Robert Short (1955-2024)
By Gerry Straker, 21 Jan 2025
Robert (far left of the picture in the yellow hat) a regular at Church by the Bay died on 18th December 2024 aged 69. We still don’t know what Robert died from, and unfortunately he won’t be having a Church by the Bay funeral. But we wanted to mark his life and death in some way, and so here is a reflection to honour him and thank God for his life.
Robert was a difficult man – you know this If you ever served him a cup of tea! He sometimes said some shocking things. But those things come in the context of Robert having had a very tough life – he had been abandoned as a baby, grew up, I think, in the care system and had, at the very least, witnessed violence.
Robert had a twinkle about him, if you could get beyond the gruff initial encounter. He was grateful to come round for a meal. He gave one of my daughter’s £5 for her birthday. Robert would interrupt me while I was talking to the whole Church at prayer lunch – and he knew what he was doing! As an ongoing joke he claimed to know my cousin in London. He loved Liverpool FC.
Many of our Church family cared for him in different ways. Could we have done more as a Church? Answer: yes of course, but by God’s grace we did something. We welcomed him and showed him some love.
God created Robert in his image – he was precious to Him. Wonderfully, a number of times Robert seemed to declare his faith in Jesus. I don’t know what he believed. But I believe in a great God of grace and justice. And so we entrust Robert to Him – knowing the Judge of the earth will do right.
One of our Church members shared this with me and gave me pemission to post it here…
Margaret Floyd’s tribute to Robert
I want to share what I learned from Robert. I am reminded that all of us are made in the image of God. We need to tread lightly when judging others. There is a saying in the US that says about approaching a difficult situation "This is a hard nut to crack." This could be said about Robert. He was a grumpy sort of guy. I often wondered what made him this way.
Each time I greeted Robert at church he either had no reply for me , growled, or motioned me to just walk on by. I took this as a challenge. I became determined to have a pleasantry from him. Week after week went by. Finally one Sunday morning, he waved at me. Not a motion to just keep moving along, but a wave and a half smile. I considered this a success.
Then he reverted back to his usual grumpy self. One Sunday after church we had a Barbecue. I got outside and looked for a place to sit there. There was a table to the left, but Robert was sitting on the opposite side of a table at the very end. . The table was empty and NO one was around him. I didn't want to sit near him. I had had enough rejection from him.
Then the Spirit nudged me. "Go sit with Robert." "You're kidding. I don't want to." "Go sit with Robert." "OK, but it won't do any good." I walked over to the table sat down opposite of him. "Hello Robert, how are you today?" Nothing, but his blank stare into space. "It's a nice day for a Barbecue." Nothing, but his continued stare into space. "What's going on in your life?" Nothing, but his ignoring me." I then saw someone off in the distance to my right that I needed to talk to. I got up and had to walk around and behind Robert to where I was headed.
Just as I got a few steps away from Robert, I heard this very soft, almost a whisper say "Ever been to New York?" It immediately occurred to me that Robert recognised my American accent. I immediately turned around and went and sat back down. I looked at him and said "You know Robert, I've never been to New York." He said, "You should go, it's a beautiful state." "So you've been to New York?" "Yes, and it's beautiful." We then had a very pleasant conversation.
What if I had not turned around? I could have pretended not to hear him. But I didn't. What I learned that day was never give up greeting people. I know nothing of Robert's background. Something made him be such a gruff person. By persevering, you just never know when God will allow that door of communication to be open.
It is my prayer that Robert is in the arms of Jesus. I look forward to greeting him one day. In the meantime, I am a better person for knowing him.