Last words...?

When I was going through the drawers of my desk I came across an article I wrote some years ago. As I recall it the Bible reading for the day were words of farewell from Paul about his life when he was in prison expecting to be executed. He wrote about how important Jesus was to him. I pondered what I would write if I were in the same situation. Here roughly was the letter I came up with....

Dear family, friends and acquaintances,

I have traveled part of life's journey with you

What a rich variety of people there have been.

• Managers and mental health patients;
• Saintly people of faith and argumentative atheists;
• Emergency service workers and brewery workers;
• Plumbers and preachers;
• Young and old;
• Church people, sports people, teetotalers and drunkards;
• Sinners who thought they were saints;
• Saints who thought they were the worst sinners.

Thank you for being a part of my life.

I have mixed with all sorts and watched how people live.

Often we drift through life like a boat with no motor or rudder, adrift in currents, and winds and waves. We go with any cultural fashion, or whatever values that come along and do not become the person we could become.

I have seen many people make wrong lifestyle choices. Sometimes these have been dramatic choices that sink people into addictions or destructive lifestyles. Others have been just less than constructive choices in the hum drum relationships and values in life. When we consistently do this we are like a ship choosing a dangerous sea passage. A passage with rocks, shallow seas and tough winds. They can get beached or wrecked or just find life forever going from crisis to crisis or feeling empty.

While I have never been all that I could have been, I have been lucky in life in that I was introduced to a focal point and a guiding light which has helped me navigate the journey.

Jesus is that light and focal point.

I share three things that he has done for me.

First - for me he is an expression of that "Great Spirit" which is bigger than all our religious interpretations. Jesus enabled me to be aware of that unseen presence. He described "the presence" as a wild wind, or the energy in a growing seed or plant. In short, Jesus put me in touch with that reality we called "God". We are not alone, he is at work in history, in human society and in and through us. I sense that presence in the movements of history, in the people around me and in me.

Secondly - Jesus has held up for me his great principle of altruistic, unconditional love. I have fallen very short of the ideal but he has held it up as something to aim for. I have tried to give expression to this at various levels of relationships. When I have strayed Jesus' example and teaching have pulled me around again and again. He holds up before me in my relationships this high ideal. I believe it is more powerful than evil. It has given my life meaning, direction and motivation. He has helped me to be more generous, responsible and caring. I am far from all that I could be, but I have lived a better life because of this ideal.

Thirdly - Jesus has reminded me that at the heart of the universe there is a love like that of a loving father... or parent.. forgiving, accepting and affirming. I have experienced life then, knowing all the dignity and worth of being a child of God. This has enabled me in my best moments to see others as brothers and sisters and to have a global understanding of the human family.

Jesus has done these things for me. Even if my living has been a poor advertisement for Jesus, let me in my passing commend him to you. Whatever my life has been it has been better for his presence. Thank you for sharing the journey with me.

I have to go now... David.

In August last year I had an old friend die. Apparently he was aware of what was ahead and he rang his grandchildren and said his goodbyes and final words to them. In the same way he talked to his family around his bed. Then with dignity and courage said he didn't want to go, but had to.. "So I'll just say good night" and drifted into unconsciousness and death. I have wondered what I would say to my kids and friends in that situation. I think I would like something like the above to be part of it. Jesus has made a difference in my life.