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The Rector writes:
On 30th October at 4.00p.m. is our All Souls’ service at St. Mary’s. This is an opportunity, once more, in the context of worship, to remember those we have loved who have died. It is a rich service with its themes of loss and hope. As we recall cherished memories, there will be renewed gratitude and, inevitably, sadness. Alongside our experience of grief, we become aware of own mortality. In a sense, we are journeying relentlessly towards death. A funeral prayer put it simply and starkly, “Hold before us our beginning and our end, the dust from which we come and the death to which we move.” This straightforward reference is in marked contrast to a widespread aversion to talking about death. It has become almost a taboo subject. Whereas in previous generations, death was seen as integral to life, it now seems to be regarded almost as an aberration. It seems as though we expect to live for ever. The prevailing view that death is only an abnegation of life has changed how we handle death as a society. Instead of the corpse of someone we love being laid out in the family home for the community to come and pay their respects, it is whisked off to the undertakers as swiftly as is possible. Moreover, the shared community customs that indicated a collective sadness and responsibility have largely gone. With this widespread denial of and privatisation of death, talk of what, if anything happens after death, is largely off the agenda. When it is a topic of conversation, the sceptical voice is stronger than it once was. Thankfully, the Christian church still has a confident hope in God to offer as we experience dying and death. There are two closely related aspects to the New Testament’s teaching on what we can expect beyond this life. The first is encapsulated in Paul’s longing to be with Christ. “With Christ which is far better,” a quote from Philippians is inscribed at the bottom of my mum and dad’s gravestone. Paul’s firm conviction was that Christ awaited him in heaven. The second aspect centres on the word, “Resurrection.” For Christians, Jesus’ resurrection from the dead on Easter Day signals that the victory over death is won. Hence, the future and the End is securely God’s. An evocative passage from Revelation captures movingly the consummation of God’s creation: “See the home of God is with mortals....God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more.” Elsewhere in the scriptures, we see that a trumpet, joy and justice mark God’s coming to reign. The loud blast of a trumpet announces that God’s eternal Kingdom is here. Overwhelming joy characterises the resulting closeness to God and each other. The dawn of God’s justice is particularly good news for those who are poor and downtrodden, for all victims of injustice, for those under the heavy hand of oppression. Christ will put right what is wrong and everyone will know the genuine fairness that is the expressed goal in many current political debates. However, we do not know when the End will be. In Jesus’ teaching, we are told not to speculate about its timing but we are to long for its coming. In the meantime, we strive to make our world, our nation and our own lives match up to the truth, love and beauty of God’s Kingdom. On 23rd October, at 11.15a.m. at St. Mary’s is the Justice Service (this replaces our usual 10.00a.m. service.). The High Sheriff of Essex, Lady Ruggles-Brise, has given us the privilege of hosting this annual service. It brings together in an act of worship many people who are directly involved in the maintenance of law and order, the administration of justice, and in related voluntary organisation. All are welcome to come to sing God’s praise and to pray for God’s wisdom and guidance for and with all those involved in a judicial system in our county. TS Eliot wrote in one of his poems “in my beginning is my end”. May be, it is equally true that “in our end is our beginning.” Insofar as we grasp the vision of the End, we begin to live effectively for God in the present. As, gradually, our lives and our life together manifest God’s Kingdom, then others come to know through us God’s justice, God’s joy and begin to hear like us the faint but rising sound of a trumpet announcing that God’s Kingdom is coming.
Team Rector of Saffron Walden
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