The Green Funeral: Honoring the Environment while Beautifying Funeral Practices (Sequola Dawson) - A Review
Death is inevitable, which means
that as we age, we begin to think about what will happen to us upon our deaths.
We not only think about what happens on the other side of the grave, but also
what will happen to our bodies. Will there be a funeral? A Memorial service? A
graveside committal? Will we be buried? Cremated? Or maybe something else? As a
pastor who has presided at numerous funerals, memorial services, and
committals, whether for church members and strangers, I have witnessed a
variety of choices when it comes to a person’s death. Being originally from the
West Coast, visitations were uncommon. Now in Michigan, they seem common. While
cremation dominates in the West, burials are more common in the Midwest,
although that trend appears to be changing. One of the reasons why burials have
been more common than cremations is the continuance of visitations prior to the
funeral, where the casket with an embalmed body is present. Most often, with
visitations, if not the funeral, the casket is open, revealing the embalmed
body.
While my thoughts on this matter
are influenced by my calling as a pastor, I have to think about what happens to
me when I die. That is especially true now that I’ve retired and my death is
closer than ever before. Until recently, I had assumed that I would be
cremated, which has also been the choice of my wife. Cremation is less costly
and appears to be better for the environment. But lately, I have been thinking about
another option known as a green or natural burial. Green burial involves a
direct burial of the body, without embalming, and probably in a shroud. There
is no need for a casket or a vault because the body will naturally decompose. There
is even a cemetery nearby that offers that option. In this case, the body is buried
in a serene natural field, with a simple stone marker.
This introduction to the
possibility of choosing a natural or green burial leads me to my review of The
Green Funeral: Honoring the Environment while Beautifying Funeral Practices,
by Sequola Dawson. Dawson, who is the senior pastor of St. Mary African
Methodist Episcopal Church and a chaplain dealing with bereavement, offers the
reader a helpful discussion of green funerals and burials, with a focus on
honoring the environment while also acknowledging the traditions and needs of
families. She writes The Green Funeral for the Black Church, which has
developed practices and traditions that honor the bodies and the lives of the
dead. However, Dawson argues that many of these practices tend not to be
environmentally friendly. So, she offers this book to the Black Church as a
guide to funeral and burial practices that might better consider the
environment. While Dawson writes this book for the Black Church, I believe it
can be helpful to those of us outside that context who wish to be more
environmentally friendly in our burial practices.
For those of us living outside the
Black Church tradition, Dawson's exploration of the role that funerals and
burials play in the Black community is very enlightening. We learn how
ingrained and important the funeral and burial practices are to the African
American community. She shares how these practices developed, often due to
discrimination by white funeral homes and directors, which led to the
establishment of Black funeral homes, often owned by African American clergy,
as well as cemeteries. Honoring the dead with embalmed and beautified bodies, along
with special clothing and expensive caskets, serves as an important sign that
the person who has died is worthy of honor.
While Dawson understands why these
practices developed, as she became more aware of the environmental factors
involved, she began to question some of those practices. At the same time, she
wanted to find ways to honor the traditions that have developed in the
community. While cremation is less expensive (as long as the body is not
preserved beforehand) than traditional burial, and somewhat more
environmentally friendly due to the lack of embalming chemicals, she came to
believe that even this option might not be the best. Therefore, she introduces
the reader to some of the other options available, which is why I was initially
interested in the book.
Sequola Dawson's book, The Green Funeral, is deeply personal. This is not a purely academic question for
her. While she has a background in environmental science, including a Ph.D. in
the field, in addition to her D.Min., she has been deeply involved in
bereavement ministry within the Black church setting. Therefore, she knows from
personal experience how people perceive death and seek to honor their loved
ones after they die. She wants to
respect the needs and wishes of the families, but she also wants to help her
community consider other possibilities. As David Goatley, her D.Min. advisor at
Duke Divinity School and now President of Fuller Theological Seminary, points
out: “Her text is an invitation to a deeper discipleship. She calls Christians
to turn away from guilt-or-ego-driven funeral expenses and indebtedness; toxic
decisions with devastating environmental impacts; and ecclesial complicity in
practices that are harmful to families and the earth” (p. x). Her discussion of
green burial and funeral practices includes reimagining the nature of beauty by
asking whether a beautifully embalmed body is the true measure of beauty.
