When Spiritual Gifts and Discipleship Meet

Custom built ossuary and stand by Carl Dibert and
Jim Forrest in Memory of Nancy Wood

Brighton First is blessed to offer a Memorial Garden to church and community members. It is a beautiful place for the interment of a loved one's ashes and a quiet space for contemplation and prayer. Earlier in the year, members of the Memorial Garden Committee determined to purchase an ossuary.

An ossuary is, traditionally, a container for the bones of the dead. Today, an ossuary may be used as part of a memorial service to hold the cremains of the deceased and be carried into and from the sanctuary by pallbearers.

Because over one half of the funeral/memorial services at Brighton First take place after the deceased is cremated, the ossuary gives families the opportunity to participate in a formal procession that honors their loved one. The rite of carrying the remains of a loved one into and from the sanctuary is a symbolic accompaniment of that person to the very end.

Rather than purchase a manufactured ossuary, church members Jim Forrest and Carl Dibert volunteered to design and build an ossuary. They also created two matching stands so that the ossuary can be placed in the library during the family visiting time and then be moved to the sanctuary by pallbearers. The ossuary is constructed to sit securely on both stands.

Cremains are placed in ossuary.

Jim and Carl have, along with others who have the spiritual gift of crafting, offered remarkable gifts to enhance the ministry of Brighton First. I am inspired again and again by what can be accomplished by disciples of Christ who use their spiritual gifts for God's glory.

Brighton First Memorial Garden