Abide With Me

I mentioned in a comment on August 5th that my brother-in-law had died, and that I was having trouble finding the words to use for a post about his death. Now is, I think, the time to put that right.

James died on July 30th; he was 43 years old. He’d been very ill for a long while, never really regaining his health after being seriously injured in a motorbike accident some two years ago. In that, he broke his back and was permanently paralysed. After a very long stay in hospital he did have a few months where he was able to get around a bit in a wheelchair, and for a while we thought he would be okay, though obviously very limited. But gradually complications began to take a hold of him, and his health deteriorated. He spent the last six or so months of his life in the Sue Ryder Care home, in the Old Palace, Ely. We knew four months ago that he wasn’t going to be recovering, and had just been helplessly watching him deteriorate in front of us. They were extremely good at Sue Ryder, and kept him as comfortable as possible; but sometimes he was in a lot of pain. Although he was, thankfully, peaceful at the end.

James was a great guy, but a bit of rogue too. He had a wicked sense of humour. He was quite a spiritual person, and we often used to have some really quite deep discussions about God, Christ, faith, and the Church. But, along with many people, he never found a way to express that spirituality through organised religion. He was grateful for visits from a couple of Priests in the last weeks of his life. I’m quite sure that, despite all the difficulties in his life, he had made his peace with God at the end of it.

The funeral took place yesterday, August 12th. It was a good funeral, as far as funerals go. There were a lot of people there, and the Church was quite full. Lots of his friends and family were able to be there. Richard, a fellow Reader, who led the service, managed to get the balance of the funeral just right.

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All your people may be gathered into one flock

I wonder if everyone being gathered into one flock is a real possibility in the near future. I had a look on Wikipedia to see if there might be a list of all the Christian denominations — there is, and there are a lot!. And if you factor in the number of other faiths there are, we can see that we’re an incredibly splintered flock at present. And, on the face of it, it looks as though it’s unlikely we’ll ever reach that happy ideal of being gathered into one flock.

But God can, and does, do amazing things. We don’t know what might happen tomorrow, next week, next year, or at some other point in our future, that will bring about just what’s being prayed for in this Collect. If enough of us can be taught to hear Christ’s voice, and to follow his command, then we just might suddenly realize that we are actually all one flock, following one Way.

It’s quite a thought to think, to hope for, that so many differences might one day be set aside, and we might be able to worship with our brothers and sisters around the world again. I think it’s more likely to happen from the grass-roots level up, rather than our denominational leaders bringing about unity. Our leaders can’t even agree within the Anglican Communion, so what hope between denominations, or even faiths. But at grass-roots level, people of various denominations and faiths do work and worship together; and don’t worry overly much about our differences.

I will never forget one funeral I went to where Buddhists were invited to take an active part in a Christian funeral, in a Christian Church. It was an amazing experience. But, most importantly, it was right for the wonderful person who’s funeral it was.

Unity can happen; it does happen; and with God’s help it can grow.

Risen Christ,
faithful shepherd of your Father’s sheep:
teach us to hear your voice
and to follow your command,
that all your people may be gathered into one flock,
to the glory of God the Father. Amen.

Additional Collect for The Fourth Sunday of Easter
is Copyright © The Archbishops Council