In celebration of the marriage of Stephen Spencer and Ken Bagnall on 6th December, 2018.
CHRISTMAS PRAYER PETITION::
With your permission, I will depart from the more usual 'Prayer Petition' format this morning with a view of showing how the lives/actions of three people in a particular area of their lives demonstrably illustrate the central Christmas Message I want to convey today; 'LOVE CONQUERS ALL'.
'LOVE is all-encompassing'; it enables all that is possible through its positive demonstration of how we behave towards one another. LOVE enables sadness and happiness to dine at the same table. LOVE can turn one's frailty and weakness into a strength of character and personal growth. LOVE is the only emotion that is capable of transforming one's discrimination into enlightenment.
STEVEN SPENCER AND KEN BAGNALL:
I am so happy to hear of the marriage between Steven Spencer and his partner, Ken Bagnall yesterday. Ken, who has had cancer for a long time with severe negative side-effects, recently decided to withdraw from all future treatment and has placed himself on palliative care only while he spends his final days and weeks at home with his partner. He has a D.N.R. in effect and the couple hopes to spend their last Christmas together as peacefully and as happily as possible. I speak to the couple today through my direct words to Steven.
Through the exchange of a lifetime’s LOVE for each other and a few simple words, Steven, you have, by marrying Ken made the rest of his life the best of his life. As you were each saying, ‘I do’, I was also thanking the Lord for you, for Ken, for me, forever and for always.
You and Ken were always of the bravest when it came to the open declaration of your love for and commitment to each other. Society was far from accepting the rights of same-sex partners when you first met and decided to live together. I am so pleased that society has been able to advance during the latter years in its sense of reason and equality where matters of the heart are concerned between same-sex partners. You and Ken started off on an adventure of a lifetime when you first started living together, and they do say that the biggest adventure one can ever have is ‘living your dream’. I view your marriage yesterday as the culmination of that dream.
I must honestly confess, Steven, that back in the early 1970s I was still prejudiced against granting an equality of status in either law or mind to gay couples. I also discriminated against gay people unknowingly through thought, word and deed. Forgive me for having been so mistakenly inclined then, but please note that forty years ago I was carrying a lot of my own emotional baggage around in my ‘Common book of beliefs’. My awareness of being prejudiced against gay people and my philosophical conversion did not come about through Christian acceptance or any form of reasoned enlightenment. It occurred through nothing short of an act of ‘LOVE’ towards me by a gay neighbour during a time of need. When the help from true friends was found wanting, it was the selfless, considerate, LOVING actions of a gay neighbour called, Brian, with whom I had previously experienced seven years of hostile relations, that brought about my conversion.
The degree of help this good man gave me without my need ever to ask for it after a fire almost burned down my house, was unbelievable. Despite working long night shifts on the railways, Brian gave up some of his valuable sleep time each afternoon before going back into work, to help me clear up my burnt-out house over the five weeks it took to complete the task. It was impossible not to LOVE such a good man; not his good actions but his good self! Finding myself automatically expressing LOVE to a gay man essentially made it impossible thereafter to return to my previous prejudiced and discriminatory ways; consciously or unconsciously.
No person comes to a new relationship without the carriage of some emotional baggage, but whatever emotional baggage you and Ken had when you first met, you instantly shared by being prepared to live out of the same suitcase; thereby demonstrating you are what you do and not what you say you will do.
I have learned over the years, Steven, that however clever or intelligent we may consider ourselves, we never know everything about the complexity of a person’s mind, body and psyche, let alone their chemical/ electrical construction. As imperfect humans we tend not to get too involved in the lives of others if we can avoid it. We may make patterns, break waves and share moments with others around us, but all too often we do much too little to help those in true need. There is so much to know and do in such a short lifespan that we often feel we never have enough time. And yet, there is much that we humans can learn from the short life of the complete individual and the beautiful butterfly. The butterfly counts not months, but moments, and yet finds enough time to fly. The complete person wants for nothing more than the good around them. Yesterday, Steven, you and Ken spread your wings and found your moment to fly through a cloud of lasting goodness.
A person’s life is but a collection of moments that invariably happen happily when least expected yet most enjoyed. Paradoxically, it is often the briefest of moments (the time it takes to say, ‘I do’) that makes one’s life complete and lasts a lifetime. I hope that you and your partner, Ken, now feel you found a moment that will last a lifetime yesterday afternoon. I thank God for providing you with this magic moment that will stay unforgettable until you and Ken are reunited forever in another place.
I believe, Steven that when a good man is brave enough to say the very best of ’Goodbyes’ to their loved one as they leave this life, they are instantly rewarded with a new ‘Hello’ in heaven. And though they no longer walk alongside their partner, their very spirit is present in the substance of their loved one’s earth shadow; remaining forever close to their earth mate in times of pain and pleasure, sadness and joy. When all the water has boiled from the pot of life, one is lucky to have something that makes saying ‘Goodbye’ so hard
Though we have never met, I feel like I have always known you and Ken, Steven. You are a beautiful couple. Always remain the caring, sensitive, loving and caring man you are. I don’t know where you will be going or what you will be doing in the future when Ken isn’t with you, Steven, but believe me that you and he, and the goodness and love you represent have today ensured that you are already on your way.
