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Reading - "Well done, good and faithful servant!" (Matthew 25:21)
This was written in the week veteran British broadcaster and DJ John Peel died of a heart attack on a working holiday in Peru. The eulogies have flooded in and, in my opinion, deservedly so. The man was decent and a British institution and an integral part of the musical education of generations of listeners.
Radio 1 controller Andy Parfitt said Peel's contribution to modern music and culture was "immeasurable". He added: "John Peel was a broadcasting legend. I am deeply saddened by his death as are all who work at Radio 1. John's influence has towered over the development of popular music for nearly four decades."
BBC director general Mark Thompson said: "We are all very shocked and saddened by the news of John's death. He was one of the giants of radio and will be missed, not just by everyone at the BBC, but by millions of listeners of all ages."
Radio 1 DJ Jo Whiley, who presented coverage of the Glastonbury Festival with Peel, paid tribute to her colleague and close friend. She said: "John was simply one of my favourite men in the whole world - as a music fan and presenter he was simply an inspiration."
John Peel was an ordinary person doing an extraordinary job and doing it extraordinarily well. I began to think about how ordinary folk are remembered, whose lives influence a much more modest group of people, their friends and families. "A loving husband and devoted father" on a gravestone perhaps. "Sadly missed, fondly remembered" in the obituaries. "A good bloke, always good company", down the club. And there is nothing wrong with these things because we are fortunate indeed to know the love and warmth of family and friends. I am reminded, though, of a favourite Shakespeare quote:
"What is a man if his chief good and market of his time is but to sleep and feed?" (Hamlet, iv, iv)
Andy Warhol famously said one day everybody would be famous for fifteen minutes. Looking at reality TV shows, kiss and tell journalism and the rest you might think he wasn't far wrong. However, the truth is most people will live and die in obscurity and their graves and obituaries will be - much of a muchness.
The Psalmist soberly reminds us:
As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like the flowers
of the field;
The wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more."
(Psalm 103:15)
He goes on, however:
"But from everlasting to everlasting the LORD'S (Jehovah's) love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children's children - with those who keep his covenants and remember to obey his precepts." (16-18)
I have no idea what faith John Peel had, or if he had any. I will miss his laconic voice on Radio 4 on Saturday mornings. We would like to think that the people we admire will "make it", don't we? But whatever the level of our fame in this life, or the depth of our obscurity, there is an eternal accolade for those who fear God, keep his covenants and remember to obey his precepts. In a world where so many seek their fifteen minutes Christians can know, not fifteen minutes, or even fifteen years, but an eternity of acclamation and approbation from a God saying:
"Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!" (Matthew 25:21)
As you go out to serve him this week may he grant you the grace and strength to persevere in obedience. And, though your life may seem ever so obscure, may you know that the angels marvel at your salvation and that God delights in your every step in faith, and when that day comes may he call you also "good and faithful servant!"