I was talking with someone from another congregation last week, and the topic of tables came up.  They were surprised that a story they told me about 'the tables' in their congregation didn't shock me.  "Do you mean people in other churches.....about tables, too?!?"  Yep, 'holy ground.'  Tables, the kitchen, funeral silverware....all holy ground.  Sometimes the words are preceded by a possessive:  "The Laymen's League....."   "The Ladies' Aid....."  "The School's...."  I've always called these "Holy Ground" -  the terms 'Sacred Things' or just plain 'turf' work well, too.

 

I began my ministry in a rural Michigan congregation.  On arrival, I got "the tour."  "Sure I'd like to see the church cemetery.  I've never been to a cemetery before - in Chicago we usually just dispose of the bodies in the river!"

 

"Now Teacher, this is the older section of the cemetery, you can tell by all the raised stones and monuments.  In the newer section, we only allow flat headstones because the man we hire to mow charges more for mowing around raised stones.  Oh, and over here is the section for mixed marriages."

 

"Mixed marriages?  You have many mixed marriages here?"

 

"Oh, yeah...."

 

"I haven't been here very long, but I'm pretty sure I've seen mainly, maybe only....  white people  in town."

 

"Oh, no, Teacher, not that kind of mixed marriage.  I mean Lutheran and...others."

 

"Unbelievers?"

 

"No, no....like Lutherans married to Baptists, or Mennonites, you know?  This long strip of ground right here - well everything to the right is 'the dedicated portion of the cemetery.'  If a member is married to a non-member, the member gets buried to the right of the line in 'the dedicated portion' of the cemetery, and their spouse gets buried to the left in the..."

 

"Unholy Ground?" I interrupted.

 

"Well, we don't call it that, we prefer "dedicated and undedicated..."

 

Otto was the church sexton.  While others protected the tables, chairs, silverware, etc. Otto protected dirt AND it's constitution.  Yes, this cemetery had it's own constitution!  The best protected cemetery in the LCMS!  In the eight years I served this congregation, seldom did a Church Council meeting end without Otto having to do battle in order to protect his dirt.  Mostly it was about headstones, raised ones that "snuck in" to the newer portion when nobody was looking, presumably at night.  Yes, people did sneak into the cemetery after dark, set footings and put up raised stones where they weren't supposed to.  (You cannot make that up.)  Most of the time the council told Otto that while they understood his concern and appreciated his dedication to the rules, he really should not take his tractor and chains and pull down the illegally placed monuments and headstones....  Occasionally we talked of other issues.

 

One night, near the end of my time in this truly wonderful place (seriously), Otto came to the council with a recommendation, a change in the cemetery constitution.  While Otto for years had fiercely defended dirt, the cemetery constitution, flat headstones and, of course, "the dedicated portion" of our cemetery from intruders, non-Lutherans wishing to be buried in the "Holy Ground," that night he wanted to do away with a rule, that law from the cemetery constitution about dedicated dirt.  "Otto, what is this?"  Many would have done away with the rule years before....but now he had us curious.

 

Otto explained.  "You all know Mrs. Herrmann, Walter's widow.  Well, a couple weeks ago she gave me a call and asked if I could come out and see her.  She's been widowed now for a little over a year and is well into her eighties.  I never knew this, but apparently she grew up at the Baptist church just down the road.  When she and Walter got married, she became Lutheran and has been a member at St. John now for 63 years.  Anyway, she and I had a nice visit.  She had her copy of the cemetery constitution and said she understood the rules and all....  With Walter gone....and her being in her last years she figures....well, she said she has always missed her Baptist church, that was home, and she would like to go back there for whatever time she has left, but she understands the cemetery rules and, if she goes back to the Baptist church...well, you see, Walter is buried right in the middle of "the dedicated portion" of the cemetery.  Anyway, she asked me how much it would cost to....uhhhh.....well.....I guess, have Walter.....relocated.  She's got the money and really didn't call me over to argue or anything, just wanted me to look into the matter, let her know how much....and then...she wants to pay me to....uhhhh....have Walter....moved.  I just didn't have the heart to.......and, well, I told her not to worry, that when her time came, I'd see to it that she was buried right next to Walter without moving him."  Everyone smiled, and nobody objected to Otto's recommendation.

 

Otto was actually a pretty O.K. guy, and I think he got it wrong that night when he said, "I just didn't have the heart...."  I believe when he visited Mrs. Herrmann that day, she just helped him rediscover it.