[Tide creeps over silver sands on Islay]I have just returned from the funeral of Robert Young who until very recently had been the Principal teacher of Drama at Carluke High School. Only a few months older than myself, Robert had recently taken early retirement but, sadly, never got the time to enjoy it, dying very suddenly and unexpectedly.
Robert was much loved by staff and pupils alike at Carluke High. He was an inspirational teacher; enthusiastic, passionate and conscientious. He brought the very best out of the young people in his care, developing the self-confidence of many young adults. But, then, he always saw the best in others and brought the best out of everyone he met.
He was a sincere and committed Christian whose faith was most evident in the way he treated other people with kindness, respect and genuine warmth, all summed up in his disarming and open smile. We shall miss him.
On returning home, I also learned for the first time of the equally unexpected death of one of my colleagues, and fellow hymn writer, Rev. Leith Fisher, who was also a respected author and broadcaster. I first met Leith in the late 1960's when he was still a Divinity Student and I was still at school, and I have always had the greatest admiration for him. More recently we worked together on the Church Hymnary Revision Committee and a number of Leith's own hymns are, thankfully, included in the latest Church of Scotland hymnary, known in this part of the world as CH4.
Sudden deaths like these certainly make you stop and think about the fragility and brevity of human life, but they also make you realise the importance and value of human friendships, and the eternal significance of love.
Leith's own words from one of his hymns, says it so much better than I could:
[HYMN 689 in CH4]
Just as the tide creeps over silver sand
flooding the bay with slow and steady gain,
like brightening dawn across the eastern land,
certain and sure is love that comes again.
When empty eyes stare at the vacant chair
and none can touch or fill the heart's deep pain,
into our void of desolate despair,
Jesus, pour out the love that comes again.
When every road ahead seems blocked and barred
and doubt corrodes our will like acid rain,
reveal your wounds to us whom life has scarred,
and help us see the love that lives again.
When threat and fear conspire friends to betray,
and bitter failure every hope has slain,
when broken trust makes dark the dismal day,
Jesus, speak of the love that comes again.
As sure as tide and dawn your love has come,
come to redeem our failures and our pain;
Jesus, come now, and find in us a home,
revive us with the love that comes again.
Leith Fisher (1941-2009)
Words: (c) Leith Fisher.
