Where Hope is Lost

So begins a poem by Gerrard Kelly entitled Lament. It feels serious and sombre but remembering friends and family who have died is not a light-hearted matter.

This season of remembering is such an important time. In our busy worlds the endless round of activities can drown out our need to pause, reflect, and lament. Before we get too gloomy let’s remember this is in the context of the certainty of the love of God that holds us in all times and places. As Gerard Kelly puts it:

Where hope is lost you find us

In the grip of grief remind us

There is grace at the graveside

Of our dreams.

No matter what burden we carry, we are not alone in these harder journeys of grief and loss. Our Memorial and Thanksgiving service yesterday brought that point home as we gathered in St Peter’s Church. Strangers and friends sitting side by side painted the vivid image of life lived with and beyond loss, and the burden of grief shared. Likewise, through the service’s words, music and quieter times the tender love of God held us all.

Gerard Kelly leads to the conclusion of his poem with these words;

For you are water to the thirsty

To the hungry you are bread

You are healing for the broken

Easter morning even for the dead.

This prayer is the 5^th verse from Abide with me.

Hold thou thy cross before my closing eyes;

Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies:

Heaven’s morning breaks, and earth’s vain shadows flee;

In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.