The early church had a saying: ‘Life is a bridge. You cross over it, but you don’t build your house on it.’ It reminds us that we are travellers through this earthly existence and our true home lies beyond it. As the Book of Hebrews says: ‘Here we have no continuing city, but we seek the city that is to come.’ It’s very easy for us, burdened as we are by the myriad cares and worries of daily life, to forget this, and to see nothing more than the next bill we have to pay or ailment we have to endure or loved one we have to worry about. But I remember being at my sister’s bedside, just before she died, and hearing her daughter say: ‘It feels like the room is full of people,’ and then seeing my sister sit up smiling and waving to people I couldn’t see, but she obviously could. ‘