letter from Japan
Last month, I spent an hour watching a body being prepared for its coffin. It was our oldest church member, Mrs S., who had died suddenly the previous week.
Her body was discreetly washed, her face made up, her hair styled and her favourite clothes put on. Her daughter told me she was glad to have someone who had known her mother there with her to watch and help.
In our church we ask people to write down their wish for a Christian funeral. Though it is changing, Buddhist funerals remain the norm here and a non-Christian family will often give even a Christian relative a Buddhist funeral – the family religion being decisive.
