It is Accomplished.

Today, the people of Alcester bade farewell to the Reverend Richard Dobell... as I said in an earlier post, he was perhaps the town's favourite adopted son.

I wanted to record my thoughts from the day, both for personal memory and on the off chance that anybody who couldn't make it on the day who stumbles upon my blog... has the opportunity to get a feel for the events as they happened.

A requiem service had been held the previous evening, which I attended. I almost didn't get there on time, but fortunately I experienced a minor miracle (God quite literally fiddled some traffic lights). We shared communion and poignantly, I was told that the amount of wafers used tallied exactly with the number of people present - the bishop taking the service did not have to consume any extra. During that night, Richard's body lay in state.

I decided to get to the church early this morning... rumour had it 1,000 mourners would attend and having known Richard as a friend of my family since about the age of 10... I wanted to make sure I was inside the building, should it get busy. With about an hour to go, people flooded in and packed the church out... standing room only.

Shortly before 11am, the muffed bells stopped ringing and the Rector - David Capron, read a personal address from the bishop. There was then silence for two minutes.

After the first hymn, there was a reading from the apocryphal book of The Wisdom of Solomon. some people might frown at that because it isn't in most translations of the Bible. However it was markedly poignant because it addressed ideas that many skeptics present in the room, might have been considering:

"But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and no torment will ever touch them.

In the eyes of the foolish they seemed to have died, and their departure was thought to be a disaster, and their going from us to be their destruction; but they are at peace.

For though in the sight of others they were punished, their hope is full of immortality.

Having been disciplined a little, they will receive great good, because God tested them and found them worthy of himself;

Those who trust in him will understand truth, and the faithful will abide with him in love, because grace and mercy are upon his holy ones, and he watches over his elect."

Wisdom of Solomon 3:1-5, 9

The first thing to touch me personally was the next reading. I had felt in my heart God saying "Do not be anxious, do not let your heart be troubled" about a week and a half ago... about various things in my life - sadly I had not been good at that... but the reading from John 10 started with the second part of that phrase... and so I was reassured that God had not abandoned me to be angst ridden psyche.

The next part of the service was the eulogy, given by Reverend Andy Shearn (who was also the former headmaster at Alcester Grammar School, where Richard taught).

He did a great job.

Nearly all his words were taken from personal observations of Richard at school, or from his wife Jan... and much of it was made up of Richard's own words at various assemblies. Richard's spirit was eloquently captured in everything that was said. In a previous post I said of Richard:

He never took himself too seriously but always made sure the seriousness behind the message came across. He always left the stage leaving people with something to chew over... but never gave it to them in a painful manner.

Death it seemed, proved no exception to this. People were laughing at some of the more humorous anecdotes and warm memories... and yet equally, there were moments of challenge. Richard, just before Easter had spoken of Christ's suffering.

"The trouble with resurrection, is that you have to die first."

He had recounted the pain that Jesus went through prior to the first Easter Sunday... and then he had told the students gathered the reason why:

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

John 3:16

It seems deeply relevant to me, that Richard shared in Christ's Passion in a special way. By openly talking about these things, he then demonstrated them. He was a man who genuinely wanted the best for the people he met in his daily life, and for the students who learned under his tutelage. He was passionate about his beliefs and in his death, he found away to demonstrate the importance of that faith to many people. Reverend Shearn repeated the challenge that Richard had given during that speech... that Christ had gone through so much for all of us, so that we could be reconciled with god... and all that was required of us was that we accept it and believe. Richard's question was simply:

"Do you believe?"

I wonder how many will have asked themselves that very same question simply because of Richard's testimony in life and death? To see a man meet the end of his physical life, absolutely certain about his eventual destiny (not out of arrogance but out of blessed assurance), surely that must have inspired people.

