Happy Easter - a week to remember

 Monday - Wednesday, April 11-13, 2022

Language school is good. Our heads are spinning as we converse and listen to sentences. It's amazing how much more I already understand in basic conversations outside of class, too. In just over 3 weeks, we've learned so much.

As the flowers from last Sunday fade, I make two final bouquets with the longest-lasting blooms.

Sam and Shellie leave for home Monday. Team meeting on Tuesday is refreshing for my soul, as usual. And Wednesday is a crusher: we review Indonesian words and ways to say things.

The fridge dies, full of food. W orders ice and we try to keep things cool. The tradesman takes one look and says, "It's under warranty. Call LG." So W does. They say it may be days before a guy shows up.

Trying not to open the fridge, we go out to Maxi's Restaurant for supper. I'm astonished tot see that a tree, with all its branches cut off 6 months ago, has miraculously regenerated.

Thursday

A walk in the hills. I never want to go - but I never regret going. W stays home in case the LG refrigerator repairman comes. He doesn't.

We meet up with the other cars high in the hills. For some reason the driver puts on the hazard lights. Kristi flips them off as soon as we notice, but its' killed the car battery. It has to be jumped back into action. We drive the last miles over the bumpy terrain to the drop zone. Today's walk is point to point, not a loop; its 7 km are mostly downhill. Hurrah.

I take the 2 big dogs along the trail of Tebing Karaton, an overlook of the Lembang Fault. Some day there will be a big eruption and catastrophe along the faultiness. Today we're safe. The dogs chase monkeys, bark at other dogs, and have a good run.

There are monkeys everywhere today - including at the overlook into the fault.

Good Friday

In the morning, W and I run errands in the neighboring city. It's our first day in ages that has no formal agenda. He's picking up a garage sale dehumidifier to ward off the mold growing in his office. I have other things on my list.

Josh has a new recipe for coffee-sauced beef. They invite us over for lunch - which is delicious! It's great to see their beautiful home as well.

While we sit around the table, the calls come: friends are on their way to hospital to welcome their baby boy. And another call comes in: a dear friend has died.

A few minutes later, we get another call: can we perform the first funeral service tonight? We say yes. And look at each other wide-eyed. (That service is postponed to tomorrow - whew.)

W starts assembling the online Easter service for the weekend when we get home. I spend 5 hours online in the evening. Flowers, programs, and other details fly back and forth on WA and calls. As much as possible, I delegate and ask questions to make sure everything is covered and done the way the family wants it. What are the protocols for funerals here? We balance Indonesian, Western, and several cultures between to decide what will happen.

Saturday

W and Pak G get the car battery checked and get the flower arrangement for tomorrow's Easter service. The florist is away for the weekend and has made the bouquet in advance. During our back-and-forth messages, she has offered me a flower-arranging course so we can do our own bouquets.

I tell her I don't have time for another class right now, so she hopes we may have other volunteers. "How much? How long? How many people would take it?"

Texts go back and forth. I don't get answers yet, though. Asking questions is very complicated here. "Only one thing per text. You can't send a list," W admonishes.

We've arranged for pickup from her friend's house this morning - the guys then drop the flowers at the hall.

I'm still working on the funeral services for tonight and tomorrow. I write the script for the program a dozen times, revising and revising again as we get more information. Our "right hand" admin Alice doesn't complain - she orders the flowers and gets the programs printed.

I need a nap and have my alarm set to meet Alice in the early afternoon, but Gypsy wakes me 10 min early by bursting into the room - he knows how to open the lever door handles. He's terrified of thunderstorms. Yes, there's a rainstorm.

Just in case, since I've woken, I check my WA messages: oh oh, Alice and a group are already waiting for me. I jump off the bed, pull on shoes and a raincoat, and speed-walk through the downpour to the office.

The middle-school students and their teacher Miss Bernadette are doing a community service project and we are the lucky recipients. They pile boxes of donations in the back room - those will be distributed soon to neighbors and the needy.

