Meandering Around the Grange Way of Life
by Walter Boomsma
Memories and Memorials, Sad versus Somber
I’ll confess to stifling a smile during this year’s Memorial Service at the 155th State Grange Convention. For some reason, I recalled leaving a convention at the Skowhegan Rec Center a few years ago. The “labors of the day” were complete except for a rehearsal of the next day’s Memorial Program.
There’s a playground abutting the center and I was pleased to see a number of children swinging and sliding. As I headed to my vehicle, a parent approached me tentatively. “Excuse me. Do you know what is going on inside the building?”
I answered briefly, explaining the convention and its purpose. “Well,” Dad said. “My daughter went in to use the bathroom and she said it’s a funeral!” I again stifled a smile, realizing with the altar in place, the music… it did, in fact, resemble a funeral. I asked to meet his daughter and explained what she’d seen, offering (with Dad’s permission) to take her inside and show her. She and her Dad seemed visibly relieved. They thanked me for my offer but declined the tour. Swinging and sliding were much more interesting.
Another confession from this year’s service is that I “enjoyed” it. Chaplain Clay Collins does a nice job in part because he understands an important truth. Somber doesn’t equal sad. Perhaps our collective realization of that explains the trend away from funerals to celebrations of life. It’s more than a semantic difference.
During the reading of the ever-familiar poem by A. L. Frink my mind was still a bit stuck on that little girl’s perception of what was happening. The idea of a funeral was disconcerting. The idea of honoring and remembering people was reassuring. It’s more than a difference in labels. It’s a difference in vision that can move us from sadness to seriousness and that seriousness can be hopeful
Shall claim of death cause us to grieve, And make our courage faint or fail? Nay! Let us faith and hope receive: The rose still grows beyond the wall.
This year’s convention was certainly “different” with many reminders of the uncertainties we face as individuals and Granges. But, thanks to the Memorial Service, I left realizing that wherever there is a wall, there is also a way to grow around it, over it, under it, through it. We just need to find or make the way and continue to “scatter our fragrance” just as we did in days of yore. Just as we will forevermore.
With thanks to Chaplain Clay, there’s a complete copy of this year’s Memorial Service in the Chaplain’s Section of the Program Books and Information Page. I commend it to you and encourage you to view it seriously but not sadly. Local Chaplains may choose to adapt portions of it for local memorial services that are typically conducted in the spring. One change from the printed program is that Steven Haycock filled in for James Owens for the tribute to State Deputies.
Onward it crept with added strength,
With never a thought of fear or pride.
It followed the light through the crevice’s length
And unfolded itself on the other side.
Any degree or ritual quotations are from the forty-sixth edition of the 2013 Subordinate Grange Manual or the most recent edition of the Pomona Grange Manual. The views and opinions expressed in “Exploring Traditions” are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official doctrine and policy of the Grange. Information about the book “Exploring Traditions—Celebrating the Grange Way of Life” can be found at http://abbotvillagepress.com, on Mr. Boomsma’s Amazon Author Page, or by contacting the author.