I’m sorry if that’s macabre.

There’s something you should know about how we do things in Katherine: we bury our dead up here.

Women, men, young, and old – all the mourners take part, literally. Cathartically.

A mound of red dirt and six long shovels stand to attention, awaiting the closing benediction.

There’s something about the dirt.

I once officiated a funeral in another place, distant from here, and a wise old man approached me afterwards – he thanked me for my ministrations and then remarked on the absence of dirt.

It was a child’s funeral, and we’d decided the dirt would fall heavily on the little coffin.

But he was right, there’s something about the dirt: ‘From dust you came and to dust you shall return’. As clods strike the coffin we’re struck by the finality, the permanence, and the certainty of death.

Jesus interrupted funerals more than once. Sometimes I want to – to ask a question. But I’ll do it here instead: Why is it so unlikely in your minds that God can raise the dead?

St Paul’s Anglican Church meets on Sundays@9am with kids church. All welcome.