In the early evening we head to the Boromeus funeral home. They have one medium-sized meeting room with three doors at the front of the hall, labeled A, B, and C. The light is on above A, where Inge lies. Fortunately, there are no other burials in process. (The hall is shared, so times are staggered when more than one lies in repose.)

Inge was a brilliant and beloved member of BIC - a PhD in Psychology who lived with polio and finally succumbed yesterday. Her family comes from Jakarta and Bandung to celebrate a wonderful person, their oldest sister.

The flowers Alice has ordered are beautiful.

Chandra translates culture and language into Indonesian as we speak. After W and I conduct the memorial service, the family puts Inge's brace, some personal items, and sentimental things in her coffin. We line up to pay our respects. Each person sprinkles fragrant oil around the body. The family distributes a boxed meal, and the casket is sealed.

EASTER SUNDAY

It's a full house today - what a treat to see many faces we haven't encountered for the 2 years of the pandemic. Kristi calls the kids to the front. She tells the story of Easter with Jelly Beans she brought from the USA. What a compelling way to share the Good News!

After we preach, we clear the hall for the Celebration of Life service for Inge among her BIC peers.

The flowers come into the hall along with the bier.

We had planned to start at 11:00 but the family urges us to start immediately. The rain is imminent. Again, Chandra ably translates - this time into Indonesian for the English speakers, and back again into English for the Indonesian speakers.

The family gives food boxes to those in attendance. And then we jump into Chandra's red truck for a ride down the mountain into the city. The graves are dug wherever there's a space between others. There's no order to it - no rows.

"It can be quite tricky," Chandra warns us. "Watch your step." He's right. To get to Inge's resting place, the young bearers hoist the coffin high on their shoulders and walk between and over the graves.

Most tombs are edged in granite with carvings and raised crosses or symbols on them. We follow the coffin through a maze of stone ledges, grass patches, and mud. Some places are 6" wide, just big enough to put your shoe down. We step up and across, down and around. Sometimes we step 2' up or down, sometimes we walk across the graves to get to the next area.

W delivers the final prayers as I film the graveside for the family. There's a deep hole with 2 planks across it, on which the box is set.

When the graveside service is over, the young men loop a rope under each end of the coffin, lift, and someone pulls out the wood. They lower the casket into the hole and pull out the ropes from the ends. The flower bouquets are place on top of it before the family and friends gather around to toss rose petals and fragrant jasmine in.

Then the young men close the hole with picks and shovels while we stand and watch. We've prayed that the rain would hold off - and the slight drizzle at the end is easily dealt with: a younger sister distributes packs of raincoats to everyone. We climb back over the graves to the street.

"It's traditional for Chinese families to have a meal together afterward," Chandra explains. We are invited to an excellent restaurant, complements of a family friend. The whole day was blessed - what hope the followers of Jesus have. It would have been Inge's 76th birthday today, the day we lay her to rest. What a gift, to be with God.

When we get home, there's a crowd on the porch. They've had lunch together and hang around until almost 6pm. W and I talk for a while, but after 4:00 I pull myself away to study and prepare for the week to come. So many of them are precious young friends - we indulge in hugs and hellos.

As night falls, I think of the family who will shed many tears for their older sister. And I marvel at young Lucas, whose sisters will adore and spoil him - one coming, one going on this beautiful Easter weekend.

Read more:

*When David’s time to die drew near, he charged his son Solomon, saying: “I am about to go the way of all the earth. Be strong and keep the charge of the Lord your God.” 1 Kings 2:2-3

*Turn my heart to your decrees, and not to selfish gain. Psalm 119:36

*Why do you look for the living among the dead? Jesus is not here, but has risen. Luke 24:5

*For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. John 3:16

*Jesus, the risen Lord, said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” John 20:21

*Jesus Christ humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross. Philippians 2:8

Moravian Prayer: Suffering Servant, in the dark night, be our rock, our refuge, and our strength. Assure us once again that darkness cannot overtake your eternal light. Have mercy, O Lord, on us and our offenses. Sustain us, Spirit of God.

Oh Glorious God! death is not the end. You revealed the emptiness of the tomb to all of the created order. Alleluia! We rejoice in the precious and holy gift of your presence forever and ever through our risen Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.