Fiery Minister Goes Up in Smoke

As you listen to the Independence Day bombs bursting in air tonight, keep in mind that you just might be hearing someone's funeral.

According to USA Today, a Lutheran pastor in Minnesota requested that his remains be cremated, placed in some fireworks, and shot into the air on the Fourth of July. His family and friends are glad to oblige. After all, he was quite a fireworks enthusiast.

What is most disheartening about this article is not one quirky pastor's eccentric farewell, but the reaction of his neighbors to the entire concept of death and burial. Says Camille Coman, president of the National Pyrotechnics Club: "Cremation is becoming more accepted...The view on what to do with your vessel upon your demise is a very personal choice." The article also quoted a local bartender, who is likewise happy to see the Lutheran pastor's "cremains" in the rocket's red glare. "All the more power to you, to come up with a creative way to go out," she said. "Whatever makes you happy."

This is part of a much larger cultural trend. The body is seen as merely a "vessel," which can be discarded as garbage or used as fodder for a hobby. Death is seen as one more milestone of life over which autonomous individuals can exercise personal freedom and choice. For two millennia, Christians have guarded the act of burial as a communal event, one in which the community of faith proclaims the hope of the resurrection, of the final shout of the resurrected Messiah in which "the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live" (John 5:25 ESV).

When even pastors see burial as a final act of self-expression, the gospel will be that much harder to communicate. After all, where is the message of entrusting oneself, body and soul, to Christ once we treat our bodies as objects of entertainment, even after death? Where is the gravity of a resurrection gospel and the lordship of Christ over life and death when even our bodies are ours to burn, scatter, or explode for the enjoyment of onlookers?

For Americans, Independence Day is a momentous and joyous occasion. But Christians should remember that our independence only goes so far, and independence in death may be hyper-American but it is decidedly sub-Christian.