Article for May Parish Publications.

I quite enjoy grave stones, and memorials on church walls.

The inscription tells you something of the person memorialised, and the manner of the monument tells you something of the ethos of the times in which they lived. Most often the inscription is just dates of birth and death, closest family relations, and sometimes a sentence expressing some sentiment or wisdom. Even if you are very wealthy, and can afford grand memorials, there is precious little space to record the details and character of a whole life time. This must focus the minds of those commissioning the memorial, 'what is the essential that can be said in this brief space about the deceased?' If you are planing ahead, what would you choose to tell those who come after you about yourself, and what brief wisdom would you want to pass on?

In one of my former parishes there was a lady in her eighties who used to regularary tell me what she wanted for her funeral, and her grave stone. She wanted no Eulogy at her funeral, and no details on her stone other than her name. The funeral was to be about the salvation that can be found in Christ, and the grave stone was to carry the same message. I did suggest that telling of her life would tell of the salvation to be found in Christ beacaue her life spoke so strongly of her faith, and of the grace she had received from God. However, as a sturdy Yorkshire country woman she was not easily deflected in her intentions or opinions, and so made it clear I was to do as she said. The only flaw in her plan was that she was as fit as a flea ( fit as a lop, in her local dialect), and lived on past my time in those parishes. I hear she is still flourishing.

I was recently impressed by this inscription on a memorial in Threekingham Church, illuminated by the light from a window in the South Aisle,

“To those who fear the Lord death leads the way, To ever lasting Joys, without decay.”

I would use the word 'respect' rather than 'fear', as it is a better translation of the meaning the bible intends. God is awesome, not scary. Even so, I was impressed by the confidence expressed that death was a gateway to new life, a life beyond the fragility of this temporal world. We are now in the time after Easter, able to live in the light of the resurrection of Jesus, knowing that death is not the end. Following Jesus leads to eternal life in this world and the next. I know this to be true, perhaps that's why I can quite enjoy looking at gravestones, an activity I know others find dispiriting and worrying. Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.” Life and love are eternal, because God is love.