Professor Francesca Stavrakopoulou is a biblical scholar and broadcaster. She is Professor of Hebrew Bible and Ancient Religion at the University of Exeter in the UK. Her research is on ancient Israelite and Judahite religions, and portrayals of the religious past in the Hebrew Bible.
My experience over the last four weeks
echoes many of the points of discussion .
I visit an elderly people’s ward infused with death .
Inhabited by the now less than human because
they cannot articulate their needs .
I go to be the voice of a man who is the father of
my children .
On the bus trip home I pass a pub called the Valentin where I had a meal with some one I
loved dearly .
He has been dead for 23 years yet over the
last bit of time I feel him near .
In a tiny box I have a lock of his hair.
I ride 2 buses home with the dirty cloths last night I got in and there was a pair of trousers
covered in shit .
They send this out of hospital SHIT
I meet many people at the bus stop
Mothers who must leave one baby twin
who is gravely ill to take his twin sister
and other two Children home .
I told her I would ask for prayers to be offered
for her baby and her face lit up.
Because I believe that it is our compassion
our ability to reach out to one another when
everything seems gone that defines us.
What is this where a mother weighed down
by her own pain can still have a moment of
concern for me.
I choose to honour life .
I believe if we could all try to do this
we could greatly reduce suffering .
Death is Life.
It’s our one certainty .
It is life we honour
Many times as a child I attended open casket
funerals every one gathered in the front room
eating raising a glass .
We did not fear death we embraced it .
I was so happy to listen to this podcast this morning .