(no subject)

We held my Uncle Jack's funeral yesterday at Holy Name of Jesus (Catholic) Church, near his home. The minister, a Filipino fella, sang/chanted some of the service, which had me leaning over to my mom to whisper -- "This isn't all that different from a Buddhist ceremony, is it? There's chanting in strange languages, incense, kneeling and bowing, and food."

I read through Ecclesiastes (the Turn turn turn passage) as part of the service, and it went well. I ignored all of my "how to read something in an interesting and interactive way" teacher training, because I think the point of being a reader at church is to make it NOT about yourself. I really don't like the weird translation of the end bit of that passage, and wish that the church had not used a version of the bible that passed through quite so many translators.

The confusing bit: "God has made everything appropriate to its time, but has put the timeless into their hearts so they cannot find out, from beginning to end, the work which God has done." -- I get what it means to say, that we are not meant to know why these seasons come when they come, but surely there's a better way to put it. For example, who is "their"?

I did a deep dive into the "author" of Ecclesiastes so that I could figure out who was speaking, and why. Turns out it was pretty fascinating to read -- there's a site that speculates that the author used a feminine word ending for "teacher," and might have even been a woman (despite being misogynistic as heck). Of course, some reckon it was King Solomon. And others point out that the whole gloomy outlook on existence and god points to potential heresy.

The very last bit of the service was given to the military honors: Uncle Jack served five tours of duty in Vietnam. The Air Force gave him a three-gun salute, they held out a flag over his burial urn while Taps played, and we all cried.

(At that moment, the skies opened up, and thunder and lightning poured down -- it was movie-like in its timing.)

I am left pondering something that the minister said. "When I was administering last rights to Jack, he asked me if God would forgive him for what he did during the war. I told him that God would welcome him for putting his own life on the line in defense of our country."

And, uh, looking around at all the southeast Asians in the crowd (relatives of his wife Aunt Tui), I thought. Defense? Of America? From ... us?

But I do sincerely hope that Uncle Jack is where he wants to be, although his wife was given a full Buddhist ceremony -- here's hoping there's a place somewhere in the middle where the spirits of the mixed-faith can go hang out together.

... My own kinda personal belief is that we build the house where our soul goes while we are alive, via meditation. Mine is getting quite detailed.