This morning I went to the tribute service of Russell Brown. I didn’t know him and only met his lovely wife Mel just once, but was moved to attend after following a journey that took him from life on earth to life in heaven.
The service was remarkable. While sad and moving, it was powerful in its message of hope.
Russell and Melody’s three children all participated with young Levi reading a poem and then picking up his guitar and strumming out a tune to which he sang. I was seriously impressed. Faith danced – free and beautiful, her steps, her hair, her twirls expressing the joy and freedom of life. She danced for her father. Rachel, the oldest, read a meaningful poem that she herself wrote and then bravely sat at the keyboard and played a beautiful piece.
Melody explained that they could do what they did because they know where there father is.
Melody, brave, amazing Mel, stood up and spoke about how they met, how they loved, how they grew and raised their tribe. She recalled his final days of life. She explained how Russell had an amazing experience – being drawn behind the veil – to get a glimpse of eternal life – of seeing the crossing he was soon to make. It was not bad. It was beautiful. It was overwhelmingly lovely. What exactly happened, I cannot recount. I know that if I do, I will get it wrong. It is not my story to tell. I am sure Melody will write it down and share it, as it is a story of hope and of promise, of love and supernatural beauty.
What stayed with me is what Mel did say, “This (experience) has changed me! Eternal life is for real”.
The poem Levi read was written by Canon Henry Scott-Holland of St Paul’s Cathedral who lived from 1847-1918. Read right at the start of the service, it sums up the tone. The loss is temporary; they will meet again.
Death is nothing at all
I have only slipped away into the next room
I am I and you are you
Whatever we were to each other
That we are still
Call me by my old familiar name
Speak to me in the easy way you always used
Put no difference into your tone
Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow
Laugh as we always laughed
At the little jokes we always enjoyed together
Play, smile, think of me, pray for me
Let my name be ever the household word that it always was
Let it be spoken without effort
Without the ghost of a shadow in it
Life means all that it ever meant
It is the same as it ever was
There is absolute unbroken continuity
What is death but a negligible accident?
Why should I be out of mind
Because I am out of sight?
I am waiting for you for an interval
Somewhere very near
Just around the corner
All is well.
Nothing is past; nothing is lost
One brief moment and all will be as it was before
How we shall laugh at the trouble of parting when we meet again!
1 Corinthians 15:55
“Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”
Thank you, Jesus for the hope we have in You.
God bless you.
In His Grip,
Helga x