I never fully understood how a Chinese
funeral ceremony was when I was a young girl. All I know was mourning,
chanting, procession session, burning paper idols such as paper made mansions,
cars, Astro satellite, servants and chauffer, gold, hell notes $, kneeling on
the ground and crossing bridge (sending the souls to the other world). Usually
it takes few days for the ceremony to complete.
Now as I have grown up I began to
realize the story behind the Chinese funeral procession. My Grandpa passed away
on 4th July 2013, morning 5am. My whole family had to rush back to
hometown to pay our last respects to our beloved Grandpa. As soon as we reached there, we had to change
into white and black uniform and pay our respect to our Grandpa. First time seeing
my dad crying at Grandpa’s coffin broke my heart, realizing that Grandpa has
left this world for real. Grandpa suffered from relapsed cancer which spread
from lung to the rest of the internal organs.
As the evening went by, the
chanting ceremony began with heavy accent Hokkien which I barely understand.
Chanting took few hours including kneeling on the ground, putting joss stick,
mourning session, calling Grandpa to cross the bridge etc. So many rules need
to adhere which I believe is man made laws. At the end of the day, I found the
ceremony so depressing. It does not make sense as they were preparing for Grandpa’s
walk to hell and life in hell with luxury? Burning those paper idols seems weird to me.
Why they cannot have the mindset that Grandpa is with God and in heaven now? Heaven
is a wonderful place to be at. No pain and sorrow. There is no need for us to
bring our worldly treasure as everything is provided in heaven. Our treasure
(eternal life) is already in heaven as written in John 14:1-4.
“Dont be troubled. You trust God, now trust in me. There are many rooms
in my Father’s home and I am going to prepare a place for you. If this were not
so, I would tell you plainly. When everything is ready, I will come and get
you, so that you will always be with me where I am. And you know where I am
going and how to get there.”
As I sat there waiting for the
time to pass, I noticed that the altar has some drawings of stages of hell. I
was literally shocked for the first time.
Why would you want to send your love one to hell? Why we believe that all
souls go to hell? The priest kept praying that “god” will bring our Grandpa
safe back to spiritual realm. Does that mean that he is lead to hell? I do not
feel sad right now compared to others because they do not know where Grandpa is
going after death. Now I understand why Chinese funeral has so many ceremonies
and customs. It is so that they will have reassurance that the dead one will
die peacefully. I believe it is a way of deceiving themselves.
My role as granddaughter has
ended. I did not get to see him before he passed away. Even I am not sure if my
grandpa is saved by Lord Jesus though prayers had been done with my boss and
church friends. But I choose to believe God has taken care of everything
whether we understand or not. Our God is
God of love, hope and peace. He provides us an assurance that we have eternal
life after death. This I called, Our God, Lord Jesus who is willing to die for
us so that our sins may be redeemed and we can have eternal life after death.
Now is my turn as a daughter/siblings
role to pray for my family members. I pray that Lord Jesus have mercy towards
my family members to open up their eyes and soften their hearts to receive
Jesus.
Amen.
XOXO
God’s lover
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