Congratulations, Steven and Ken, I celebrate your most special of memories by singing a beautiful song for two beautiful men. Every loving couple has 'their song' and the song I sing for you two was played at the wedding of myself and Sheila. It is fitting in sentiment for you and Ken. It is 'Secret Love.' Love and peace. Bill xxx
CHRISTMAS PRAYER PETITION::
With your permission, I will depart from the more usual 'Prayer Petition' format this morning with a view of showing how the lives/actions of three people in a particular area of their lives demonstrably illustrate the central Christmas Message I want to convey today; 'LOVE CONQUERS ALL'.
'LOVE is all-encompassing'; it enables all that is possible through its positive demonstration of how we behave towards one another. LOVE enables sadness and happiness to dine at the same table. LOVE can turn one's frailty and weakness into a strength of character and personal growth. LOVE is the only emotion that is capable of transforming one's discrimination into enlightenment.
STEVEN SPENCER AND KEN BAGNALL:
I am so happy to hear of the marriage between Steven Spencer and his partner, Ken Bagnall yesterday. Ken, who has had cancer for a long time with severe negative side-effects, recently decided to withdraw from all future treatment and has placed himself on palliative care only while he spends his final days and weeks at home with his partner. He has a D.N.R. in effect and the couple hopes to spend their last Christmas together as peacefully and as happily as possible. I speak to the couple today through my direct words to Steven.
Through the exchange of a lifetime’s LOVE for each other and a few simple words, Steven, you have, by marrying Ken made the rest of his life the best of his life. As you were each saying, ‘I do’, I was also thanking the Lord for you, for Ken, for me, forever and for always.
You and Ken were always of the bravest when it came to the open declaration of your love for and commitment to each other. Society was far from accepting the rights of same-sex partners when you first met and decided to live together. I am so pleased that society has been able to advance during the latter years in its sense of reason and equality where matters of the heart are concerned between same-sex partners. You and Ken started off on an adventure of a lifetime when you first started living together, and they do say that the biggest adventure one can ever have is ‘living your dream’. I view your marriage yesterday as the culmination of that dream.
I must honestly confess, Steven, that back in the early 1970s I was still prejudiced against granting an equality of status in either law or mind to gay couples. I also discriminated against gay people unknowingly through thought, word and deed. Forgive me for having been so mistakenly inclined then, but please note that forty years ago I was carrying a lot of my own emotional baggage around in my ‘Common book of beliefs’. My awareness of being prejudiced against gay people and my philosophical conversion did not come about through Christian acceptance or any form of reasoned enlightenment. It occurred through nothing short of an act of ‘LOVE’ towards me by a gay neighbour during a time of need. When the help from true friends was found wanting, it was the selfless, considerate, LOVING actions of a gay neighbour called, Brian, with whom I had previously experienced seven years of hostile relations, that brought about my conversion.
The degree of help this good man gave me without my need ever to ask for it after a fire almost burned down my house, was unbelievable. Despite working long night shifts on the railways, Brian gave up some of his valuable sleep time each afternoon before going back into work, to help me clear up my burnt-out house over the five weeks it took to complete the task. It was impossible not to LOVE such a good man; not his good actions but his good self! Finding myself automatically expressing LOVE to a gay man essentially made it impossible thereafter to return to my previous prejudiced and discriminatory ways; consciously or unconsciously.
No person comes to a new relationship without the carriage of some emotional baggage, but whatever emotional baggage you and Ken had when you first met, you instantly shared by being prepared to live out of the same suitcase; thereby demonstrating you are what you do and not what you say you will do.
I have learned over the years, Steven, that however clever or intelligent we may consider ourselves, we never know everything about the complexity of a person’s mind, body and psyche, let alone their chemical/ electrical construction. As imperfect humans we tend not to get too involved in the lives of others if we can avoid it. We may make patterns, break waves and share moments with others around us, but all too often we do much too little to help those in true need. There is so much to know and do in such a short lifespan that we often feel we never have enough time. And yet, there is much that we humans can learn from the short life of the complete individual and the beautiful butterfly. The butterfly counts not months, but moments, and yet finds enough time to fly. The complete person wants for nothing more than the good around them. Yesterday, Steven, you and Ken spread your wings and found your moment to fly through a cloud of lasting goodness.
A person’s life is but a collection of moments that invariably happen happily when least expected yet most enjoyed. Paradoxically, it is often the briefest of moments (the time it takes to say, ‘I do’) that makes one’s life complete and lasts a lifetime. I hope that you and your partner, Ken, now feel you found a moment that will last a lifetime yesterday afternoon. I thank God for providing you with this magic moment that will stay unforgettable until you and Ken are reunited forever in another place.
I believe, Steven that when a good man is brave enough to say the very best of ’Goodbyes’ to their loved one as they leave this life, they are instantly rewarded with a new ‘Hello’ in heaven. And though they no longer walk alongside their partner, their very spirit is present in the substance of their loved one’s earth shadow; remaining forever close to their earth mate in times of pain and pleasure, sadness and joy. When all the water has boiled from the pot of life, one is lucky to have something that makes saying ‘Goodbye’ so hard
Though we have never met, I feel like I have always known you and Ken, Steven. You are a beautiful couple. Always remain the caring, sensitive, loving and caring man you are. I don’t know where you will be going or what you will be doing in the future when Ken isn’t with you, Steven, but believe me that you and he, and the goodness and love you represent have today ensured that you are already on your way.
Congratulations, Steven and Ken, I celebrate your most special of memories by singing a beautiful song for two beautiful men. Every loving couple has 'their song' and the song I sing for you two was played at the wedding of myself and Sheila. It is fitting in sentiment for you and Ken. It is 'Secret Love.' Love and peace. Bill xxx
