The Passing of Richard Roe
A Primer for Effective Evangelism
by Francis Gardom
I buried Richard Roe at the local cemetery last week. He had died of lung cancer at the comparatively early age of 52. As they lowered his coffin into the ground and threw earth upon it, I read the words of committal from the Book of Common Prayer: “Forasmuch as it hath pleased Almighty God of his great mercy to take unto himself the soul of our dear brother here departed, we therefore commit his body to the ground . . . in sure and certain hope of the Resurrection to eternal life through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
It was those last words that brought me up with a jolt: What earthly reason . . .
