The Great Malvern Priory in Worcester,it was to be.
David Webster was preaching .The beautiful structure which
Dr Richard Lewis ,a colleague and my
host
so poetically calls , ‘the most beautiful building’, lofty, aged and elegant, stands high in the morning sun
even as the bells toll ...it makes me want to tilt my head
and just listen ...the sound I sincerely believe, is
heard in heaven because it calls sinners like myself to
commune with the eternal God.
The Lord speaks,He affirms and He upholds as usual in a
simply profound message the missionary doctor
from Africa shares.
When I was leaving Worcester in 2005,Richard and Anne had
given me a copy of 'The shimmering heat'-
a book by the good doctor on his life in Afr
I got to see him in person and like all great men he was
unassumingly simple.
On the other side of the road beyond the cathedral ,is a
beautiful hillock with benches ,trees ,green
grass and the cemeteries.
I climbed the hill to enjoy and soak the beauty of the place.
One cemetery in particular was attracting a host of tourists
with cameras.
I let them pass and when they had gone I clambered down the
hill to read the edifice.
It was a cemetry of an eight year old child.What caught my
attention was the name,the surname of
the
greatest athiest that
ever was.
Anne Elizabeth Darwin was neatly carved on the tombstone .it was dated in the 1800's
Anne Elizabeth Darwin was neatly carved on the tombstone .it was dated in the 1800's
I called Dr Simon another colleague over and his exact reaction was,'but it
couldn't be!’.
However , it was.
David Webster told us the story.
Anne Elizabeth Darwin was Charles Darwin's eight year old
daughter who unfortunately contracted
tuberculosis.
Malvern was famous for it's spas then.
With the hope that
the spa might give his little child the much needed rest and healing , he
brought his
daughter to Malvern.It did not.
The daughter passed away. Charles Darwin grieved the death
of his daughter gravely .
He walked away from the funeral service that was arranged in the great
Malvern Priory and he never
looked back.
I would like to believe that It was not the theory of
evolution ,as people might naturally presume, but
grief ,that cost him his faith in God.
Almost two centuries later ,the faithfuls in Malvern Priory
have planted tiny yellow flowers around the
grave.
In that beautiful green park with the sunlight waltzing it's
rays through the tree,the lawn and
benches...those are the only flowers amidst the rows of other
cemetries of young and old from another
era altogether.
The yellow flowers bravely,bobbing it's head and standing up
in the church premise ...
as if to say ,’ I am home,I am happy ,I am allright daddy’.
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