working today, so we didn't hear the sermon or music. The next photo shows the sanctuary of our 135-year-old church building.......the Christmas decorations are still up; Christmas ends on Epiphany, January 6.
Here was the view in the cemetery behind the church when I arrived this morning......the grave digger's truck is there and he had probably just put up the blue tent in preparation for the committal service following the funeral. He has a ground heater of some sort to warm up the gravesite for digging. We have a friend who lives up in northern Iowa who still digs graves by hand. He digs with another guy, and a couple years ago they even dug the grave for the other guy's father. It was very meaningful for the son to do that, our friend told us.
Brr......my car's outside temperature gauge read 6 degrees above zero this morning.......I didn't mind a bit not standing out there and shivering at the committal service. One time, I read a newspaper article about an old building in the Waverly cemetery......there was a name for the building but I can't recall what it is......it was for storing the coffins of people who had died in the winter when the ground was too frozen to allow digging of graves. When the weather warmed up, then they would be buried. I wonder what they did out here at rural cemeteries? Does anyone know?
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Obviously, this driveway under the cemetery gate arch is not used in the wintertime! The words are "Evangelical Lutheran Immanuels Gottesader"......presumably, that final word stands for "cemetery". A Google search told me that the German word gottesacker means "God's Acre", so maybe that's what the word is really supposed to be. I did not know that before this. "God's Acre"......that is cool.
Today was enjoyable, working with other church members. We honestly do not do much together other than be present in the same church sanctuary on Sunday mornings. I enjoy watching people.......or maybe not so much watching them, as just picking up on their vibes. Do you know what I mean? I think its one of my favorite pastimes......other than blogging, of course. Alot of people looked just plain worn out today.......winter and the holidays do that to a person, I think. My feet are tired from bustling around all day. We had been told to prepare to serve 300 people, but it turned out to be less than 200. I heard someone say that 500 people had attended the funeral home visitation last night. Wow. A few years ago we had 600 people show up for a funeral here our church......oh, my word......the church and balcony were filled, as was the church basement, and our connected school gym. We had to make dashes to area grocery stores to get more food......it was ridiculous. Never ever would we want to be caught running out of food......we serving ladies have a reputation to uphold, you know.
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"God's Acre".......I really like that.
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Happy New Year's Eve!
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Can you spot my dark, forbidding Mississippi Mud Bars?
We lunch servers did not go into the church for the funeral service. There is a speaker system to pipe sounds from the church over to our parish hall kitchen, but it was not working today, so we didn't hear the sermon or music. The next photo shows the sanctuary of our 135-year-old church building.......the Christmas decorations are still up; Christmas ends on Epiphany, January 6.
Here was the view in the cemetery behind the church when I arrived this morning......the grave digger's truck is there and he had probably just put up the blue tent in preparation for the committal service following the funeral. He has a ground heater of some sort to warm up the gravesite for digging. We have a friend who lives up in northern Iowa who still digs graves by hand. He digs with another guy, and a couple years ago they even dug the grave for the other guy's father. It was very meaningful for the son to do that, our friend told us.
Brr......my car's outside temperature gauge read 6 degrees above zero this morning.......I didn't mind a bit not standing out there and shivering at the committal service. One time, I read a newspaper article about an old building in the Waverly cemetery......there was a name for the building but I can't recall what it is......it was for storing the coffins of people who had died in the winter when the ground was too frozen to allow digging of graves. When the weather warmed up, then they would be buried. I wonder what they did out here at rural cemeteries? Does anyone know?*
Obviously, this driveway under the cemetery gate arch is not used in the wintertime! The words are "Evangelical Lutheran Immanuels Gottesader"......presumably, that final word stands for "cemetery". A Google search told me that the German word gottesacker means "God's Acre", so maybe that's what the word is really supposed to be. I did not know that before this. "God's Acre"......that is cool.
Today was enjoyable, working with other church members. We honestly do not do much together other than be present in the same church sanctuary on Sunday mornings. I enjoy watching people.......or maybe not so much watching them, as just picking up on their vibes. Do you know what I mean? I think its one of my favorite pastimes......other than blogging, of course. Alot of people looked just plain worn out today.......winter and the holidays do that to a person, I think. My feet are tired from bustling around all day. We had been told to prepare to serve 300 people, but it turned out to be less than 200. I heard someone say that 500 people had attended the funeral home visitation last night. Wow. A few years ago we had 600 people show up for a funeral here our church......oh, my word......the church and balcony were filled, as was the church basement, and our connected school gym. We had to make dashes to area grocery stores to get more food......it was ridiculous. Never ever would we want to be caught running out of food......we serving ladies have a reputation to uphold, you know.*
"God's Acre".......I really like that.
*
Happy New Year's Eve!
*
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7 comments:
What a touching post. This takes me back to my dear grandmothers funeral. All of the ladies at the church prepared food just like your post. I so enjoyed staying after everyone was gone and washing dishes with the women that were my grandmothers friends her entire life. Thanks for this post; it has really warmed my heart with memories of a sad time when I couldn't help feeling surrounded by love.
Vanessa
Hi, Vanessa,
Thank you for your comment. Yes, I recall times when family members of the deceased would help wash the dishes after the funeral lunch....chatting and laughing, finding comfort. I'm glad you mentioned that. Thank you for stopping in!
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Hi, Sempringham,
Happy New Year yourself!! Thanks for swinging by!
Oh my Jeannelle. What a great post. In some ways it seems so quaint and old fashioned...'the women of the parish' preparing the food...but truly...it is a blessing what you are involved in. Listen, my mom passed away, as you know,this summer and I looked so forward to those egg salad sandwiches that I knew they were going to have prepared...as I would have helped as a junior with MY MOM for someone else's funeral....What blessings. What a great post...I loved it!
HAPPY NEW YEAR, Jeannelle!
I know. George does look like a Holstein!
I still can't get over how cold it is there and how much snow you have. And you're right about people craving chocolate at a time like that.
I like people-watching, too! I do it in the car while I'm sitting at stop lights. This is why I NEVER pick my nose in a car. (unless nobody is around for miles)
Hi, Trish,
Thanks for coming by and for your kind words. On the way home today, I thought, well, if I dropped over dead tomorrow, these church people would all lend a hand again to set up the tables and cook the food for the lunch. Its a comforting thought, I guess.
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Hi, Country Girl,
Oh, yes....what would we do without chocolate! Weigh less, probably.
Many Happy New Year wishes to you!
It was interesting to see and hear how you do the funeral lunches at your church. This last one I helped with all of the food was donated by a grocery store some of the family worked at. They sent food for 250, but only 100 or so stayed for lunch, so we had lots of leftover food to send with the family.
Hi, Nancy,
Oh, that's something.....do you suppose the family overplanned on purpose? I'm kidding....that wasn't very nice of me to think that.
How does your church normally do funeral lunches? Do all church members have to bring food, even if they aren't coming to the funeral? That's what our church does now, to assure a good variety of food and lessen the burden on the serving committee. There always has been a tradition in place anyway that whoever came to the funeral would bring a dish for the lunch. It wasn't like that at the church I grew up in, so that was a new tradition for me to get acquainted with.....but, it is a good one.
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