A Cry for the Sacred to be Honored
Written by Rev. Dr. Scott Paczkowski
“And I heard a voice from heaven saying, ‘Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’ ‘Blessed indeed,’ says the Spirit, ‘that they may rest from their labors, from their deeds follow them!’” ”
A couple of days ago I read in the Washington Post a pathetic story about an old African American cemetery where the “headstones were used as scrap.” When I started reading this article, I assumed this was something that took place in the 19th or early 20th century because the title of the article was, “Black cemetery headstones were used as scrap. Now area leaders are ‘righting a wrong.’” I assumed righting the wrong was part of a sad part of our past from a bygone era. No! In 1960, civic officials had the cemetery dug up to make room for commercial development, and the caskets were relocated. But when they returned, all the headstones were missing.
Then, “In 2016, Richard and Lisa Stuart were walking the Potomac east of Fredricksburg and solved the mystery: Among the chunks of stone and concrete riprap protecting the shoreline from erosion were the missing headstones.” So the authorities did an investigation and realized these were the headstones from the old African American cemetery. The cemetery headstones included “Some of D.C’s leading Black citizens were buried there, including Elizabeth Keckley, confidante of Mary Todd Lincoln; James Wormley, owner of the famous Wormley Hotel; and Philip Reid, who helped create the statue of Freedom atop the U.S. Capital.”
The most obvious response to this injustice is, “can you imagine this ever happening to those in a white cemetery?” Rather than address the horrific injustice of treating African-American headstones as if they were trash, I would like to focus on yet another injustice, which is the lack of respect for the sacred. Significantly more than in the 1960’s, society’s lack of respect for the sacred has continued to erode.
We worship youth and denigrate the elderly. Death is seen as a failure, so why bother respecting the last remains of those who have come before us. It is time to affirm the worth of people who are older and viewed as not productive enough any longer. Similarly, death and headstones are not failures, but a sacred recognition of lifelong achievement and Divine fulfillment of life beyond the grave. Today, pray for our society to learn respect for all people, young and old alike. Ask God to bless humanity with the gift of the sacred, including the holy act of honoring the resting place of the dead and their markers while trusting in life eternal.
