On Easter Day this year Denise Inge, wife of John Bishop of Worcester, died. Last week Bishop John said thank you at the Diocesan Synod meeting. As a statement of resurrection faith it is really worth hearing, and so here is the link:http://www.cofe-worcester.org.uk/news/news_n.php?i585.
When she was diagnosed with the cancer which was to kill her, she told her friends, "Whatever happens, Alleluia is our song!" I learned from the Dean's funeral sermon the Dean's funeral sermon that Denise Inge was something of an authority on Thomas Traherne, a Metaphysical poet about whom I'm shamefully ignorant. I have just begun to read some. Here's the last verse of The Recovery:
"The voluntary act whereby
These (our gifts) are repaid is in His eye
More precious than the very sky.
All gold and silver is but empty dross,
Rubies and sapphires are but loss,
The very sun, and stars, and seas
Far less His spirit please:
One voluntary act of love
Far more delightful to His soul doth prove,
And is above all these as far as love."
1 comment:
Thank-you for that lovely post Michael.
The sermon and the Order of Service, indeed the whole account of Denise's life and death are very deeply moving.
They have also introduced me to a metaphysical poet I had never heard of.
What an inspirational life ( including family life) and death
Once again, thank-you for that post leading us through such profoundly moving words,.. and music.
Post a Comment