We enter again the season of remembering as we move into November.  In the Church we think about the long-gone saints and we also remember those who have died more recently.  We remember, remember the 5th of November and the plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament, and we join together as churches and village to remember those who died in wartime conflicts to enable us to have the freedom that we enjoy today. Collective remembering shapes the way that we look at our personal and communal values. More locally, at a funeral it helps for us to remember the qualities that we saw in the person who has died.  We can aspire to better choices by learning from the good that we have recognised in others. These acts of remembering also stop us from seeing ourselves in isolation. The secular and religious saints of the past help us to see the common good and the merits in building a better world for those who come after us.

Rev Julie Norris