Neil Combe shares with us the funeral address for world superbike champion Steve Hislop
One of the national newspapers in an obituary for Steve described him as a "flawed genius". As I have listened to people talk about him, as I have thought about his life, suddenly ended in such an ironic way, I have thought a lot about the word "flawed". That he was a brilliant superbike rider nobody would deny – but to say that he was flawed is to say no more than that he was human. His own autobiography shows he was under now illusion about that. He was flawed as we are all, in different ways flawed. That is part of being human.
But for all that he was flawed, he was an inspiring man. He took risks – not foolish risks, but the careful, calculated risks that a man in this sport has to take. We live in an age where we try to live life with all danger removed. We live in a world where Macdonalds is sued for making coffee hot and where peanut butter jars have labels which say "Warning – may contain nuts". Someone like Steve opens our eyes to a bigger world where there are exciting possibilities for the risk takers.
But what if it goes wrong?
Well the Christian message is about the one human being who was not flawed – Jesus Christ. In human terms he took what seemed to be the ultimate risk – he decided to take on death by crucifixion. For three days it looked as though the world’s judgment about him was right. He had been a fool. He had taken a stupid risk, and he had failed.
He hadn’t though. He came back from the dead – with the message for us as we mourn.
Death is not the final word.
As flawed human beings we all have to face death. At times it looked as though Steve was able to cheat death. There is not a person here who wanted Steve to be killed as he was. The very way in which he died shocks us into facing the reality that death, sooner or later, takes the people we love. It will one day take us. It took Jesus Christ. But God raised him, and he was seen by hundreds of witnesses so that we may know that even if we risk our lives, and even if we fail, and even when we die, death is not the end.
For Steve’s loved ones the pain is inexpressible and today’s grief seems as though it will never end. So we surround them with our care, and we pray for them at this time. Nevertheless, death shall not have the last word – because we are here in the name of Jesus Christ who is the resurrection and the life. One of the Bible writers wrote:
If our hope in Christ is good only for this life, we are worse off than anyone else. But Christ has been raised to life! And he makes us certain that others will also be raised to life.
Let us pray