Piddingworth Greg Benton |
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| 'Piddingworth...where St. George's Cross is not yet banned.' --Mark Steyn |
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| Thank you very much for your support! |
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| All we go down to the dust, and, weeping o'er the grave,we make our song; alleluya, alleluya, alleluya. Kiev Chant |
| OF GRAVE CONCERN |
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| Stanmer Churchyard, Sussex |
| In the midst of life we are in death: of whom may we seek for succour, but of thee, O Lord, who for our sins art justly displeased? Yet, O Lord God most holy, O Lord most mighty, O holy and most merciful Saviour, deliver us not into the bitter pains of eternal death. Burial Office, The Book of Common Prayer |
| Of the hundreds of people that I have buried, whether rich or poor, famous or not, soldier or civilian, male or female, young or old, religious or not-so-religious, in the end they were all unquestionably dead. The oldest was a dear woman named Mary. She was 101. The youngest was a newborn baby boy whose name is Michael. He was three days old. At first, it would seem that the most that they had in common was that they were, in fact, dead. Yet, each and all of these human beings also came from a family, were loved, embraced and baptised into Christ. The greatest difference between them is the number of their days on this earth. Death awaits us all. We humans, conscious as we are of our own inevitable death, have sought out the meaning of this 'event' through means of superstition, mythology, hallucination, ritual, and 'science' and, of course, highly-developed religious traditions. We also have a tendency to avoid the thought of it; even as we are reminded of the reality every day either in the news or as someone we know 'passes away'. No death or funeral is ever precisely the same. Each person, with their family, friendships, culture, life-history, manner of death, and the choices they made, defines and shapes their experience of dying, the marking of their death and their memory. Indeed, the funerals they receive tend to reflect how they lived. The words of Kontakion of the Departed speak to the simple but profound reality of the death of a child of God. As human beings, formed from the earth, we will die and our remains return to that from which we came. Yet, we are more than the dust that forms our bodies. We are living beings, souls, made in the image of our Creator. Our death is real and for those we leave behind there is mourning at our departure from this life but even in the midst of that loss the Church still cries out: Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! We praise God because through His Son, Jesus Christ, death is not our end. Christ suffered, died and was raised from the dead so that all of us, all human beings, might live forever in that 'place' for which we were destined since creation. A life in a world to come where there is no more pain, nor sighing nor sorrow. We need not fear death whenever it comes. Many today have turned away from this belief in Christ and have sought to find their 'happiness' in the earthly things; the same earthly things that become tired, wear away, rot and turn to dust. Some, at the end, attempt to grasp at 'something' that will give their lives a final stamp of 'approval' as they seek solace in the sentimentality of the 'new age' or some such thing. Yet, all the eulogies, eloquent or not, that are given and spoken in praise of our lives and experiences, virtues or foibles, cannot accomplish what God has provided for each of us; the hope of the complete fulfilment of our humanity since we were conceived and born into an existence beyond this earth, this grave, where, in the brilliant light and presence of God, our lives continue and are shared with those whom we love and all whom God has taken to Himself. There is much fear and fear-mongering in the world today; perhaps it has always been so and it is only magnified by the enormous breadth of 'news' and communication through the advances in our technology. It is loud. Even with the recent turn of events in the financial markets where many (including yours truly) have suffered losses in their investments, some people speculated that there might be a wave of suicides among those whose losses were too great to bear. So far, it would seem not. Still, for those whose lives are invested purely in the things of this world; money, pleasure and other material pursuits, there can be no consolation. What we live for we die for. How we die is indeed commensurate with how we live. Life in Christ does not begin at the grave. It is lived now as we live; so that when our bodies are indeed lowered into the ground, we have already passed through the portal of death and continue into a life eternal that we lived and knew, in part, on this earth. It is the life of God's dwelling with us through the mystery of His Church where He is uniquely to be found, known and heard; where our mortal souls are made immortal by His grace. If we live with Him now, we shall live with Him forever. Nothing, proclaimed St.Paul, can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. G.B. All Hallows Eve, 2008 |
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