My grandmother just passed away this weekend and is a witness as is alot of my family. I have been out for so long and haven't had to deal with death in my immediate family. I need to know what is the JW view of sending flowers or arrangement to the memorial service they will be having at the KH. I can't ask because my family still thinks I am active (so should know this). Any advise would be appreciated as I really don't need to stir things up right now and give them more things to worry about.
Need help, What is viewed as appropriate, I can't remember
by YoungAmerican 4 Replies latest jw experiences
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karnage
Welcome to the board YoungAmerican! You should be able to send flowers. I have never heard of that being an issue for a funeral at the KH.
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YoungAmerican
Thanks, I didn't think so but one never knows for sure with all the "new understandings" that seem to come out. I just wasn't sure because I seem to remember something about not putting flowers on peoples graves.
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onacruse
This is the latest I could find (up through 2001):
*** w98 7/15 A Christian View of Funeral Customs ***
[Footnote]
Some may see no harm in throwing flowers or a handful of soil into a grave. A Christian, however, would avoid this practice if the community views it as a way of appeasing the dead or if it is part of a ceremony presided over by a minister of false religion.—See Awake! of March 22, 1977, page 15.
Also:
*** w91 10/15 p. 31 Questions From Readers ***
If it is well-known that a custom (or a design, such as the cross) has a false religious meaning, avoid it. Christians would thus not send flowers in the form of a cross, or a red heart if that is viewed as having religious significance. Or there may be some formal way in which flowers are used at a funeral or at a grave site that has a religious meaning locally. The Christian should avoid that too. That is not to say, though, that simply providing a bouquet at a funeral or giving flowers to a friend in the hospital must be viewed as a religious act that must be avoided.
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pmouse
Interesting, at my 90 year old grandma's JW funeral 3 years ago, we broke all the rules. One of my cousins (a non-jw) give an eulogy for my grandmother, even associating the year of her birth with the proclamation of Mother's Day, before the Witless dunderhead half crazed elderly elder gave his recruitment speech.
Most of us wrote a small note of a special remembrance to Grandma which was tucked in her casket for burial and each one of her remaining 4 children and 26 grandchildren threw a red rose onto her coffin before leaving the cemetary. One of her remaining children is an elder and at least three of her grandchildren's husband's are elders. No one said a word before, during or after. Oh yes, there were tons of flowers.