Vicar’s March letter

Posted on:

Dear friends,
As you may know we had our inaugural Band of Brothers (BoB) Day in February. We had a good day. Cooked breakfast, a packed lunch which we took out to the Forest as we watched a section of the Wyedean Rally, a pie and a pint supper while we watched a movie. A good day all round! As well as all that we talked, we talked quite a lot … just getting to know each other a bit. We shared some memories from our schooldays, we shared something of places we have been and things we have done. (I can’t share too much, because ‘What happens in BoB, stays in BoB!’) One of the things we talked about was a word or a phrase that we would like to be part of our eulogy. This was an odd question that took a few people by surprise and perhaps we all needed a bit more time to think about it.
My word was passion. I explained it with a quote from Serendipity, a film I watched for the first time many years ago with my daughter Sarah. Dean, an obituary writer by profession, says to his best friend Jonathan (one of the major characters in the film) “You know the Greeks didn’t write obituaries. They only asked one question after a man died: ‘Did he have passion?’ “. Sarah said she thought I was someone who had passion. I liked that a lot. I still do. I would like to be remembered as someone who had passion, someone who was passionate about what they believed.
What would you like to be said about you? How would you like to be remembered? Have a think about it. I would love to hear your thoughts. I guess the next question is a little harder: Do you think that the way you would like to be remembered is the way that you will be remembered? If not, I have good news for you: Your eulogy is not written yet. If you would like your life to be different from how it is, if you would like people to think of you differently from how they do, then maybe you could talk to God about it. I would really love to hear your thoughts as well (but no pressure at all). Christianity is about fresh starts, new beginnings and exciting possibilities. We could all do with a fresh start in some area of our lives.
God bless,