A good Bermondsey funeral

If there's one thing that people know how to do well here, it's a funeral.

Family matters a lot in Bermondsey and a good funeral is a way of saying how much someone matters and how much they were and are appreciated and loved.

A good Bermondsey funeral quite often takes place in church, there may be a horse-drawn hearse, there will be more flowers than you have ever seen in your life, the minister and funeral director, usually Barry, will walk in front of the cortege all the way through the Blue, there will be lots of tears, and quite a bit of laughter. Maybe an opera singer will sing, and quite likely there will be the release of doves at the end.

Today's funeral in church, beautifullty planned by Lynn and her family, had a lot of those elements. The Pearly King and Queen were in the congregation alongside a church full of people.

Music ranged from the 'Old Rugged Cross' and  'Jesus wants me for a sunbeam' to Nessum Dorma. Best of all were the heartfelt tributes to a beloved husband, father, and grandfather which were greeted with applause by the congregation.

And then there was the chance for me to speak the words of eternal life.

The funeral service, I told the congregation, takes us on a journey from earth to heaven. We begin by giving thanks for the life of the person who has died and then we move on to think of the reality of the life of the world to come.

'In my Father's house are many rooms' says Jesus 'and I go to prepare a place for you.' And when Jesus says 'you know the way to the place where I am going' and Thomas says 'we don't know the way', Jesus gives his breathtakingly simple answer to that crucial question that everyone needs to know the answer to (what is the way to heaven), when he says 'I am the way.'

Thank God that Jesus is the way and thank God for a proper Bermondsey funeral.