How will you be remembered?

Sad news reached us this week of the untimely death of one of Conor’s primary school teachers who died after a courageous battle with illness.

She was Conor’s teacher in P5, and we never met in person, as the pandemic meant we could not gather in person in school for a part of that school year.

I have a number of powerful memories, nonetheless, of her dedication and kindness and thoughtfulness. As the school population had to adapt to doing their learning online, she used to read the boys a story from their reading book each day to encourage them to keep on reading and find out what happened next.

At a time which was very frightening for the world, she used to sit on the bed at home and put such expression into reading the part of the characters in the book. It felt like a bedtime story, and you could see how engaged Conor was as he listened to the story. I thought it was such a lovely thing to do to bring a little bit of gentleness and humanity to get through the curriculum in a way that the boys would have found reassuring and fun. It must have taken quite an effort to film the reading in this way and upload it all so they could tune in every night.

The second thing I remember, which touched me very much, was the way she, and her colleague who job shared, recorded an individual message for each boy at the end of the year. They recognised how disruptive and chaotic it was to have been unable to complete the term in the normal way. There were no end of term parties or outings, as there might have been in more normal times, so they recorded messages for the boys, tapping into the things they were interested in and thanking them for all their hard work and encouraging them to keep reading and keep learning over the summer.

Conor, our son, loves climbing and has been climbing competitively for some years, so these two ladies recorded their message for him while trying to do some pull ups on a door frame!! You can imagine how this grabbed his attention, and I thought they were so magnificent to do something so meaningful and personal for all the boys in the class.

While I never met Mrs. Leyland in person, I remember her creativity and dedication, her love and care for her pupils and desire to help them learn and feel safe at a very frightening time. My thoughts are very much with her family and colleagues at this very sad time.

In this season of remembrance, a video crew came to our church to take some footage and record some interviews with our crafting group. This group was set up with the help of some funding from a project called ‘Mind Matters’ which was offered to help churches and parishes support people’s mental health.

They have been working really hard in recent weeks to complete a poppy mosaic to display in the church on Remembrance Sunday. The poppy is a symbol we use to remember the ultimate sacrifice so many people paid with their lives in times of 2 world wars and in conflicts since.

It’s a very moving thing to reflect upon in a part of our city where many ex-servicemen returned to live after the wars. The street names reflect these places in our ingrained memory. There are streets like Albert and Somme Drive, Picardy and Thiepval Avenue, and memorials and cenotaphs to record the names of those from our district who lost their lives while fighting for our freedom. The display also depicts some purple poppies to remember the service dogs who saved many lives in detecting mines and, sadly, some of these wonderful animals also perished in the cauldron of war.

At this time of year, I try to tune into programmes like the Royal British Legion’s Festival of Remembrance, or Songs of Praise, where we are reminded of the cost of conflict. We hear stories of bravery, and people laying down their lives in the hope of winning freedom for subsequent generations.

It’s a solemn time of the year, and we will have an Act of Remembrance at our Sunday service close to 11am, and our curate, Ryan, will be leading an Act of Remembrance for the community at the local war memorial in Thiepval Avenue.

As I think of those who served so bravely, and many never came home, as I think of a teacher who was so dedicated to her work and her pupils, it prompts questions about how I am living my life.

What sort of things will we be remembered for after we are gone? Are they things of significance or importance for our family or community? Are there values we try to pass on? Are there causes we believe it’s important to dedicate our lives to serve?

Have we reached out in friendship to people we meet, tried to do others good rather than harm? What about our words? Have they been helpful in building people up, or have they torn people down?

Today, as I ponder these things, I ask you to hold in your prayers the family of Mrs. Leyland, a teacher from Campbell College Junior School, the family of Phyllis Harrison from our church, whose funeral will take place on Friday at 11.30 and the family of Ann Bunting from our church, whose funeral will take place on Tuesday in church at 1.30 pm. May they all know God’s strength and comfort in these days.

Look forward to speaking again soon.

Much love to everyone,

Jono.

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