On Monday at John’s funeral… Six of his friends entered carrying John’s coffin. There were a few tears. ‘The Bare Necessities’ from The Jungle Book – one of John’s favourites – started playing. Everyone smiled.
Look for the bare necessities
The simple bare necessities
Forget about your worries and your strife…
Many aspire to such a simple, joyful life. John certainly did. However, John’s character and life experiences were much more complex. As his friend Karen said, ‘Stubborn, annoying sh*t that you could be, the kindest most generous man as well…’
When I was teaching… I worked with two excellent history teachers. When teaching about the English Civil War, rather than teaching a list of dates and battles to be learnt as answers to quiz questions, they’d ask, ‘Was Oliver Cromwell a good man?’
They’d present historical documents… Cromwell’s recorded speeches, his religious beliefs, his vision for England, the way he treated people, his views on war… Understanding something of the complexity of the man and life in seventeenth century England the children formed opinions.
Yesterday, reading ‘Forever in the Sunshine’… Gary Morecambe, writing about his father, the comedian Eric Morcambe, quotes his sister, Gail:
‘Mum (Jean – Eric’s wife) would describe him (Eric) as a mass of contradictions. For all the activity and joking, there was also a remarkable stillness about him at times. He came across as both ridiculously frivolous and ridiculously grounded.’
Remembering… St Paul’s words: ‘I want to do what is right, but I can’t. I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway.’ He’s a mass of contradictions!
Bible scholars will know that Paul resolves his questions in the next chapter, but this morning I’m musing on the ‘mass of contradictions’ that I see in those I meet, my friends, and in myself. I’m praying that I shall be more understanding, more accepting, more forgiving… with others… with me.
malcolmsmusings.org 