On behalf of Jean and the rest of Cyril's family, I'd like to welcome you very much to this service today. As I've said, even while we mourn the loss of Cyril, above all this is, as Jean has insisted on, a service of celebration. We celebrate together because Cyril, a man who would have given those of us who are short a crick in the neck to look at, was given by God a life which was full and rich. And we can be glad because in so many ways Cyril knew the value and reward of being committed to things. I've been thinking about the picture of Cyril that Jean painted in my mind, and it seems to me that he tapped the riches of life because he knew how to quietly get on and stick at things.
He was committed to people perhaps most of all. There are fond memories of him sea fishing
with his stepbrother Arthur, of looking after his father after his mother's
death, of his many warm friendships through work and his hobbies. He was committed to society, serving in the
Dorsetshire regiment during the war and being involved in the relief of Arnhem
and having made it to the suburbs of Berlin when peace was declared. He was committed to his work as works
manager at the Swindon Cooperative Society, and, he was committed to the family
home at 30 Alvescot Road. Amazingly, he
moved in in 1938 with his family, and lived there for a total of 61 years,
keeping house and garden in good order even when he became afflicted with
arthritis. As Swindon and the world in
general changed around him out of all recognition, Cyril found a place and a
pattern of living in which he could live in comfort and fulfilment. And of course, we must mention his
commitment to bowls, which he played at County level. It seems to me that in order to be a good bowls player you need
to know what you are aiming for, have a steady hand, a calm temperament, and
the commitment to practise and improve.
The game suited his gifts well, gifts in a life that is well worth
celebrating. It is good that above all
we can give thanks to Cyril's Creator for everything his life added to ours.
I expect you could say that at the moment Cyril is
himself rather bowled over! And for us
the ending of Cyril's life has a similar effect. Because when someone close to us dies we want to know what the significance
of this moment is for them, but also we are made to think about our own life,
and our own mortality. Although we
always know that death is inevitable, it always seems to come as a shock to the
system. A lot of the time, we live as
if we would be less surprised if Martians landed in our back garden, than if
our life ended. But in the midst of
life, we are in death, and we need to know what we can hope for the future,
both for Cyril and ourselves. In the
reading we had Jesus was telling us what happens next, and where hope
lies. "You know the way to the
place I am going," says Jesus, and the place Jesus was going to was
through death to a life which is fuller and more real than what we know now. Jesus says, "I am the Way",
because he is the one who has taken an aim at the white jack of death and
knocked it clear off the green. When we
are faced with death, it might seem at the moment that we have lost this
particular game. But the real truth is
that through Jesus, a bigger and better game in what the Bible calls a new
creation of everything - our bodies, our personalities and the world we live in
- awaits those who trust in God.
Cyril was a man of commitment, and that is something
we can rejoice in. But we can be even
more confident of the commitment that the Creator of all things, and the Father
of all people, shows towards us in offering us the hope of new life. "Trust in God," says Jesus,
"and trust in me." And he
asks us, as we contemplate our own lives, to play our game for the glory of the
only one who will guarantee us victory over death.