Death is the ultimate “wake up” call, for those who have learned that their lives will soon be coming to an end.
This is a great opportunity for churches, precisely because of the modernist aversion to dying and death. It is a chance to say, “You will die. You cannot avoid dying. You cannot ignore it, pretend it will not happen, or find redemption outside of faith.”
It is not to honor death, but to use it to break through the haze of life, so that people can pay attention to what is important. Priests and Reverends should at least once a year, by hook or by crook, drag their congregation to the cemetery. Especially the children.
Not just for a religious service, but out of respect for who the dead were. Why not identify those who are remembered in the cemetery, and remark about who they were, what they did with their lives, and what they meant to the church.
It points out that people do not seek to exist when they die. Because if they did, what would be the value of church? it shows respect to say they were once here, alive as we all are, and now they are at rest, and what does that mean?