Thursday, August 28, 2003
Thursday, August 28, 2003
And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son
Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us.
In a sense, when Jesus died on the cross, each of us was given the opportunity to take a part of
Christ with us.
(1 John 3.23
NRSV)
William Barclay tells us that when Admiral Nelson was buried in St Paul's Cathedral, a party of
his sailors carried his body high into the cathedral. His coffin was draped with a magnificent
Union Jack. Later they carried his body to the grave side. One who saw the scene writes, "With
reverence and with efficiency they lowered the body of the world's greatest admiral into its tomb.
Then as though answering to a sharp order from the quarter deck, they all seized the Union Jack
with which the coffin had been covered and tore it to fragments, and each took his souvenir of
the illustrious dead." All their lives that little bit of colored cloth would speak to them of the
admiral they had loved. "I've got a piece of him," they said, "and I'll never forget him."
Dear God, may I always have Jesus living with me and in my heart. Help me to never turn away
from him. Amen.
