When the going gets tough!

The last few days have been pastorally difficult for me...

On Friday I had the real privilege of assisting with the funeral of a young women ( just turned 41) who lived on our estate.
The funeral was always going to be emotional but little prepared me for the fact that as I stood to read the eulogy I was faced with a massive amount of faces I recognised and know from our estate, Daniel's preschool, resident association and other Hoo contacts. It was a really amazing thing to see a community come together to celebrate the life of Karen.

The funeral was also made more emotional by the fact that Karen was a music  teacher at a secondary school and some of the girls choir came and sang 2 songs. The girls were absolutely amazing they were clearly terribly upset but held it together so well and I have never heard a choir sound so much like angels in my life.

After the emotion of the day I then went on to spend a damp and wet weekend in Aylesford Priory with my lovely fellow curates. All the training in the world doesn't prepare you for tragedy!

So today all I can do is pray for the family, for a husband widowed at a young age on his birthday and every year on his birthday will be reminded of what happened. Today I can only pray for 2 children who will never forget their mum but will grow up without a mum and who have to face everyday life when things will never be the same, And most of all today I pray for those friends, neighbours, acquaintences who are also suffering the loss of a friend.

The one thing I do know is Hoo rocks and am privileged to be a part of it.