We then sang "O Jesus I have promised". The first verse raised a personal smile for me... because when we sang the line "I shall not fear the battle if thou art by my side", all I could see was the picture I had described to you the other day: Richard clad in tin hat, dustbin lid and bent sword whilst preaching on the full armour of God. Then I nearly choked up in verse 4 and here's why:

O Jesus, thou hast promised

to all who follow thee

that where thou art in glory

there shall thy servant be

The reason I nearly lost it was because it was those words that I had shared with you on Saturday, when writing about Richard and Selwyn Hughes being men who were still very much alive in the presence of God... and as I said, I don't believe in coincidence. I have felt very recently that the veil between Heaven and Earth has drawn thin indeed. In the past I have believed and known about life after death... but at the moment I feel it. It seems very much to me as if a window has been left open and I can actually hear the party going on in the unseen room next door.

After the prayers and a rousing rendition of "Thine Be the Glory" of which I am sure Richard would be proud, we sat down and listened to a cheerful rendition of "In an English Country Garden", a tune that Richard often played on the piano at our house. One couldn't help but share a bittersweet smile as the music played.

Finally the coffin was led out, followed by the family... as the church organ rippled gloriously through a plethora of lively and swift chords. Testimony to a wonderful musician, it seemed that even the ancient keys and pedals of that instrument, that for so long had shared an almost symbiotic relationship with Richard when he had been organist... wanted to grieve and say farewell in their own way... the only way they knew how - in awesome and wonderful symphony.

The full scale of the event was revealed upon leaving church. Not only was the churchyard full to bursting, but people lined the High Street as far as the eye could see. They had come to say farewell to a deeply loved and wonderful individual... who has returned to the God who graciously gave him to us - undeserving as we were of such a blessing.

Jesus Christ, despite having his years cut short by crucifixion, lived a full life and in the end he had done everything he was supposed to... this is one of the reasons he cried out "It is accomplished." So despite Richard's years being cut short, I recognise that his life was a fulfilled one... and that he did what I believe he was supposed to do (how many of us I wonder, can say the same of ourselves?), that is why I gave my post the title of Jesus words on the cross "It is accomplished."

You may be interested to know that the full text of the eulogy for Richard Dobell is now up at the St Nicholas website... and you can find it by following the linked text in this sentence..

Rest in Christ Richard - well done good and faithful servant!

And as you said so many times to so many of us on so many occasions...

"Peace be with you."

Funeral for a Friend

I've been noticing in my web statistics that a lot of people are hitting my blog, searching for news on Richard's death.

In the hope that anybody reading this is a friend or former student of Richard, wishing to pay their respects; I thought I could help by letting people know about the funeral details.

The service will begin at 11am, this Saturday at St. Nicholas Church, Alcester. Attendance is expected to be extremely high, so the service will also be relayed outside through loudspeakers.

The town will likely be swamped with traffic and I have heard it said that some of the local schools will be opening up their car parks in order for people to be able to park.

In the coming days, I hope to link this post to any obituaries or biographies that are out there. Perhaps if you have seen any, you could advise me or leave a link in the comment field.

Also, I would be honoured if people want to use this place... any of the relevant entries to post their own feelings, memories and thoughts, for others to read.

Update as of 25th April 2007:

There is now a group on Facebook that you can join, where people have been sharing their personal memories... it is open to anyone. If you wish to be a member of the group, please follow this link.

Update as of 29th April 2007:

Following the funeral, the full text of the eulogy for Richard is now available at the St. Nicholas church website. If you wish to read it, please follow this link.

Update as of 1st May 2007

Text of brief letter/tribute published on the Alcester Grammar School website. If you wish to read, please follow this link.

Obituary found on the Redditch/Alcester Standard. To read this, please follow this link.

Peace for Lilly

Today marked the funeral of tiny baby Lilly: the little girl who was found in the river not far from my church.

I went.

I've never been to the funeral of any child before... let alone a child I've never had any direct contact with.

Nonetheless... I went any way.

I didn't go to gawp morbidly at the tiny white coffin... nor to jump on some sympathetic bandwagon. I went because at the core of my being I fundamentally believe that everyone has the right to have someone say goodbye when they pass away. Every individual counts.