Dawson begins by laying out the
concern she has about “Greening Death” (Chapter 1). In this opening chapter,
Dawson lays out the basic issues, including some of the theological resources
available to this conversation. Then, in Chapter 2, titled “The Setting,” she
goes into great detail, describing how the Black community approaches death,
including going to great expense to provide funerals that are believed to honor
the dead. At the same time, while addressing traditions and economic
considerations, she addresses the ecological effects of these funerals. These
include the toxicity of the embalming process, the contamination of soil and
water that can happen, especially in older cemeteries, along with the expense
of such burials. She points out that caskets are big business, ranging from $2000
to $10,000 dollars. She even provides a table with costs comparing prices from
2014 and 2019. Then there is cremation, which is on the rise, especially in white
communities, while less expensive has its own issues. She couches all of this
in discussions of cultural and social perceptions and pressures, while drawing
our attention to the ecological and environmental issues at hand.
In Chapter 2, Dawson lays out the
major issues and concerns, doing so in great detail. Then, in Chapter 3, titled
“Raised Awareness,” she combines her own personal story about how she moved
from an engineering career to ministry. She introduces us here to some of the
resources available to people to address the concerns she raises, including
concern for the environment, doing so theologically. This discussion is
followed in Chapter 4 with a discussion of “The Green Funeral.” While she
acknowledges the importance of Black Church funerals to the African American
community, she proposes here a “more excellent way” by engaging in green
funeral practices. Here she describes what a green funeral would look like in a
Black Church context, such that the practices honor tradition while also
protecting the environment. Chapter 5,
titled “To Be a Mango Tree,” shares a conversation that Dawson had with
podcaster James Wilson, who advocates for green funerals. Here again, we gain
an understanding of the possibilities and values inherent in this move to a
more environmentally friendly form of burial.
One of the issues present in
traditional burial practices within the Black community concerns the question
of beauty. So, in Chapter 6, titled “In House Beauty, Everyday Beauty,” Dawson
engages in a conversation about what this entails, especially in an everyday
sense. This provides a context for a discussion about what beauty might look
like in a visitation, especially one where a body might be present, but not
embalmed. Ultimately, this is a conversation of moving to a better, more
environmentally friendly way of dealing with death. Chapter 7 is titled “Staying
Woke in Death.” This is a reminder that the use of the word “Woke” has its
origins in the Black community and has been misappropriated by those who wish
to abolish diversity, equity, and inclusion. To be woke is to be awake and
aware. Here, it has to do with the nature of death and its aftermath. Dawson
closes with a chapter titled “Beauty and Honoring Covenantal Relationships.” Throughout
the book, Dawson takes note of the concept of beauty and how that applies to
the funeral process. How we define beauty affects the way we approach such
things as embalming, caskets, and more. So, in conclusion, she invites the
reader to reconnect with the earth through an ecological conversion. In doing
so, changes in practices can take place that will affect everyone.
Although I read Sequola Dawson's The Green Funeral as an outsider to the Black community, I am cognizant of the
importance placed on how we handle death and its aftermath. Traditions and
practices have developed, and industries along with those practices.
Nevertheless, though different communities will respond differently, we can learn
from each other, especially when the earth we share is at stake. So, there is much
helpful information present in The Green Funeral that can be helpful to
other communities as they wrestle with questions of the environment, the nature
of beauty, and how to honor loved ones in the time of death. For those outside
the African American community, learning something about why certain practices
developed and why they are difficult to abandon should prove enlightening.
Copies of The Green Funeral may be purchased at your favorite retailer, including my Amazon affiliate and my Bookshop.org affiliate.
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