SERVICE OF THANKSGIVING

FOR THE LIFE OF TIM RIX

4 January 1934 – 8 November 2012

St Bride’s Church, Fleet Street

6 February 2013, 11.30am

BEFORE THE SERVICE J.S.Bach Aria from The Goldberg Variations

CHOIR Matthew Morley Lord, who may dwell in your sanctuary

THE BIDDING PRAYER The Venerable David Meara

HYMN Lord of all Hopefulness

Lord of all hopefulness, Lord of all joy,Whose trust, ever child-like, no cares could destroy,Be there at our waking, and give us, we pray,Your bliss in our hearts, Lord, at the break of the day.

Lord of all eagerness, Lord of all faith,Whose strong hands were skilled at the plane and the lathe,Be there at our labours, and give us, we pray,Your strength in our hearts, Lord, at the noon of the day.

Lord of all kindliness, Lord of all grace,Your hands swift to welcome, your arms to embrace,Be there at our homing, and give us, we pray,Your love in our hearts, Lord, at the eve of the day.

Lord of all gentleness, Lord of all calm,Whose voice is contentment, whose presence is balm,Be there at our sleeping, and give us, we pray,Your peace in our hearts, Lord, at the end of the day.

WORDS AND READINGS Lucy, Oliver and Juliet Rix

William Wordsworth A Parsonage In Oxfordshire

Where holy ground begins, unhallowed ends,Is marked by no distinguishable line;The turf unites, the pathways intertwine;And, wheresoe'er the stealing footstep tends,Garden, and that domain where kindred, friends,And neighbours rest together, here confoundTheir several features, mingled like the soundOf many waters, or as evening blendsWith shady night. Soft airs, from shrub and flower,Waft fragrant greetings to each silent grave; And while those lofty poplars gently wave2

Their tops, between them comes and goes a skyBright as the glimpses of eternity,To saints accorded in their mortal hour.

T.S.Eliot Four Quartets ‘East Coker’ extract

Home is where one starts from. As we grow olderThe world becomes stranger, the pattern more complicatedOf dead and living. Not the intense moment Isolated, with no before and after,But a lifetime burning in every momentAnd not the lifetime of one man onlyBut of old stones that cannot be deciphered.There is a time for the evening under starlight,A time for the evening under lamplight(The evening with the photograph album).Love is most nearly itselfWhen here and now cease to matter.

Old men ought to be explorersHere and there does not matterWe must be still and still movingInto another intensityFor a further union, a deeper communionThrough the dark cold and empty desolation,The wave cry, the wind cry, the vast watersOf the petrel and the porpoise. In my end is my beginning.

CHOIR Gustav Mahler Die Zwei Blauen Augen

ADDRESS Michael Wymer

3

CHOIR Andrew Lloyd Webber, arr. Gwyn Arch ‘Skimbleshanks, the Railway Cat’ from Cats by T.S.Eliot

WORDS AND READING Jacqui Scott and Anne Walmsley

T.S. Eliot Four Quartets ‘Little Gidding’ V

What we call the beginning is often the endAnd to make an end is to make a beginning.The end is where we start from. And every phraseAnd sentence that is right (where every word is at home,Taking its place to support the others,The word neither diffident nor ostentatious,An easy commerce of the old and the new,

The common word exact without vulgarity,The formal word precise but not pedantic,The complete consort dancing together)Every phrase and every sentence is an end and a beginning,Every poem an epitaph. And any actionIs a step to the block, to the fire, down the sea's throatOr to an illegible stone: and that is where we start.We die with the dying:See, they depart, and we go with them.We are born with the dead:See, they return, and bring us with them.The moment of the rose and the moment of the yew-treeAre of equal duration. A people without historyIs not redeemed from time, for history is a patternOf timeless moments. So, while the light failsOn a winter's afternoon, in a secluded chapelHistory is now and England.

With the drawing of this Love and the voice of this Calling

We shall not cease from explorationAnd the end of all our exploringWill be to arrive where we startedAnd know the place for the first time.Through the unknown, unremembered gateWhen the last of earth left to discoverIs that which was the beginning;At the source of the longest riverThe voice of the hidden waterfallAnd the children in the apple-treeNot known, because not looked forBut heard, half-heard, in the stillnessBetween two waves of the sea.Quick now, here, now, always –A condition of complete simplicity(Costing not less than everything)And all shall be well andAll manner of thing shall be wellWhen the tongues of flames are in-foldedInto the crowned knot of fireAnd the fire and the rose are one. 5

HYMN The Lord's My Shepherd

The Lord's my Shepherd, I'll not want.He makes me down to lieIn pastures green; he leadeth meThe quiet waters by.

My soul he doth restore again,And me to walk doth makeWithin the paths of righteousness,E'en for his own Name's sake.

Yea, though I walk in death's dark vale,Yet will I fear no ill:For thou art with me, and thy rodAnd staff me comfort still.

My table thou hast furnishèdIn presence of my foes;My head thou dost with oil anointAnd my cup overflows.

Goodness and mercy all my lifeShall surely follow me;And in God's house for evermoreMy dwelling-place shall be.

WORDS AND READING Bridget ShineMary Elizabeth Frye Do not stand at my grave and weep

Do not stand at my grave and weep:I am not there. I do not sleep. I am a thousand winds that blow.I am the diamond glints on snow.I am the sunlight on ripened grain. I am the gentle autumn rain.When you awaken in the mornings’s hushI am the swift uplifting rushOf quiet birds in circled flight.I am the soft stars that shine at night.Do not stand at my grave and cry;I am not there. I did not die.6

ADDRESS Francis Bennett

CHOIR Ralph Vaughan WilliamsOver hill, over dale from Three Shakespeare Songs

PRAYERS The Venerable David Meara

HYMN Love Divine

Love Divine, all loves excelling,Joy of heaven, to earth come down,Fix in us thy humble dwelling,All thy faithful mercies crown.

Jesu, thou art all compassion,Pure unbounded love thou art;Visit us with thy salvation,Enter every trembling heart.

Come almighty to deliver,Let us all thy life receive;Suddenly return, and never,Never more thy temples leave.

Thee we would be always blessing,Serve thee as thy hosts above,Pray, and praise thee, without ceasing,Glory in thy perfect love.

Finish then thy new creation,Pure and spotless let us be;Let us see thy great salvation,Perfectly restored in thee.

Changed from glory into glory,Till in heaven we take our place,Till we cast our crowns before thee,Lost in wonder, love, and praise!

7

BLESSING The Venerable David Meara

CHOIR Thomas Tallis If Ye Love Me

OUTGOING ORGAN J.S.Bach, Number 3, The Goldberg Variations

There will be a retiring collection jointly for Book Aid International,Book Trust and St Bride’s.

All are welcome to join us for a reception and lunch at Stationer's Hallimmediately after the Service.

COVER Portrait by Benedict Rubbra

“Warning: if you are going to play croquet with Tim Rix make sure heis on your side. He is an exremelynice person until he gets hold of acroquet mallet!”John Elslely Drawing by Albi