How long does a man live?

Earlier today I blogged about a prayer for Father’s Day. Within my own family my prayers go out to my nephew Matthew and his half-brothers and sister.  Today they will spend their first Father’s day without their dad. Almost a year on from Michael’s death the sense of hurt, pain and loss is still very tangible within the family and on this day in particular his children will feel very low. Please pray for them as their is much healing and reconciliation needed as people get angry with each other and God about this situation.  In additional please pray for children everywhere who are missing their fathers who are departed, missing or estranged.

I leave you with the tributes paid by Michael’s children Matthew and Ollie at the memorial service last year.

You passed on truly. That was your word!

When I first watched the film Truly Madly Deeply by director and writer Anthony Minghella, I was blown away by its sensitive depiction of the collision of love, grief , loss and longing. Nina (The character played by Juliet Stevenson) has lost her lover Jamie (Alan Rickman) to an untimely and unexpected death and she finds it difficult to let go and move on with her life. Jamie  returns to help shepherd her out of the grief and encourages her to  find love again.

This playful scene depicts the morning after the first night of Jamie’s return. I watched it over and over again when I got the DVD, it has an innocent yet intimate charm about it. It’s playful, joyful and yet we know this joy cannot last. It makes me thing of how Mary felt at the tomb and, (this Ascension day ) the joy she and the disciples shared when their risen Lord appeared to them. How must they have felt when having him back he told them once more he must leave and they would have to find their own way?

For all we know

Last year my brother-in-law died and I was involved in helping put together a remarkable memorial service- attended by around 600 people. It was a great sadness for me and my family, yet in putting together the service we discovered just how much Michael was loved and treasured be a wide range of people from all walks of life for his “spiritual intelligence and humanity.” I prayed with Michael on a number of occasions whilst he was resident in the hospice in his final weeks…the rest is down to Michael and God. Tonight in the O2 my family will see Ollie  Marland(featured in the video below playing a musical tribute to his father along with brother Matthew reading a poem) playing keyboards for Tina Turner who will be belting up songs such as What’s Love Got to Do With it. Well, as far as Michael and God are concerned love has everything to do with it….we don’t need another hero!

To see other tributes follow this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4mMy5TzAuk&feature=related