August is always a strange month for a parish church. So many people are away that the congregation often feels untypical. We've got newcomers who are just visiting, whilst the regulars are in Cornwall/ Florida/ France etc.
(As for me, I've been to a wet St Andrews in Scotland.)
And yet whilst the regulars will return in September, there are some who won't, in that it has been August when they have died.
Sue Simmonds and Gladys Byron are two of these.
To describe Sue as a pillar of the church would be true but also somehow not quite right. Sue was much too fun a person to be described as a pillar, and yet what she has done is remarkable. For many, many years, she led our cub pack; literally hundreds of children were guided by her over the years, and and she had an impact on other people in many, many ways. With good humour and great wisdom, she's been on the side of the angels for many years, looking out for people. As I looked out on the congregation last Sunday, I really felt her loss.
She's been away quite often anyway, because of her cancer, but there is something numbing about knowing that someone won't return.
Gladys too will be missed, making her entrance into church, accompanied by George. Unable to express herself because of her multiple strokes, she still carried something in her eyes that was very special.
Both their funerals will happen in the coming weeks: Sue's on 8th September at 2pm: Gladys' is yet to have a date.
And of course life will go on. The school term will start and there will be a bundle of activities, as there should be in a healthy community: Sue would have been the first to say that.
And yet, and yet... however great one's faith, death is hard to deal with.
We will miss them both greatly, even as we pray for them and their families.
Fr Robert.
