A belated tribute

As many will know, last weekend marked a significant milestone for the Hosier family as my father-in-law, John, preached his last sermon as an elder at Church of Christ the King (CCK) in Brighton. He officially retires next month but the church honoured him on Sunday as they looked back on 23 years as an elder there and almost 40 years of ministry.

Understandably, we couldn’t be there in person (though the Poole Hosiers did an excellent job of keeping up the family end, as it were) so we have been watching a video of the event. We did send a DVD message from Chicago but I confess I pretty much hid in the background letting my husband and children do the talking.

As I watched my sister-in-law and many others pay tribute to John & Sue, I felt a little embarrassed and saddened that I hadn’t risen to the opportunity to share my own reflections. To be perfectly honest, though I confess I am a fairly emotional person, I’m actually really bad at voicing my feelings about other people – so I thought I’d take the relatively safe option of writing about it here where I can safely hide my face behind my PC screen!!

It’s funny, really, because I came across John and Sue quite a few years before I ever met them – or David. Most people don’t know anything much about their prospective in-laws except via family reputation. So that was a good start, because I always respected and admired them from a distance. I started attending CCK (then Clarendon Church) as a first year student at Sussex Uni and didn’t start dating David until shortly after the end of my final (4th) year so I really only knew them as an elder and his wife but I always particularly admired John’s preaching and, when I lived in France for the 3rd year of my degree, my friend Hannah used to send me all of John’s sermons on tape. (Gosh that makes me feel old!!) I always wished that my father could have heard John preach as I thought that he would appreciate his intelligent, thoughtful and authoritative preaching style. One day, I will have the privilege of introducing them to each other.

My first meeting with the Hosiers senior was just after David and I started seeing each other (I think Sue remarked to Grace that she didn’t think it would last!!!) and really the rest is history as I very quickly became part of the family (well, aside from it taking David nearly 3 years to pop the question - but that's another story...). As Grace mentioned in her talk on Sunday, I have felt that both John and Sue completely took both of us on board as the daughters they never had. They have also been and continue to be the most doting and wonderful grandparents to our children, always making an effort to keep in contact despite first their travels and now ours. And I have seen modelled by them a godly marriage that is an inspiration to me.

I should probably mention that living up to Sue’s high standard of home-keeping has been an interesting challenge! Thanks to her example my house is far tidier and cleaner than it would have been left to my own devices. But, joking aside, I have seen in her an excellent example of a godly wife and mother who has faithfully served her husband, children and now grandchildren for many years. She has remained a faithful and committed church member and actively sought to disciple younger women, which is an area that I am now passionate about myself.

So, sorry not to be more vocal at the time – but I want everyone to know that I am very proud to be part of a very select group of Mrs Hosiers. And if you didn’t get a chance to catch any of John Hosier’s sermons in the flesh I would encourage you to look for them on the CCK website and see if they are not well worth a listen!!