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?
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