At last I am ready to do some real work in my christian life. All my life so far has been a preparation for what I am able to do now. I am so glad to have discovered that I have a real ability to officiate at a funeral in a sensitive and caring way. This is wonderful. My training as a Local Preacher has ,of course, prepared me for the actual speaking I have to do, but God has also given me the ability to care for the relatives of the deceased before, during and after the funeral. I do not want to be one of those professionals who go through the motions and trot out a service with no personal involvment. This is a difficult time for the family and I want to be "there" for them and not just trot out platitudes.
I am able to care but also able to keep that little bit of distance that means I am not so emotionally involved that I cry. That is for the family to do, I am there to express their feelings in words and to present the good news of Jesus in the Bible readings and prayers without breaking down.Mind you the good news of Jesus is so wonderful that it should move us to tears.
I have written in previous posts about disasters. In the case of Concorde, decisions by people, plus other factors were directly to blame for the event. In the case of the Penlee disaster it may have been avoided if someone had made a better choice in the time beforehand and as a consequence brave men and the ship's crew and the captain and his family died. 9/11 was certainly the result of wicked men committing a terrorist act, but even in this there was heroism notably by another Cornish man, Rick Rescorla who helped many to safety and left it too late to help himself. In situations like this we see what the human spirit is capable of both good and evil. What of disasters that come on people because of the earth restless movement of tectonic plates. Often people live near volcanoes because the land is rich and fertile and they have the chance of a better life there when the volcano is resting. We cannot blame them for that but sometimes people become complacent...
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