Bury Me Where My Feet Face East

This song is kind of my last will and testament. I wrote it after learning of the medieval practice of Christians burying their dead with their feet facing east. Walk through any cemetery today and note the direction of most headstones; it apparently remains quite a common thing to do.

The practice is based on the belief that Jesus will return in the east like the rising sun. Matthew 24:27 mentions the eastern sky when speaking of Christ’s Second Coming. First Thessalonians 4:16 states that, when Christ returns, the dead will rise to meet him. Those two passages have combined and long informed Christian imaginations regarding the Second Coming, leading to the practice of burying their dead facing east, therefore ensuring that, when Christ returns, they won’t have their backs turned toward him; they won’t miss a single moment of Christ miraculous return because it happened behind them. Instead, with feet facing east, their deceased brothers and sisters in Christ would be essentially lying in wait, ready to—in an instant—sit up, stand up, and follow Jesus on into glory.

Now, of course, not every Christian today understands those two passages literally. But either way, the imagery of such a practice is striking. It struck me, at least, when I learned of it.

One day, I will pass away. And when that happens, there will be all sorts of details my loved ones will have to work out. There always are. So, I wrote this song to make it clear to them and to anyone else who is listening that the only thing that matters to me is that you bury me with my feet facing east. Everything else, as far as I am concerned, is just details. None of it really matters in comparison.

Regardless of how literally one interprets the language of Matthew 24:27 and/or 1 Thessalonians 4:16, I want to be buried with my feet facing east because I want the very position of my body in the ground to be a declaration that the most important thing about me is my belief in the resurrection and return of Jesus Christ, my belief that death doesn’t get the final word, my belief that—sure—this body might lay low for a time, but there is a rising coming soon. I want to be buried with my feet facing east because I want the very last message my earthly body communicates to this world to be that I believe the age-old truth: Christ has died, Christ is risen, and Christ will come again.

Credits

Words & Music: Bill Wolf
Produced: Adam Whipple
Mix and Mastered: Kyle Haas

Piano: Greg Adkins
Electric Guitar: Josh Hutson
Bass Guitar: Brandon Givens
Backing Vocals: Haley Mailhot
Drums: Drew Walburg
Organ/Acoustic/Hand Percussion/Backing Vocals: Adam Whipple

The East-Facing Choir: Katie Curtis, Sophie Day, Milla Harrington, Lukas Johnson, Noah Mulpas, Brady VanHyning

Recorded by Connor Wheaton at Pink Moon Sound and Kyle Haas at Johnson University