Daily Devotion 10 February 2021

Create a peaceful space to pause, and allow yourself to feel God’s presence alongside you, as near to you as your own breath. In following the reflection below, as a church we will draw closer to God and to one another as we grow in faith and deepen our sense of belonging to God.

John 10:10

“I have come so that they may have life and have it in its fullness.”

An Indian proverb says: “Everyone is a house with four rooms – physical, mental, emotional and spiritual.” The implication is that we need to experience and explore each ‘room’ every day if we are to live in a holistic way. We may be able to help others to do the same. We can safely assume that Jesus the teacher, preacher, prophet and healer embraced the principles of this Indian proverb and the ways in which each ‘room’ interlinks. Whenever and wherever he encountered individuals with their various needs and from all walks of life his words and actions brought healing and wholeness. He recognised the importance of forgiveness as the balm for guilt and his words in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5) teach us how we should treat each other in a health-enhancing way.

During this pandemic we remember hospital doctors who particularly have to focus on the physical aspects of Covid. Our nurses inevitably find themselves experiencing each of the different ‘rooms’ as they battle to save lives and attend to the basic needs of both patients and worried or grieving relatives. They themselves, along with all working in hospitals, hospices and care homes may need the skilled support of therapists and chaplains. All need our ongoing prayers. Let us also remember the supportive and essential roles performed by administrators, porters, cooks, maintenance workers, volunteers and cleaners. They each add their own significant contribution to the kaleidoscope of care being offered at this time.

I once worked for a short time as a cleaner in London’s St. Stephen’s Hospital. As I cleaned the staircases with my mop and bucket, I was ignored by most of the staff as they squeezed past me. Then one day the hospital matron appeared. She stopped, talked to me and thanked me for the important and necessary work I was doing. She went on her way and I felt two inches taller! Her affirmation helped me to know my intrinsic role in the life of that hospital. As followers of Jesus our vocation is to support and affirm each other in these critical times when we all feel more vulnerable.

As we seek to enable the holistic health suggested by those four ‘rooms’ I offer you a series of words all beginning with the letter ‘c’. What about: compassion; concern; care; camaraderie; charity; consideration; conciliation; calm; counselling; communication; creativity; (re)creation; (and how about chatting, chuckling, crosswords and coffee!)

You may wish to ponder one or more of these words for a few moments in contemplation (another ‘c’ word!). Of course, the most important ‘c’ word is Christ, whose words and actions are the inspiration and the impetus for our understanding of health and wholeness. We know that Christ practised all the above words – but maybe not crosswords and coffee!!

Prayer:

O Christ, the healer, we have come to pray for health, to plead for friends.
Grant that we all, made one in faith, in your community may find
the wholeness that, enriching us, shall reach the whole of humankind.

Fred Pratt Green (1903-2000)

Reflection and Prayer © 2021 Gordon Harrison.
Image freely available online.

A printable version of this Daily Devotional can be downloaded from here
All material within this order of worship is reproduced by permission under CCL 1226356