蜜芽传媒

Good morning. Figures from a recent British Social Attitudes Survey indicate that the overall proportion of Britons who describe themselves as Christian rose by one percentage point in the last year. At the same time those who describe themselves as having no religion fell a percentage point. These figures are being interpreted as indicating that the decline of Christianity in Briton could be coming to a halt. Well. It鈥檚 hard to say for sure.

Like many retired clergy, from time to time I assist the local hard working parish clergy by conducting the occasional funeral service at the local crematorium. I鈥檓 discovering that things have changed since I was last in parochial ministry. For example, I鈥檝e noticed that fewer people now join in the prayers, and hymns are rarely sung. Far more likely Frank Sinatra鈥檚 鈥淚 did it my way鈥� will be played.. And this also sums up the message of some services which now more take the form of a thanksgiving for the life of the deceased rather than the marking of his or her death. Of course it鈥檚 a challenge to speak of the one who has died and for those left behind. The ways that is done in a meaningful way will continue to evolve through poems, readings, prayers and songs. It鈥檚 the sharing of the human journey that is universal. But it can often fall to the minister alone to introduce the idea of life after death.

Some years ago I appointed a chaplain to a large London hospital. A couple of months later the director rang me up and said, 鈥淚鈥檓 sorry bishop this new chaplain you鈥檝e appointed won鈥檛 do鈥�. 鈥淲hy,鈥� I asked, 鈥渉e seems to me to be an experienced priest with a good pastoral heart.鈥� 鈥淗e is鈥� said the director, 鈥渂ut he can鈥檛 handle death, and that鈥檚 the one thing we need a hospital chaplain to do.鈥� I often recall that brief conversation because I think it has wider significance than the hospital ward. We are now living in a culture that is more disposed to handling death by denying it, and that鈥檚 understandable as religion in past years has often provided the ready-made vocabulary for people to draw upon.

But I believe religious words and imagery have the capacity to lie deep within people鈥檚 memories. Yesterday I read a moving tribute to the eminent violinist Paul Robertson who has recently died. Described as being a Jewish sceptic, some eight years ago he had a series of near death experiences as he went through a serious operation. The most vivid of these had a clear religious content and this is sometimes the case. And the hospital doctor who looked after A. J. Ayer said that after such an experience the noted atheist told him 鈥淚鈥檓 afraid I鈥檓 going to have to revise all my books and opinions.鈥�

I suspect that all of us, whether or not religious, will reflect differently about death as we go through the actual experience. One certainty in life is death but perhaps it鈥檚 best not to have too many certainties as we approach it.

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