" But at my back I always hear Death's winged chariot hurrying near and yonder all before us lie deserts of vast eternity. " 

That's a line from one of my favourite poems entitled  " To His Coy Mistress" by the seventeenth century poet Andrew Marvell.  Death's winged chariot has been on my mind in these last weeks as three people whom I knew have as the Salvation Army puts it, " Gone to Glory".   For us Christians " going to glory" is what we are looking forward to in this transient world.  But there are practical problems for those left behind.  
For example, the twenty-three year old son of one of the departed has been left, by the rest of the family's indifference,  to organise his father's funeral on his own, with very few resources: little money and no experience.    This has brought home to me the need give some indication to those left behind about what we would like to happen when we ourselves mount Death's chariot and leave this world for the next.  
In my friend's case his Dad apparently indicated that he would like two " songs"  at his funeral: the Leeds United Football Club anthem  " Glory Glory Leeds United"  and Henry Francis Lyte's hymn  of 1847 " Abide with Me".   And then his ashes to be scattered over a football field if possible. 
No accounting for taste.  But it made me wonder why he chose "Abide with Me " until I was reminded in a news story yesterday that that hymn is linked to the FA Cup Final at Wembley and has been at every one since 1927, and indeed at every Rugby League Challenge Up Final since 1929.   

Is it now, even though a Christian hymn,  the best known first line in English poetry.  That used to be " The Boy Stood on the Burning Deck" .  Bu that was in the days when poetry was taught at school and in the home.  

This year there will be a 64 strong choir to sing " Abide with Me "  at this year's Cup Final, each member representing one of the football clubs that made it through to the Third Round of the cup.  They will lead the 90,000 spectators rendering one of the most evocative hymns we have, written as Henry Francis Lye himself was dying of TB. He died three weeks after completing it. 
Since then it has had a prominent place in our national culture.  According to my researches, it was the favourite hymn of King George V and, strangely one might think, of Mahatma Gandhi.   It has featured in several films  ranging from " A Bridge Too Far"  and " The Full Monty "  and a whole lot of TV dramas. 
Why should this be ?  We all need comfort as we face the unknown.  And even though most of the 90K spectators at Wembley will not be familiar with the Christian life, yet each one of them will have to face the " deserts of vast eternity"  sooner or later.  
John Betjeman once wrote that hymns are the poems of the people.  From " Abide with me" to " Onward Christian Soldiers"  they provide us with memories of other days, perhaps happier ones, of school assemblies, weddings and of funerals. 
It's the tune s that make them but the words have become part of our culture  " Change & Decay"  " Bright and Beautiful"  " All is Safely Gathered In"  "Soft Refreshing rain " 

Behind those words is a message that God loves us and has a plan for our lives. 
Free will  : choose to seek God or not.
Constrained by the laws or gravity and reproduction.  Do what we like in theory: but constrained by earthly consequences.  I can make off with the collection, but if caught will face consequences.  And those consequences stem from the Bible and the Ten Commandments and the ideals of the Beatitudes.
Need God's guidance and the teachings of Jesus as we journey through life and hymns help us to do that:
" God of Mercy God of Grace,  " All my Hope in God is founded".
Hymns set before us a vision of God guiding us through like to higher things. 
Christ doth call one and all / Ye who follow shall not fall. 




 


