Why we wear black

Some people are used to wearing black. I have red-head skin so it washes me out and I try to avoid it. So I don't really wear it up against my face. Lately, I've been thinking about funerals and wearing black. I remember when I was younger that I was told that for a Christian's funeral you don't wear black because really they are going to heaven...so you wear other colours in celebration of that. I accepted that... but I don't think I do any more. Funerals are not about the person who has died. It's about the people left behind. Really, the dead person doesn't need a funeral and I'm sure when they are actually dead, they could care less. Those left behind do. Regardless of where a person is going, we need to mourn and this is of course where the whole black comes in. I had a college prof who said "in our society we are continually taught how to gain and get more stuff, but we're never really taught how to lose." I think this sometimes even more true in Xn circles. Now, I'm not suggestiong that we hire "wailers" as they do in some cultures. As North Americans, we're a little too rigid and stiff - although, maybe I could start a new trend and have a carrier in this.

This week I've done a lot of thinking - this happens when you landscape for 10 hours a day. But I've been reflecting on the passage in Ecclesiastes, made popular by the Beatles - "there is a season for life, death, laughter, mourning, gathering, letting go, killing, healing, etc..." I'm not very good at a lot of them. I like to laugh - and hate crying. Love planting and harvesting...hate killing and letting go. I'd rather wear colour at a funeral than to wear black and acknowledge loss. But I think there are times to wear black. There are times when there is a bit of a relief when someone has passed on...but then there are times when it feels as though someone has been robbed of their life and that they died too soon. In high school, you don't really sit around and think or talk about "who's going to make it to the 10 year reunion and who's not." I made an assumption that we all would, never really thinking and I think really taking for granted how fragile life is. It's not something I can control. Sure I think I have control but the reality is...I don't (news flash...I know!!!).

It's always bothered me somewhat that we take grief so hard. Why do we ask "why?" when really, everyone dies. It happens all the time, so it seems strange that we're caught off-guard; as if it's this new phenomenon. I knew that I could rationalize it by "well, we weren't created to die." But it's even more interesting when you find Scripture to support that theory...(also known as Proof-texting...my favorite form of exegesis!!!). Again in Ecclesiastes it takes about eternal life being written on the hearts of man. The context being that we are never fully satisfied on earth and that everything but searching for and obeying God is meaningless. At the same time, if eternal life is truly written on our hearts - it causes us to cry out when loved ones go because it is not normal. Sure it's normal in the fact that it's frequent and everyone - (granted, there have been a few exceptions) must experience it. But it isn't normal in the sense that this isn't how it was supposed to be. We weren't created to be this way... We are broken... It feels unjust because it IS unjust.