In the midst of life

The Black Hills of South Dakota (Photo by K Bryant Shipp)

I am taking a break from posting for the next three weeks (June 23 and 30, July 7), as my brothers and I prepare to memorialize our Dad and bury our father’s and mother’s ashes in a plot they purchased with our grandparents back in the 1960s.

I was raised a Southern Baptist and now am a member of a congregation that is aligned with both American Baptist Churches USA and the Alliance of Baptists. However, for a while I worked as organist and choir director in the Episcopal Church. I played the organ and sang for many funerals. In the Book of Common Prayer, there is a phrase from Burial Rite II that has stayed with me:

In the midst of life we are in death;
from whom can we seek help?…
…All of us go down to the dust;
yet even at the grave we make our song:
Alleluia,
alleluia, alleluia.
Book of Common Prayer, Burial of the Dead: Rite II

I leave it here as a placeholder for hope, in the midst of life. And death.