For the first time, I’m participating in the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge! The concept is simple: Each day in April I’ll be blogging on a topic starting with the letter of the day, beginning with A and progressing to Z by the end of the month. Posts will be short and will relate to my chosen theme: my new coming of age story, Rightfully Ours, released April 1.
R is for Resurrection Choir
Have you ever heard of a Resurrection Choir? I’ve heard mention of it here and there over the past decade. It’s simply a volunteer choir whose members sing at church funerals. Sometimes, it’s at the request of the family of the deceased. In other cases, I think it is customary for every parish funeral Mass. (I say Mass because my experience is with Catholic churches, but it may be a ministry of other Christian churches as well.)
I pick up my two youngest children from preschool at about the same time funerals are scheduled in our parish. For some funerals, the parking lot is overflowing, with cars lined up and down the block for the procession to the cemetery. Other times, there are a few scattered cars in the lot and only a couple are sporting the funeral home flag designating their spot in the procession.
My oldest son is an altar server, and often is excused from classes to serve at Masses of Christian Burial. He’s served funerals for young people, old people, and those in between. Some deaths are sudden and tragic, others are peaceful and long-expected, but the one that he mentioned as being so sad stands out in my mind. It was one in which the man had outlived nearly all family and friends and only a few people were present.
I think that is when the Resurrection Choir is most meaningful. I mention it in the funeral that takes place in Rightfully Ours, specifically the poignant voices of the elderly choir members who sound as if they’re not too far from joining the deceased themselves! (After all, what group of people are most able to come out in the middle of the day on short notice? Retirees.)
How generous a service it is to assist at giving each person a proper send-off, so to speak. To be there when others cannot. To know that no person’s life passes from this world unnoticed or unacknowledged.
Have you heard of a Resurrection Choir?
No, I’ve never heard of a Resurrection Choir before, but it does sound like it would be something sweet for those who have suffered loss.
Visiting from the A to Z Challenge. You can see my “R” post here: https://lydiahowe.com/2017/04/21/r-is-for-raquel-atozchallenge/
Thanks for stopping by, Lydia!
A parish we used to attend had one but it was just called the Funeral Choir. I like this name so much better. My parish just hires an organist and soloist. When I am the soloist, I try to be ever conscious that I am there to minister to the grieving family and friends, and to pray for them as I sing. And your son is right that. There is something extra sad about a nearly-empty funeral.
I played the organ in our parish for several years, mostly weekend Masses, but a few weddings as well. Never a funeral. It really is a special ministry and a comfort to the family.
Churches around me are pining for funeral organists. Not enough to go around. If I’d stuck with lessons when I was a teenager, I’d be up to my eyeballs in funerals. (Pay is good too!)
I enjoyed playing, and it was nice income, esp. 3-Mass weekends! Like everything else in my life though, child care became an obstacle. Any other instrument I could’ve practiced at home, but the organ added that extra difficulty of having permission and access to practice in a church.
I’ve never heard of a Resurrection Choir! It sounds like such a beautiful gift to the families and loved ones of the deceased.
It really is!