Thursday, April 18, 2013
Warren has been a dear and most faithful friend since our days at Wycliffe College in the late 70s. He was devoted to his friends, and to Christ's church, to which he was more faithful than the church and its leadership ever were to him.
Our visits and frequent phone calls over the years were a blessing in my life. A favourite moment for both of us, which was often recollected, was of Warren at our farm in Mount Forest, holding my elder bairn on his knee, a few months after he had taken part in her baptism.
As Jesus promised, there is no death [Luke 20:37-38]. The Book of Life never ends, though chapters do. The chapter in which Warren was incarnate among us was a very precious chapter, and we are indeed very sad that chapter is over.
There is a story of a Buddhist monk who was crying at his Master's grave. Someone said, "Why are you crying; I thought you were enlightened." The monk replied simply, "I am sad." That is enlightened.
Whether it is the 40 years that the Israelites took to get to the promised land, or the three days it took for Jesus' resurrection, there is always the symbolism of the time it takes to get to the joy. That time will come, but for now we are all sad.
When people pass from this physical plane, they leave aspects of their spiritual life that are most precious to us, and that is certainly true in Warren's case. His generosity and his faithfulness were great. Warren is no longer here to embody that, but I will try my best to embody it. What is important is not only what Warren gave, but what we received, and what we will internalize and take forward from here, living our lives a little more like him, in the spirit that he left with us.
Dear God, we give thanks for the wonderful friend Warren was for us. While we grieve and mourn and say farewell to one chapter of our relationship, we rejoice that he is in pain no longer, and that he is alive and blazing with his aliveness even now. We pray that our inner eyes be open. Place a golden cord from his heart to the hearts of all who were belovèd by him. For those who feel that golden cord within us now, place your hand upon us and help us to remember that whom God has brought together, nothing and no one, not even death itself can put asunder. May we, as we begin this new chapter of our relationship with Warren's belovèd soul rejoice, for just as we say goodbye to what was, we also say hello to this new chapter of his life that has begun with you, and we now rejoice in what is and what shall be, and that we shall meet again. Bless, protect, and keep an angelic mantle of peace around Warren, and may we have in our own hearts and in our own souls an even close walk with him now, and with you. Thank you God. Amen.
