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Good morning. There’s a tie I wear twice a year. Year in, year out, I never fail to wear it. It’s an unspectacular tie, too short by far and hopelessly designed. I’m always taxed to know what to wear with it, it does little for me sartorially. But wear it I do and yesterday was one of those days. It was my kid brother’s rugby club tie. He died fourteen years ago yesterday. There were just the two of us and we’d fought through so much to find our way in life. I still miss him. Dear Jim just happened to die on All Souls’ Day – the day when we remember all those who have died. I used to think of this as a gloomy day. Who wants to think of the dead? But I don’t think like that now. For two reasons. Firstly, as I’ve got older, I’ve come to realise more and more just how much I owe to people who are no longer with us. I want to thank God for letting me stand on their shoulders. And secondly, as I recognise how close I must be getting to death myself, I want to draw on the great qualities of those who’ve gone before to help me face my death with equanimity, in peace of mind, and ready for a new adventure. Wearing that nasty tie, on my brother’s birthday and his death day, keeps me focused in a happy sort of way on some of the biggest questions we all have to face.

Dear Lord, hear us as we thank you for those whose company we once enjoyed but see no more. May the remembrance of them continue to inspire us on our daily journey through life. Make us the better for having known them. Amen.