Four of my friends and two other acquaintances have been laid to rest over the last three weeks. I have witnessed and experienced more than enough grief and mourning over these days. The most recent of the funerals, earlier this week, was on a damp, dreary day as we endured the drizzly weather throughout the service, the procession, and the graveside committal.
Driving to the cemetery, I was reminded of an article I read several years ago featuring a funeral home in Michigan that was offering drive-through service for mourners. Similar to drive-through banking, guests can drive up to the window, and at the press of a button, the curtain will open and the deceased can be viewed from the confines of one’s own vehicle. Each “visit” can last up to three minutes.
As it turns out, there are several locations across the country that offer a drive-through service for funeral visitations. In fact, Herschel Thornton of Atlanta, Georgia opened the world’s first drive-thru funeral home in 1968. He called it a mortatorium.” The Thornton Mortuary is still in business. Herschel died in 1995, and the mortuary is now run by his son and grandchildren. The drive-through option, however, is no longer available.
Providers offer a few incentives for this service, such as a convenience during inclement weather, accessibility for the elderly and disabled, persons with illness can offer support without the danger of infecting others, and of course, it saves time. One must also wonder if it is not, at least in part, a marketing gimmick to attract attention and business.
As with many other modern-day expediencies — cell phones, email, social media, and such — convenience is a lame substitute for true interpersonal relationships. I do not know if this is still a thing, but most people would prefer an in-person hug or greeting rather than to be “poked” on Facebook!
We have been conditioned over recent decades to a more and more impersonal lifestyle. I saw a cartoon featuring a groom and two brides. The husband-to-be said to one of the girls, “Didn’t you check your email?”
One expressive adage rings true over and over: There’s nothing like being there. Whether it’s watching fireworks on TV, worshiping online, or driving through a funeral home — it’s just not the same as being there in the moment.
Steven Callis is the minister at First Church of the Nazarene in Douglasville.
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