The Parish Church of St John-at-Hampstead

The wider congregation at St John’s will probably best remember Anthony for his reading of Laurence Binyon’s words just before the 11th hour on Remembrance Sunday. ‘They shall grow not old as we that are left grow old…’  and there was always a strong sense of emotion in his voice. On gardening Saturdays he was always hard at work on the area between the two paths at the front of the church, which he wanted to  look as good as his own garden.

And when we needed new paintings of the story of Jesus’ journey to the cross to hang round the church in Holy Week he would give us one – most recently a remarkable painting of the crucifixion. He loved this church, the buildings and its music, but his main contribution to this church, together with Sari,  was their faithful attendance on Sundays at the 8.00am Book of Common Prayer communion service.
Anthony’s faith was in many ways rooted in that service, which is itself dependent on the Bible for many of it’s memorable phrases. So  at one point the priest exhorts the congregation to ‘Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works’. It’s a robust phrase which might be taken as the encouragement to moral showing off and yet it’s purpose is to cause us to give the glory to our Father in heaven and not to the doer of good deeds. We see God’s light shining through the doer of good deeds who himself  remains a humble man as Anthony did.

So  elsewhere  in that service we pray that we may do all such good works as God has prepared for us to walk in. Anthony’s good works were always there simply waiting for him to take them up.

Anthony also saw himself as member of ‘the blessed company of all faithful people’ and was deeply concerned for Christians being persecuted in various parts of the world and the organisations which seek to help them.

And yet I wouldn’t want to make Anthony seem too seriously  pious. Perhaps another hymn we could appropriately have sung this morning is the one which contains the lines, ‘For thee delightfully employ whate’er thy bounteous grace has given.’ Certainly Anthony’ s life gave a sense of delightful  employment.

And so now we pray for this valiant pilgrim that he may indeed find that peace which passeth all understanding, which Sunday by Sunday he prayed for in this place.