Although wobbly headstones are the health and safety nightmare of many unfortunate vicars, I’ll admit that I rather like the eerie romanticism of Victorian graveyards. So I was interested by this photo of the graves of a Catholic woman and her Protestant husband from Roermond, Holland in 1888. Unable to be buried in the same graveyard due to sectarian segregation, the two monuments reach across the wall separating them.
This photo not only speaks of the confessional chasm between Protestants and Catholics in nineteenth century Holland, but also reflects the sad reality that death is a chasm we are all staring into. It’s a dividing line that brings separation. And like the brick wall in the photo looming up in front of us, we are hopeless faced against it.
How wonderful then that Jesus reaches out to us with the offer of eternal life:
“[Grace] has now been revealed through the appearing of our Saviour, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” 2 Timothy 1 v 10
Rachel Jones is the author of A Brief Theology of Periods (Yes, Really), Is This It? and several books in the award-winning Five Things to Pray series, and serves as Women's Ministry Lead at King's Church Chessington, in Surrey, UK.
