Pastor's Message - October 2026

~Getting Gathered to the Ancestors~

“Abraham died in a good old age, an old man and full of years,

and was gathered to his ancestors.”

~Genesis 25:8

Dear Members and Friends,

In October, we celebrate the Protestant Reformation, which has me thinking about history. Indulge me for just a few paragraphs. While Bower Hill “Community” Church is broadly ecumenical, we do have historic and ongoing connections to Presbyterianism and to Scotland, where the official state church is Presbyterian. The Church of Scotland (unlike the flashier Church of England) values simplicity. So much so that when John Knox brought the Protestant Reformation to Scotland, in the 1500s, they demolished many of the grand medieval churches and built simple ones to replace them. The newer churches have a stark elegance and beauty about them, but none of the froufrou.

(I think that’s the architectural term…) This preference for simplicity extended to worship liturgies and traditions surrounding baptism and marriage and death. When John Knox himself died, in 1572, at the tender age of 57, he gave strict instructions that he should be buried in an unmarked grave. He didn’t want anyone making his grave a place of pilgrimage. To this day, in the parking lot outside St. Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh (a grand church that survived the Reformation), at parking space number 23, you’ll see a humble marker in the pavement suggesting that this might be the spot where the great reformer is buried. No one minds if you park your car on top of him.

Nowadays, American Presbyterians embrace a lot of the things that our faith-forebears rejected, like celebrating Christmas and having big funerals. All of which is a roundabout way of asking, Did you know you can plan your funeral or memorial service in advance? You can designate a location for the service and for the burial. You can tell us whether you want a green burial or cremation. You can pick the hymns, readings and music, too. Imagine the scenario: You’re going through life, and you hear a song, or a poem, or a Bible reading, or a great quote. Maybe it’s one that you’ve always loved, or maybe it’s one that you’re hearing for the first time. You like it so much that you want it read or sung at your funeral. How are you going to make that happen? Simple. When you joined this church, we created a file on you. Most of those files don’t have much in them aside from the paperwork you filled out upon joining the church—though some members have confided personal documents to us. Simply write down your funeral wishes, give it to the church office or me, and we’ll put it in your file. If you want, I could even send you the template we use for memorial services, so you can think about it, make your selections, and get it back to me.

Me? Yes, I’ve had my whole funeral planned for years! I’ve got each detail ironed out: the prelude music, hymns, readings, prayers, postlude and overall flow. The only thing I don’t have is a preacher, but I might prerecord myself. Anyhow, there’s no need to be buried under the parking lot. Make a plan. I hope we won’t have to use it for a long

time.

Christ’s Peace,

~Brian