Preached in St Alphege Church, 2.30pm, 18th October 2007.
Reading: 1 Corinthians 15: 35b-38,42-44,50-58
Hymn: Come ye thankful people come.
Our Christian Faith stands us in good stead at the time of our death. Through our baptism we are united to Christ in his death, and we shall also be united to him in his resurrection. (Romans 6:5). In our scripture reading today from 1 Corinthians 15 we heard St Paul talking about the resurrection of the dead. Although our natural bodies, perishable and weak come to die, from them we grow new bodies, spiritual, imperishable and powerful.
And much of this is reflected in the famous harvest hymn that we will sing after our prayers. The first verse of the hymn starts “Come ye thankful people come, raise the song of harvest home” and it is all about giving thanks to God for the harvest and for the food that we eat.
But then the rest of the hymn is about a different kind of harvest. The hymn talks about we ourselves as God’s own field and the harvest that God hopes to receive from us at the end of our days. In the hymn we pray that we might be good at wholesome grain and that at our death, God may gather us to himself to become citizens of heaven. Then in the final verse of the hymn we think of ourselves in heaven as part of the Church in heaven, triumphant, purified from all sin and sorrow and rejoicing with all the angles and saints.
Following ?????’s death on Tuesday last week, the family came to our regular 8 o’clock service here on the Sunday. By chance it was harvest festival and Fr Patrick preached on the words of this hymn. And for the family this hymn spoke about ????? and gave great reassurance. It helped the family to trust in the love of God, who has now called ????? to himself.
And I would like to invite all of us take reassurance from our Christian heritage. Let’s put our trust in a loving God, who has grown us on this earth, for a future in heaven. Let’s seek to be good grain, wholesome and true, full of love for God and for one another. And, in the fullness of time, let’s be ready to yield to God a rich harvest, as we leave our mortal bodies behind, and go to join the Church Triumphant in heaven.
Showing posts with label resurrection life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label resurrection life. Show all posts
18 October 2007
26 April 2007
Funeral homily - The way, the truth and the life
Extract from funeral homily, preached 26 04 07
Readings "She is Gone" (see below) and John 14:1-7
A few moments ago we read the poem “She is Gone” which was taken from the order of service for the Queen Mothers funeral. It contains the line “or you can be full of the love you shared”. This reminds us of St Paul’s affirmation in 1 Corinthians 13, that Faith, Hope and Love remain. When we die we lose all our lose all our earthly possessions and our body returns to dust and ashes, but in the Christian Faith we believe our soul returns to God and in some sense its faith and hope and love are retained.
In the paragraph from the gospel of John that we read at the start of this service we heard Jesus speaking to his disciples shortly before his death. He said, “In my Fathers house there are many dwelling places…I go and prepare a place for you.”. This once again affirms the Christian hope that the essential part of us survives death and goes to dwell with Jesus. Thomas struggles to understand this and asks, “Lord, how can we know that way”. And Jesus answers, “I am the way, the truth and the life”. To us with our very material understanding of the universe it is not easy to understand this comment, but it seems that it is Jesus himself, the man who conquered death, who shows us the true way, and who shares his resurrection life with us. So this is our hope for ????. May she follow Jesus, the way the truth and the life. It is also the hope for each one of us. May we too grow in Christian love so that when we die the love may remain, and go to dwell with Jesus in one of the Father’s many rooms.
Readings "She is Gone" (see below) and John 14:1-7
A few moments ago we read the poem “She is Gone” which was taken from the order of service for the Queen Mothers funeral. It contains the line “or you can be full of the love you shared”. This reminds us of St Paul’s affirmation in 1 Corinthians 13, that Faith, Hope and Love remain. When we die we lose all our lose all our earthly possessions and our body returns to dust and ashes, but in the Christian Faith we believe our soul returns to God and in some sense its faith and hope and love are retained.
In the paragraph from the gospel of John that we read at the start of this service we heard Jesus speaking to his disciples shortly before his death. He said, “In my Fathers house there are many dwelling places…I go and prepare a place for you.”. This once again affirms the Christian hope that the essential part of us survives death and goes to dwell with Jesus. Thomas struggles to understand this and asks, “Lord, how can we know that way”. And Jesus answers, “I am the way, the truth and the life”. To us with our very material understanding of the universe it is not easy to understand this comment, but it seems that it is Jesus himself, the man who conquered death, who shows us the true way, and who shares his resurrection life with us. So this is our hope for ????. May she follow Jesus, the way the truth and the life. It is also the hope for each one of us. May we too grow in Christian love so that when we die the love may remain, and go to dwell with Jesus in one of the Father’s many rooms.
02 April 2007
Funeral Homily - The New Jerusalem
Extract from a funeral homily 02 04 07
Reading: Reverlation 21:1-7
It was ????’s specific request that we should all sing William Blake’s hymn “Jerusalem” at his funeral, and we shall be doing that after the prayers. It is not very clear what the hymn is all about, but it seems that Blake is pondering a medieval legend that suggests that Christ visited Glastonbury as a youth with Joseph of Arimathea. Blake does not tell us whether he believes the legend is true or not, but rather he moves straight on to his compelling desire to build the new Jerusalem here in England’s green and pleasant land. Blake sees this process of building as “mental strife”. It may be that he sees his gold and his desires as weapons with which the battle can be fought.
The reading that we listened to a few moments ago picks out that theme of the new Jerusalem. It talks of the end of time, immediately after the last judgement, when God makes a new heaven and a new earth. In the new earth God dwells continually with his people. He is their light and mourning and crying and pain and death are no more, because the old things have passed away and God has made all things new.
And this is our Christian hope. Death is not the end, but rather is the entrance to everlasting life. Our soul returns to God our creator, and at the end of time we will regain our bodies and dwell with God in the new Jerusalem. So this is our hope for ???, and our hope for each one of us. And like William Blake, let us commit ourselves to the building of the New Jerusalem. Let us prepare ourselves to dwell always with God. Let us learn to live and work in harmony with all that God desires, and let’s develop our own personal relationships with God through prayer.
Reading: Reverlation 21:1-7
It was ????’s specific request that we should all sing William Blake’s hymn “Jerusalem” at his funeral, and we shall be doing that after the prayers. It is not very clear what the hymn is all about, but it seems that Blake is pondering a medieval legend that suggests that Christ visited Glastonbury as a youth with Joseph of Arimathea. Blake does not tell us whether he believes the legend is true or not, but rather he moves straight on to his compelling desire to build the new Jerusalem here in England’s green and pleasant land. Blake sees this process of building as “mental strife”. It may be that he sees his gold and his desires as weapons with which the battle can be fought.
The reading that we listened to a few moments ago picks out that theme of the new Jerusalem. It talks of the end of time, immediately after the last judgement, when God makes a new heaven and a new earth. In the new earth God dwells continually with his people. He is their light and mourning and crying and pain and death are no more, because the old things have passed away and God has made all things new.
And this is our Christian hope. Death is not the end, but rather is the entrance to everlasting life. Our soul returns to God our creator, and at the end of time we will regain our bodies and dwell with God in the new Jerusalem. So this is our hope for ???, and our hope for each one of us. And like William Blake, let us commit ourselves to the building of the New Jerusalem. Let us prepare ourselves to dwell always with God. Let us learn to live and work in harmony with all that God desires, and let’s develop our own personal relationships with God through prayer.
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