Grand Councillor Roland Hudson
Funeral Homily for Roland Hudson's Requiem
20th April, 2009
St Laurence, Long Eaton
"On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast" Is 25.6
Although in the grand scheme of things where and when and how you die are surely of no lasting significance (remember St Monica's advice to Augustine to simply remember her at the altar) nevertheless Roland would surely have been pleased to have taken such a splendid exit during the Palm Sunday procession at St Laurence. As a lifelong server with the GSS - which included nurture at All Saints, Lincoln - this 'Grand Councillor' of GSS, appropriately took leave of this life in his cassock and cotta, in the Holy Week procession at the West Door of his church of 59 years, and he was comforted by a Mirfield
Father (Fr Thomas Seville CR, the Holy Week preacher at St Laurence) as he peacefully died during the liturgy.
There is so much to be grateful for in this mass, including 43 years of marriage to Eileen and all the many blessings of family life, in particular the children, Jenny, Carol and Fr Peter, whose lives have been lovingly tendered, reflected in the values they share with their families and friends. There is University life, from 1948 in the Mining Department at Nottingham, moving to the Faculty of Applied Science in the late 1950s, where he became Manager of the workshops and was later made a Member of the Institute of Electrical Engineers and a Member of the Chartered Engineers, as well as a Tutor at Nightingale Hall. Thanks for life in Long Eaton, where Roland and Eileen began worshipping on the feast of Christ the King in 1950. Roland was Churchwarden for 36 years, Chair of Governors at the Primary School for many years, and an active member of the Deanery and Diocesan Synod, not to mention work for the Church Assembly: surely the more sane precursor of the General Synod! Roland was also actively involved in the Shrine of our Lady of Walsingham (he was a partner and also head of the local cell), the Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament, Forward in Faith and the Ebbsfleet Lay Congress and Council (all who, it is marvellous to see, made representation here today). Roland gave his life to the Lord in service in the Church and in the world.
Our reading from Isaiah is a reminder, however, that the Lord propels us forward. The Lord will make…, will destroy…, will swallow up…, will spread out his hands… Of course a funeral is a time for looking back, but the Christian life is all about the expectation of the future. I think this should be reflected in the way we should be eager to meet the Lord each morning at the altar. Can I say this was one of Roland's great gifts? He was faithful in coming to mass. Whether or not he was in fine fettle (and he usually was), whether or not he'd been able to get into the garden he so much enjoyed, whether or not he had had a good PCC, Deanery or Diocesan meeting - he was there at the altar the next day. As a Vicar, with all the scraps parish life entails, this is the crucial thing: faithfulness to the altar each day, which actually keeps parish life together. It is all about the recognition that in the end it is not so much about what the PCC, the Deanery or the Church of England has decided: coming under the authority of Christ in the expectation of encountering him each day in word and sacrament is what counts. This was surely what Mary Magdalene surely realised, when, visiting the tomb that first Easter morn (John 20.1-9 - the gospel for the funeral) there was recognition, reconciliation and communion. This threefold pattern is Mary Magdalene's and ours.
In 304 in North Africa when Emeritus was arrested for having strangers in his home for the celebration of the
Eucharist, he justified it by saying: "Quoniam sine dominico non possumus". Without the day of the Lord we cannot live. This could be a good motto for Roland and there are a huge number of people, in this parish and beyond, who have been influenced by his commitment to the altar of God. This was what surely keeps an 84 year old interested in new developments, like the building of the new hall here at St Laurence and Walsingham's new welcome centre. And this is also why a senior churchman can say to a new young vicar (back in 2001) 'we need to change'.
For Thomas Aquinas the Eucharist continually cultivates our desire to receive more and more of God. We never receive once and for all, we go on receiving, so the liturgy is primarily directed towards preparing people for the proper attitude of receptive expectation. And this propels us forward to the banquet of which Isaiah speaks, which the
Eucharist is a foretaste. "On this mountain the Lord will prepare a rich banquet". Roland enjoyed his feasts, and we may wish to imagine him helping in heaven with the wine tasting! [Roland was a stickler for the 'correct' wines with different courses and also made his own wine] But, no, this is all beyond our limited imaginations.
The Eucharist is a glimpse of the rich banquet which we pray that Roland will taste in the promised homeland where we all -God willing - will share fully in Christ's life which he gave on the cross and in rising from dead.
Into this new life, this feast, we now pray that Roland will begin to enter, where there shall be "no darkness, nor dazzling, but one equal light, No noise or silence but one equal music; No fears nor hopes, but one equal possession; No ends nor beginnings, but one equal eternity. In the habitation of thy glory and dominion, World without end. Amen*".
Fr Simon Ellis, Vicar
* (words of John Donne 1572-1631)