Thank you to everyone who has bought Glen's book 'No fear in Death'.  We have received such encouraging comments and feedback about it.

The family would ask that if the book has made you think about the questions we all wrestle with - who is Jesus?  What has He done for me? What are the implications for me both in life and in death?  Then our prayer is that as Ephesians 3: vs 14-22 explains that you will come 'to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.'

Since Glen went to live in heaven, life has been difficult, our grief deep but we have a God who loves us with such compassion and has given us to strength, initially to live through the sprints towards all the 'firsts' and now will continue to help as live out the marathon of life without someone who was greatly loved.

If the book has made you think - find a local church, email al@graceinthecommunity.org or leave a comment on the blog and we will try and help.

Blog Being Published

Glen's blog is in the process of being published by www.10ofthose.com.  We will let you have more details in the next month as to exactly when it will be released and how to get hold of a copy.

Thanksgiving Service

If you click on the link you can listen to the mp3 of the the full Thanksgiving Service for Glen. Thanksgiving

This is not goodbye it is goodnight

Friday was the cremation and thanksgiving service for Glen in Liverpool.  It was a time of sadness and tears but also a time of laughter and hope, as we were reminded we were not saying goodbye to Glen but goodnight see you in the morning.

Often we hear such things spoken as a vague wish much as a child may make a wish when they blow a candle out on their birthday cake, but this was not a paper thin wish.  It was a hope with all the confidence and power of God Almighty behind it!  We said goodnight to Glen knowing with certainty that the almighty creator of the universe who by his mighty power raised his Son from the dead has promised that Jesus is just the first of those who put their faith in him to fall asleep before waking in his presence.  Our hope as we said goodbye was as concrete as the physical and historical resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Thankfulness to God is what marked the service on Friday.  Thankfulness to God for the gift of Glen to Anne, to his family and to those of us who had the privilege of knowing him, thankfulness to God for saving Glen by faith in Jesus, thankfulness for God's faithfulness in keeping Glen through his battle with cancer, and thankfulness that this was not a final goodbye but a hope filled goodnight see you in the morning.

Two passages from the bible which meant a lot to Glen were read:

Romans 5:1-11"Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;  perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.  Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!  For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!  Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation."

1 John 4:7-21
"Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.  Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.  This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.  This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.  Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.  No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

 This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit.  And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.  If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God.  And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.  This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus.  There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

 We love because he first loved us.  If we say we love God yet hate a brother or sister, we are liars. For if we do not love a fellow believer, whom we have seen, we cannot love God, whom we have not seen.  And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love one another."

There was a realism about the suffering Glen faced, a realism about the questions we are left with, and a realism about the need to grieve a life full yet short, and there was a realism about hope - the distinctive hope of those who trust in Jesus as their Saviour, a hope that is a confident expectation that this was not a goodbye but a temporary goodnight see you in the morning.

Knowing Glen and his passion for Jesus there is one last thing he would want me to ask.  Can you face death with that same hope?  It is not something you can summon or create within yourself but which comes through faith in Jesus, the one who died for us to bring us back to a God who loves us.  Why not explore that hope by reading one of the gospels and asking yourself who Jesus is?  Or by finding a good church where they teach the bible near you to go to and ask that question - who is Jesus who brings hope even in the face of death?

Therefore encourage one another with these words

Dear all this morning Glen went to be with his Saviour and Lord.  He and those with him had been listening to the words of John Newton's hymn Amazing Grace:

1. Amazing grace-how sweet the sound-
that saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found;
was blind, but now I see.

2. T'was grace that taught my heart to fear,
his grace my fears relieved;
how precious did that grace appear
the hour I first believed!

3. Through many dangers, toils and snares
I have already come;
'tis grace has brought me safe this far
and grace will lead me home.

4. When we've been there ten thousand years
bright shining as the sun,
we've no less days to sing God's praise
than when we've first begun.

I know that many of you will feel as I do a great sense of sadness and loss at the passing of a loved friend, one who warmed our hearts with his quick smile, funny turn of phrase and infectious sense of humour.  But I think what I will miss most of all is his passion to see others come to know his Saviour and his desire to help, spur on and encourage those of us who shared that love of Jesus with him.

