Even in the showers, scores of well-wishers turned out Friday afternoon to the mass of resurrection for the late Reverend Richard Johnson at St Jude’s Church in St Andrew.

Those who filled the church and others who watched the service on television screens in two tents on the church grounds, participated in what was, for the most part, a quiet service to celebrate the life of the priest who was stabbed to death at the church rectory two weeks ago.

The Rt Reverend Alfred Reid, during his sermon, elicited collective ‘yeses’ and ‘amens’ from the congregation, such as when he asked: “In the present culture of blood lust, who can be sure that his death will not be violent or brutal?”

Reid, the Anglican Bishop of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, called on those in attendance to be sure only of God, amidst the uncertainty that surrounds Johnson’s murder.

“One fact is indisputable, and it is the fact that a murder was committed in the darkness of the night of November 12, 2006,” Reid said. “We may even say that a double murder was committed – the killing of the physical body, compounded by the wanton destruction of the honour and dignity of a man who is unable to say anything in his own defence,” he said, eliciting the response “yes” from the congregation.

Reid said the true impact of Johnson’s tragic death on the church community at St Jude’s, his family or the church as a whole, might never be ascertained. But he challenged them all to “renew ourselves in faith and hope”.

In written tributes printed at the front of the service booklet, Johnson was remembered as a jovial man.

“I’ll miss his ready laughter, his unabashed love for the house of God and the richness of the liturgy. Above all, I will miss his friendship,” a tribute from Barbara Gloudon read.

Reverend Easton Lee wrote that all connected to the reverend would have their own memories of him. But he remembered, “Richard was a builder”.

“He had two passions, his love of Ministry and his respect and love for Heather, his wife, of whom he was justly proud,” Lee wrote.

The Glinock/Santa Cruz cure of churches, sections of which Johnson was instrumental in rebuilding, in their tribute wrote of his “superb interpersonal skills”.

“We will remember his organisational skills, his robust laughter, his endearing personality, his love for life and things of beauty, his sense of humour and all those other attributes that made him distinctly who he was,” said the tribute.