George Woolnough Homily, 3rd February, Hugh Keatinge
Cyril, ...Thank you for your address which gave us such a very clear picture of a remarkable, greatly loved and sadly missed relative and friend and Comrade.
This is an immensely sad day for all of us and for many others who cannot be here on this occasion; ... We see George no longer ...we mourn his passing deeply. ... but difficult as it may be to accept, this is not a wholly sad day and nor is it the end of all things for George... we would not be here today if that is what we believed ... We would not be here if we really believed that the end of life on earth is the end of everything.
We are here because at the very heart of Christianity lies the belief that that through the death and resurrection of God's own Son Jesus Christ our two greatest enemies, sin and death, were conquered.
Jesus Christ was raised from the dead having been born on earth to redeem our sins ... to bring salvation to all people. From that first Easter we learn that death can be defeated, ... indeed was defeated by our God when he raised Jesus from the dead. We regularly confirm this belief in our creed ... "On the third day he rose again from the dead; he ascended into heaven and sitteth on the right hand of God, the Father Almighty" ... Every Sunday, in one form or another we proclaim this Truth.
This is not an easy idea to comprehend in detail, because we cannot readily, and on the practical level on which the human mind likes to work, imagine the concept of heaven, or of life after death ...eternal life as the New Testament calls this gift from God to all who believe in him.
There is no doubt though, in the minds of incalculable numbers of Christians both now and down the years that there is such a life... and George was, quite certainly, numbered among that multitude ... he was as we know a courageous man both as a soldier and in his long and eventful life outside the military ... he also held a fierce and indomitable belief in God and in his Son, Jesus Christ.
Anybody who has been present at the death of somebody near to them knows that in that moment, the real person moves on to other and greater things ... and that the earthly body is left having served its purpose in this part of God's Creation.
That is why today is not just a day of mourning, but is also a day of thanksgiving for George's Life ... a Life lived with a courageous, firm and traditional belief in God ... A belief so firmly founded in that God of Grace and Love that his life mirrored that Grace and that love and shone them all around him.
We mourn the fact that we see George no more in this part of his journey ... we give thanks that he is no longer suffering the pain and frustration of his earthly life ... And we give thanks that he has gained that eternal life with God in heaven ... where one day we will meet again
I pray with the utmost confidence that he rests now in Peace.
Hugh Keatinge