Please in the midst of your grief remember Anne and the family.  I was reading these words of Paul this morning:

"Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest, who have no hope.  We believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.  According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.  For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.  After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.  Therefore encourage one another with these words."  1 Thessalonians 4v13-18

Glen has fallen asleep in Christ and we who grieve have a hope that makes our grief distinctive, we grieve our loss but know that to die has been Glen's gain and that one day we will see him again when Christ comes or calls.  It is this hope which is the consolation of all who mourn those who trust in Jesus as their Saviour, and it is this hope we are to encourage one another with in our loss.

Prayer:  Father God we want to thank you for the life of Glen, thank you for everything about him which made him him.  His willingness to dive right in and enjoy life, his readiness to laugh and make others laugh along with him, his love and care of others, his passionate conviction and loving service of his Saviour.  Thank you that you have taken him home beyond all pain and suffering.

Father we pray for Anne, Ruth, Michael and the rest of the family we ask that you would sustain them with your word and by your Spirit through your people.  Thank you that they know they do not grieve without hope.

Amen

Update - Wednesday 1st June

Thank you for all your prayers, the transfer to the hospice went well and he is settled there and seems more comfortable.  It is also a good environment for family and friends as they say goodbye to Glen.

Please be continuing to pray for Anne and the family as they spend time with Glen, there have been moments of laughter even in Glen's final days which for so many of us will be the way we remember him.  It is a real blessing for them to have those moments in this situation.

In John's gospel and chapter 11 we see the authority and power of Jesus over death, Lazarus Jesus friend has died and as he speaks to Martha his grieving sister he says these words:  "Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even though they die;  and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

Jesus then goes on to prove who he is by raising a four day dead Lazarus back to life again, but interestingly he comforts Martha not with a promise of what he is about to do but what he will ultimately do, what he does now for everyone who trusts in him.  Death is not the end for Jesus, so it is not the end for Lazarus and it will not be the end for Glen, because whoever lives by believing in Jesus will never die.

And that is the comfort for Anne and the family.  It is not a comfort that the pain will lessen over time though it may, it is the comfort that is found in Jesus words:   "Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”  Which was true of Glen who believed even in the face of his living for Christ with cancer.

But notice Jesus ends by posing a question, how would you answer it?  How you do determines whether you have hope or not.

Prayer: Father God thank you that because Jesus is the resurrection and the life we can entrust Glen into your care knowing that he is falling asleep in you and will awaken into your presence.  Thank you that you have conquered every illness and even death itself in Jesus.  Father we pray practically that Glen would be comfortable and that you would take him to be with you where he will know that he is more than a conqueror in you.

Father thank you too that the comfort we have to share is the comfort of a hope that is certain because it is grounded in the life, actions, death, and resurrection of our Saviour.  And we ask that you would comfort Anne and the rest of the family with your word and your work in Jesus.
Amen.

Update - Tuesday 31st May

Glen is being moved to the hospice today and the family are travelling over to Liverpool to say their good byes.  In the midst of this sorrow God is still good and there are comforts for both Glen and them even in this situation.  Whilst Glen is unable to talk and is paralysed on his right side he is more settled and calmer than he has been and has enjoyed having the bible read to him and a visit from his pastor.  It is a great reassurance to know that he has hope even now.

I would ask you to pray today that the transfer goes well and does not cause any discomfort and that Glen settles quickly at the hospice, pray too for the family on what is going to be a very hard day for them, pray that they would know God's comfort and his strength.

Romans 8v31-39 says: "What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?  He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?  Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies.  Who then can condemn? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?  As it is written:
“For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

We are confident as Glen enters his final days that even now his and our Saviour is in heaven interceding for Glen, for the family and for us.  We are confident that nothing (not paralysis, not cancer, and not death) shall separate Glen or his family from the love of God that they have experienced, are experiencing, and will experience in Jesus Christ.

Prayer: Father God we pray for Glen this afternoon, asking that the transfer to the hospice would go well, and that he would quickly be comfortable and at peace there.  Thank you that even now your word means so much to him and we ask that he would continue to treasure your promises.  We pray for the family today as they go to say their good byes to a loved son and brother who has blessed them, encouraged them, spurred them on and so often made them laugh.  Father we know that those who hope in you grieve differently but we still grieve and we pray that you would be with them as they grieve and say good bye today.  Father, when that is done we would ask that you show mercy to our brother and friend and that he would suffer no more.