The certainty of hope in the mystery of God
Our university community is regrouping after the loss of a well-known member of staff. His family live in Italy, and he worked as a Barista in 4 West Café. 4 West is the meeting place on campus for students and staff, and there is always lively conversation and debate. There is a regular turnover, particularly at 5 minutes past the hour when lectures finish. Drinks are served with efficiency and everyone: students, professors and senior executives learn to wait their turn.
When the news of his death was announced, there was a very moving and spontaneous outpouring of support for each other. The café was closed, and condolence books were opened. These were based in the Chaplaincy for the first 24 hours. The Chapel too became a place of sanctuary and tears.
His family had flown from Italy and were able to be at his bedside. They then came into university accommodation. The family were from the Roman Catholic tradition and were able to attend Mass in the Chaplaincy on Wednesday. Father Christopher Whitehead, the Roman Catholic Visiting Chaplain, is also able to speak Italian and this gave the family added comfort.
Later on that afternoon, we put together an event to celebrate the life of our colleague. We called this a ‘gathering to remember, reflect and support each other’. There was a mixture of music, poetry, spoken words and prayers. Much of the service was also written in Italian and I worked with an interpreter (and her friends in the third row!). Many people came.
I find these events very interesting spiritually. Not only were there people there from different faith traditions, but also there were many others in different stages of the journey of faith. It is my experience that people often have more faith than they realise, particularly when things are difficult. There is a distinction between an awareness of ‘God and all that stuff’, and attendance at a church or other faith institution. The common ground on which we all stood yesterday was a profound and shared individual and community grief.
The ‘certainty of hope in the mystery of God’ is the phrase I use to try and give an inclusive awareness of the support that we can have through prayer. Hope is a universal desire. People who are seeking hope look for assurance that it can be found, and that is faith. The word ‘mystery’ has great potential to capture a sense of the source of this hope that is beyond ourselves. We read Psalm 23. I pointed out that verse 4 changes from the third person to the second. It is as if the writer (King David) recalls a time when he had been in a dark and sad place and remembered how God had helped him. He wrote ‘when I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff they comfort me.’
We then offered night lights that people could come forward, take and light, and place by a photograph of their colleague. Candles are often a symbol of unspoken prayers. This turned out to be a remarkable and deep community moment. 141-night lights showed their love for their colleague.
Peter tells us:
But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have, but do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience (1 Peter 3:15-16a).
Yesterday, the whole community by coming together as it did, helped each other sense the source of the hope that we have.
Revd Nigel Rawlinson
University Chaplain
Respond
