By John Cole
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By John Cole
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"A Candle in the Wind"? Sociologists, psychologists, historians and, no doubt, theologians will be writing doctoral theses for years to come about an incident in September 1997 which shocked a nation - and seemingly the greater part of the world. The sudden death of Diana, Princess of Wales, in a car crash in Paris at the age of 36 unleashed from people an extraordinary display of public grief. TV journalists, hard-bitten from years of reporting natural and man-made disasters across five continents, could not find the language to express what was going on. It seems as though tens of thousands of British people had re-discovered within themselves deep wells of emotion - which they barely knew how to handle or to put into words. Thus the flowers and the candles appeared everywhere as a nation tried to symbolise its response to a real life tragedy of archetypal significance. The story of people's reactions to the death of Princess Diana - how in their shock they almost made her into a goddess! - provide evidence of a gut feeling that human beings are more than just consumers. Perhaps our society is not as fragmented as we feared. A spiritual dimension is increasingly part of people's self-understanding - although they might be a long way from acknowledging God as revealed in Jesus Christ. Even if it is nothing more than 'a candle in the wind' (the title of Elton John's song which raised millions for Diana's memorial appeal), the response to Diana's death is nonetheless an icon in this generation to show that we are still made in the image of God. A 'God-shaped hole' exists in many people's lives - and God is already at work in it!
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1997 was there