SERMON FUNERAL OF KEVIN BOURNE

4 September

Fr Jim 

Beloved,  It is good and right to grieve, to mourn, and to weep, at the great loss of KEVIN; his family, his friends, and this church community shall deeply and surely miss him.   In his last days those who kept vigil with Jane, if we could even get a small smile, we rejoiced indeed. A precious memory. I remember when Neal came into the room and Kevin was in a very sad way, he suddenly gave that smile and we all shared that moment of joy.

My prayers and sympathies go out to all who are in pain and are left alone or lost because of the death of a loved-one.  Yet it might be a time to let us use this time to remind us of the frailty of this life, that we might live every day to the full, that we might love and live in joy as we remember KEVIN. Be of no doubt but our brother in Christ truly affirmed and believed in the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting - to quote the Apostles’ Creed. Towards the end of his life, while in bed, and not able to communicate – a nurse seeing the evidence of Kevin’s Christ, placed the cross that was at his bedside into his clinched hand as he would be a true Christian disciple we might take hold of the sacrifice of Jesus, the promise of eternal life and peace that is only found in Christ, the risen one. When Jane and Kevin would come to church with indeed a bit of a mobility struggle, all I could do was hope, that is an important word at a funeral, that this act of “coming home here in this holy place, a house of prayer for all. I pray he found that hope in abundance when he arrived at the door.

As we have heard Kevin and his beloved friend, Neal, were experts in Russian. It was not unnoticed that in his space in the fine Care Home. There was an icon or two present for all to see.

There was another item on the wall, and like the Russian icons, this had these many holy and fun moments of his earthly life, here they are for you to gaze on and smile, this too is a most holy icon and every morning this was placed just in front so he could pray with those having a place of honour as he began giving inspiration to fellow in dwellers as well as staff, one who embraced Jane and wept with us all, a compassionate and dedicated health professional indeed.

One thing I ask of each of you is to not forget this wonderful man of faith and love, and here is how can you do just that.  Find just one photo, gift or symbol that will always be in front of your eyes, to lead you past a valiant struggle to a smile, a nod and maybe even in death that most surely moves us on to journey to Jesus, surrounded and upheld by the communion of saints.

One moment that that gives us a chance of wonder as well as sorrow, The new-born was unveiled, smiles around as we now have a chance to bless and keep this holy child in fellowship of his loving family.

Last night members of Kevin’s family joined together with me for a Requiem Communion service to allow us to taste, touch and see in the Risen Lord the sure hope of eternal life THROUGH THE HOLY SACRAMENT OF LIFE-GIVING bread and wine.

The following might help us all at this special moment:

“Let us not be discouraged if at times the summit of the Christian life seems too high and the path too steep. Let us look to Jesus, always; let us look to Jesus who walks beside us, who accepts our frailties, shares our efforts and rests his firm and gentle arm on our weak shoulders. With Him close at hand, let us also reach out to one another and renew our trust: with Jesus, what seems impossible on our own is no longer so, with Jesus we can go forth!"

So now nourished by being here today. Well, are we ready for the journey, am I ready, are you ready?