Can good come out of tragedy?

In my heart and mind over the last couple of days all other news items and current events (even the European Football Championships), have paled into insignificance in comparison to reports of the tragic and brutal murder of MP Jo Cox. Before this week I had never heard of Jo Cox, but the more I read about her life the more I have realised that she appears to have been a very special person indeed.

Much has been spoken and written about her life and the kind of person she was.  Of course it is often the case when someone dies that people tend to try and say nice things about them, but in Jo Cox's case the tributes are undoubtedly genuine.  People from all sides of the political spectrum, as well as many who came to know Jo through her campaigning or her work as a local MP, have given glowing tributes.  I can't help thinking that we have lost someone who still had so much more to offer.

I am not ashamed to say that tears have come to my eyes as I have listened to some of the reports about Jo Cox.  My heart especially goes out to her husband and two young children.  It seems clear that her family were an enormous part of Jo's life, and they will miss her terribly.  I am full of admiration for her husband Brendan who issued the following powerful and moving statement following Jo's death:

"Today is the beginning of a new chapter in our lives. More difficult, more painful, less joyful, less full of love.
I and Jo's friends and family are going to work every moment of our lives to love and nurture our kids and to fight against the hate that killed Jo.
Jo believed in a better world and she fought for it everyday of her life with an energy, and a zest for life that would exhaust most people.
She would have wanted two things above all else to happen now, one that our precious children are bathed in love and two, that we all unite to fight against the hatred that killed her.
Hate doesn't have a creed, race or religion, it is poisonous.
Jo would have no regrets about her life, she lived every day of it to the full."
  
Jo Cox has been described as one of the least partisan of MPs.  Although she was proud to be a Labour MP, she was at the same time happy to work with those of different persuasions if it helped to advance a cause about which she was passionate.  She doesn't appear to have been one of those people who gloried in opposing anyone who thought differently.  In her maiden speech in the House of Commons she stated,

"While we celebrate our diversity, what surprises me time and time again as I travel around the constituency is that we are far more united and have far more in common with each other than things that divide us."

After the forthcoming EU Referendum, the UK will be in need of healing, no matter which way the vote goes.  How sad it would be if we forget the example of Jo Cox in working to bring people together.

At a vigil in Birstall in Jo's memory, the Bishop of Huddersfield said that he knew two things about Jo Cox. The first was that she was "a woman who was utterly committed to serving others".  The other was that she was "someone who was deeply committed to her own family as a wife and a mother".  What better tributes could be given?

I don't know whether Jo was a person of faith, but it seems to me that her life demonstrated many of the values and principles to which Jesus called his followers: compassion, servanthood, commitment, a passion for justice and unity.  I hope and pray with all my heart that Jo's death will not be in vain, and that somehow good will come out of tragedy

#RIP Jo Cox