On the first Sunday of our May holiday we attended the small church at Ashurst where Sir Lawrence Olivier’s funeral was held prior to his burial in Westminster Abbey, and later in the week whilst in Chichester, we visited Tim and Emma England who left Pool Hill some years ago to be nearer their children. The South Downs has historical importance for sheep breeders and a number of small towns such as Arundel, Petworth and Midhurst have retained their character. However most of the coastal area from Portsmouth to Brighton is now urban or industrial.
Whilst on the way to our rented cottage near Steyning we visited Portsmouth Harbour to see Henry the VIII battleship Mary Rose and Nelson’s HMS Victory. As we stood on the decks of Victory it was easy to imagine the emotions, fears and hopes of those men fighting at Trafalgar for their own lives and for their country and their admiral. And whilst it is unlikely that they were thinking about us, I guess that many readers will like me, feel a sense of gratitude for what they did to enrich our lives in many ways.
As I stood on the orlop deck of Nelson’s flag ship thinking about the continuum of life there came to mind some words penned a couple of months ago by Michael Perham a previous Bishop of Gloucester. The day before he died he wrote; –
“… I have always had a really strong sense of the community of saints and that has grown stronger as the years have gone by and I continue to have a sense of this great fellowship of people who fill my life and have enriched me. I think they will go on being that group of people talked about in the Letter to the Hebrews, the ‘cloud of witnesses’ that will go on supporting. It is the communion of saints that really has always sustained me, they are wonderful people. That collect (prayer) for All Saints’ Day draws heaven and earth together as we live in this life with the communion of saints”……
I expect we are all conscious of those who have influenced our own lives and like me, often remember each by name in silent prayer. I do not however know the name of the Vicar who christened me many years ago, but I was told that he said it was a ceremony he would never forget! As a baby I was ignorant of the solemnity of the occasion, but the family story is that as the water was put onto my forehead, the entire congregation became aware of the power in a baby’s digestive system to thunder out echoing explosive resonances to the furthest extremities of a medieval building. Since then I hope that regular church visits have resulted in emanating harmonies of a more recognisably musical nature.
The other day we were at lunch with a widow friend. She told us that after a morning teaching music she decided to have lunch in Tewkesbury where, sitting alone she became aware of a group of friends at another table chattering happily away. Eventually they left and she asked for her bill only to be told that they had paid for her meal. It transpired that the group met once a month when each of them would pay into a kitty from which they would then conduct an anonymous ‘random act’ of kindness.
Weeks later she was in a different restaurant and noticed a young couple nearby. As she thought about the difficulties facing youngsters today she determined to perform her own act of ‘random kindness’ and pay for their meal. But just then neighbours came in and chatted briefly on the way to their own table and, when she looked up the couple had gone. Asking for her bill; she was astonished to be told that it had already been paid by the young couple. Two restaurants, two acts of random kindness! Bishop Michael had got it right. We are drawn together as the prayer for all Saints Day suggests ……..
Finally, moving from the sublime to the ridiculous: The Daily Telegraph recently carried the account of two queues that had formed outside the Pearly Gates when, at 9am, St Peter came to investigate. One queue was labelled ‘Hen pecked Husbands’ and was a huge line. The other said ‘Non Hen pecked Husbands’ but only one man was there.
Peter scratched his head and said to the man on his own. “Why are you standing in this line?”
“Don’t know,” the man shrugged ……. “The wife told me to”.
View from the Pew 