Mourners can sit to meditate, pray or read in peace and solitude.
In 2009, the Centennial Year of the congregation at Laurel Heights United Methodist Church, a new element of ministry was added: the columbarium.
This was added in the sanctuary building to provide a new choice to our Laurel Heights family for a final resting place for their ashes and those of their loved ones. Decision for the project was made in response to sufficient requests from the congregation.
Although the idea of a columbarium is new at our church, its origins are deep in the history of Christian beliefs. From the earliest of times, Christians have buried their dead in crypts, church yards and inside their churches.
The columbarium project was under study by a subcommittee of the Board of Trustees for more than a year to determine an appropriate location on the property, consider all design elements, evaluate companies offering modular units and write policies to govern the use of the niches and the costs and management procedures involved in providing a Columbarium Ministry. In 2009 the construction was begun and the completed columbarium was consecrated on All Saints' Sunday on November 1, 2009.
Climbing Wheat Pattern
The Laurel Heights Columbarium located in the northwest entry vestibule of the sanctuary contains 64 niches with bronze covers. The Armento Liturgical Arts Company of Buffalo, New York was chosen to provide our unit. Armento has decades of experience in providing modular units with covers of cast bronze for columbaria in use in churches all over America. The Laurel Heights Columbarium has sculptured bronze faceplates covering the niches using the Climbing Wheat pattern, signifying the bounty of the earth. Stone crosses carved by the 9th Century Celts are the inspiration of our center focal point, the Equal-armed Celtic Cross, which shows the Lamb of God, witnessed by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The cross is central to the columbarium and is sculpted in bronze and finished in a warm patina. The liturgical art elements and the stained glass windows along with the furnishings of the room serve to heighten the prayerful, meditative environment of the space.
The Laurel Heights Columbarium Ministry invites our family to consider this location as the final resting place for their earthly remains.
"...For dust you are and to dust you shall return..."
Genesis 3:17 The Jerusalem Bible
64 Niches for Inurnment of Ashes
What is a Columbarium? The word "columbarium" is derived from "columba," the Latin for dovecote, a compartmented house where doves, the symbol of God's Spirit and Peace, come to roost. In modern terms, a columbarium is a consecrated structure used for the inurnment of a deceased's ashes after cremation.
The Columbarium in the sanctuary serves as an appropriate place for earthly remains of any member or former member of the church, ordained Methodist ministers, employees and former employees of the church, and spouses, parents, children, and grandchildren (natural, adopted, foster or step) of the above-mentioned persons.
There seems to be no more fitting place for the remains of a Christian than a columbarium within his or her church. Set in the peaceful surrounding of the church structure, it is also a place for quiet meditation and prayer. The Columbarium is located in the northwest entrance to the sanctuary. Why a columbarium? Read more here.
Open hearts. Open minds. Open Doors. The people of The United Methodist Church®
