Better than Chips at Cobo!

This is Diane and me preparing to contemplate a Guernsey sunset at a glorious place on the West coast of the island called Cobo (pronounced like 'oboe' with a 'C'). Despite how it looks, we really hadn't fallen out as there was a picnic basket between us on the bench and we were eating fish and chips bought from Cobo Chippy - a local delicacy! (https://www.facebook.com/Cobofishbar)! They were wonderful as usual. It had been a hard day, especially for Diane, as we had been at the burial of her dear sister Angela in the morning, and then taking part in a service of thanksgiving for Ange's life in the afternoon.

Sunsets at Cobo are famous. They are such an inspiring way to end a difficult day. They also mean that someone else to the West of us is still enjoying their day, or else waking up to a brand new start. The writer of the hymn 'The Day Thou Gavest, Lord, is Ended' knew this:

The sun that bids us rest is waking

Our brethren 'neath the western sky
And hour by hour fresh lips are making
Thy wondrous doings heard on high

As over each continent and island
The dawn leads on another day
The voice of prayer is never silent
Nor dies the strain of praise away

For Angela, whose trust in God was vital and strong, her day goes on. Just as the setting sun for us becomes the rising sun for others, so the world she inhabits now is totally different from the one blighted by disease and dementia that she has left. It's not the end, but rather the beginning of a brand new day, seeing Jesus and serving Him, like she did when she was well, and even more so in the company of the saints.

So, although there is an element of loss and regret as the sun 'bids us rest', we take heart in the promise and hope to which it points. As St Paul says in his letter to the Christians in Rome: 'If we get included in Christ’s sin-conquering death, we also get included in his life-saving resurrection. We know that when Jesus was raised from the dead it was a signal of the end of death-as-the-end. Never again will death have the last word. When Jesus died, he took sin down with him, but alive he brings God down to us' (Romans 6:6-9 The Message). 

Now that's even better than chips at Cobo!