Furthermore, I also believe in my heart of hearts the command that Jesus Christ gave us... to "love your neighbour as yourself". I would not wish to be left alone - unloved and forgotten, should my time come... so why should I leave another to the same fate?

"Love your neighbour as yourself".

Lilly was not afforded the kindness that stems from that commandment in life. Instead... either by accident or brutality, her collar bone and skull were fatally fractured shortly after birth and she was abandoned out of either fear, callousness or neglect in a section of river off the beaten track.

However... in death, the local community resolved to give her the respect and love that she had been robbed of in life.

Lilly had a Christian burial, paid for out of love by kindly locals. Her white coffin was tenderly carried in the gentle loving arms of a local undertaker. Flowers were laid, a headstone will be provided... and 100 mourners turned out to say a loving goodbye to a girl they never knew... I am so proud of the people around me on this day... today - for all their flaws... they got it right in the most amazing and powerful way.

A few moments will stay with me this day. Firstly, a young mother held her own child in her pew just 10 feet away from where Lilly's coffin lay. The contrasting image was not lost on me. Two children... two very different fates, life and death at so tender an age in such close proximity... it moved me.

Secondly, we were invited to pray over the coffin... all of us... to raise our hands and pray - to let God's love, light and peace flow out from within us as a gesture of farewell to the child.

Thirdly as the coffin was led out, several women reached out to touch it. I'm told this is not an unusual custom... but I've never seen it at any of the numerous funerals I have attended. The tactile sympathy shown towards this child warmed my heart.

Fourthly, the internment itself was supposed to be private... but nearly everyone stayed and watched from a distance... and paid some kind of personal respects when they found opportunity. This was only slightly marred by the press taking snapshots of the burial taking place... which sickened me.

What moved me most was the having sensation of the unseen mourner - God himself, all around me. I felt the Holy Spirit in that service... and their was a Spirit of unity among those gathered.

So rest in peace Lilly, you will not be forgotten... you will always be one of us.

A Busy Day

I spent a large part of today attending a funeral for my next door neighbour, who was staunchly Roman Catholic. I didn't feel comfortable in the service because 90% of it was read in Latin (as per his wishes). I know the odd word here and there, but not enough to follow properly. I was also made uncomfortable by the fact that the priest conducted large segments of the service facing away from the congregation. There was no sense of empathy, it all seemed quite cold to me. It was very different to my experiences of services during my time at Roman Catholic schools. I refused to sing some of the hymns, because I didn't agree with some of the theology in them. There was one weird hymn that had a verse about reclaiming England, it could just have been about revival but the context seemed a little too anti-protestant to me. The priest taking the service spoke a lot about purgatory, and I had to point out to my own parents (sigh), that Anglicans don't believe in that as it's not in scripture. I also had to point out that we don't subscribe to transubstantiation of the bread and wine.

Back to the use of Latin, it brought home to me the fact I have strong beliefs about language. I believe language should serve the people, not people serve the language. All these purists who seek to exclude new words from the dictionary because it corrupts "true English", I feel are quite snobbish. The dictionary was originally created to catalogue the words the British were using, to enable people to enhance their vocabulary. It's not like the Bible. It isn't heresy to add new bits to the English language.

The simple truth is that language evolves and modifies/improves our breadth of description for something we want to express. Take love for example. In the New Testament, there are three words for love... each with a different level of emphasis. We need to be aware of it went talking on the subject, otherwise we risk speaking inadequately through our lack of comprehension.

I disapprove of church services and public scripture readings where the common tongue of the congregation is not used. It hampers access to God's wisdom (which is of course exactly what it was intended to do in the middle ages, if you couldn't understand God's will through his word, you were at the mercy of clergy and rich people who were the only ones educated enough to understand it).

On another subject, my sister has developed yet another pulmonary embolism (blood clot). She's OK, I picked her up from diagnosis at the hospital and took her home. Her boyfriend is coming up from London tomorrow, so he can keep her in check. I'm now the only person in my immediate family who does not have some kind of problem with my circulatory system. My father has a heart condition, my mother has high blood pressure and my sister is a clot!