Life well lived
Earlier in March, I had occasion to drive north from Cambridge to Edinburgh while in Britain. With a couple of hours on hand, I eagerly made my way to Durham to see the cathedral there. One of the oldest cathedrals in Britain, it offers a beautiful example of Norman construction. A number of people important to the Christian community are buried there--including Cuthbert, an early saint and pioneer not only of Durham but of Lindisfarne and Bede, the histo
rian.
But in my time walking through this wonderful space and enjoying the way in which the present Christian community use the building in worshipful and forming ways, I found a stone in memorial of one of the deans of the cathedral that caught my eye. Spencer Cowper, born in 1713 and who passed in 1774, served as a leader in the Christian community there nearly thirty years. What I found most riveting was the brief comment on the stone. Spencer Cowper, Dean of Durham: "Life spent in the uniform practice of unaffected Piety, Friendship, Humanity, Hospitality, and Charity."
I like that description--the uniform practice of some very basic and valuable virtues. It can be easy, from time to time, to show piety or friendship. However, to do so faithfully, consistently every day is no small matter. To be uniform, consistent, focused, and purposeful about our virtues sounds like high praise.
I hope for something similar to be said about me.
Carson Reed
in Basic Christianity, People and Places
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Oh ye whose cheek the tear of pity stains,
Draw near with pious reverence and attend!
Here lie the loving husband's dear remains,
The tender father, and the generous friend:
The pitying heart that felt for human wo!
The dauntless heart that fear'd no human pride!
The friend of man, to vice alone a foe,
"For ev'n his failings lean'd to virtue's side."
So friends, to repeat Carson's words, would that this could be said truthfully of us.