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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 10pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%">I don't post much anymore mostly. However is a first draft of what I will be using tomorrow in our hospital chapel service which is broadcast over hospital radio(with many thanks to Canadian-Irish theologian, The Rev. Canon Herbert O'Driscoll for his wisdom which I used much of).<br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 10pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 10pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%">I don’t know about you but I have
nights where I can’t sleep because I’m worried.<span>
</span>Those sleepless nights are the nights when our fears and imaginations
about a situation go round and round in our heads and sometimes affect our
stomachs.<span> </span>I pray alot when this happens,
hoping that I will eventually drift off to sleep which does happen around 5:00
a.m.<span> </span>Then the alarm goes off shortly
afterwards to start a new day, still tired and still worried.<span> </span>Our readings today suggest that God knows
that we will go through these nights and days yet we need to remember that
God’s grace will enable us to face the worries and the fears.<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 10pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%">In our first reading we encounter
Abram as an elderly gentleman.<span> </span>Most of
us think of Abram as one of the patriarchs of the faith, reassuring and
strong.<span> </span>Yet in this reading, we see a
worried Abram as Sarai has not borne him a son and heir.<span> </span>Abram is feeling rather insecure
about how his lineage will continue without a son from Sarai.<span> </span>He continues to question God, to ask for
answers as to when a son will be born to carry on Abram’s name.<span> </span>Abram is not easily reassured by God’s
various responses.<span> </span>Yet there is
something in the stars in the skies from which he draws comfort.<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 10pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%">Our Gospel reading continues the theme
of worry and fear.<span> </span>Jesus is continuing
his journey to Jerusalem when he is warned by some Pharisees that Herod is
seeking him.<span> </span>It would appear that not
all Pharisees were against Jesus.<span> </span>We
have to remember not to make generalisations about people and this is one time
that we see a group of high ranking church people who are genuinely worried
about Jesus.<span> </span>So after Jesus tells them
what to tell Herod, he speaks of his fears and anxieties for Jerusalem.<span> </span>This passage again shows us the humanness of
Jesus and the depths of his emotions – this is God experiencing what we
experience when we are worried, fearful, anxious.<span> </span>This is God through Jesus experiencing the
worries, fears, and anxieties of Abram back in Genesis.<span> </span>And why wouldn’t Jesus be worried?<span> </span>He knows that the coming days are not going
to be easy for him or for those who follow him.<span>
</span>He knows he will be tested – will he be strong enough not to be tempted
to give in?<span> </span>He knows that there will be
those who will abandon him – will he be able to face the questioning and the
persecution alone?<span> </span>Jesus is probably
feeling very alone and possibly very afraid.<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 10pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%">Yet it is the psalmist who brings
light and hope to this picture.<span> </span>Possibly
this was the psalm that gave Jesus strength in those days walking to
Jerusalem.<span> </span>The psalmist acknowledges
there will be many days when we have fears and worries, days when things seem
very dark, yet our refuge is in the Lord.<span>
</span>God is our shield, our breastplate, our buckler.<span> </span>God is our light and our salvation, our hope
but only if we seek to develop a relationship with God through prayer, worship,
and quiet times.<span> </span>These moments with God will
enable a deepening relationship where we experience God’s grace and God’s light
in the moments that feel like St. John Chrysostom’s “dark night of the soul”
times - those days when we are confronted by our enemies and demons, sickness,
anxiety, the death of a loved one or friend, or job loss or someone who wishes
us ill.<span> </span>We will probably not able to
defeat the enemy yet if we wait upon the Lord, we will be able to face the
demons, the worries, and anxieties with courage, strength, and grace given to
us by God, the God who holds us, who stands with us, and who goes before us.<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 10pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%">With the Second Sunday of Lent falling
on St. Patrick’s Day, it seems especially appropriate to end this brief
reflection with something that has given many people strength and hope on many difficult
days:<span> </span>a portion of St. Patrick’s
Breastplate.<span></span></span></p>
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<div class="gmail-copy-paste-block"><span style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif"><font size="2">I arise today</font></span></div><div class="gmail-copy-paste-block"><span style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif"><font size="2">Through God's strength to pilot me;<br>
God's might to uphold me,<br>
God's wisdom to guide me,<br>
God's eye to look before me,<br>
God's ear to hear me,<br>
God's word to speak for me,<br>
God's hand to guard me,<br>
God's way to lie before me,<br>
God's shield to protect me,<br>
God's hosts to save me<br></font></span></div><div class="gmail-copy-paste-block"><span style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif"><font size="2"><br></font></span></div><div class="gmail-copy-paste-block"><span style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif"><font size="2">
</font></span><div class="gmail-copy-paste-block"><span style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif"><font size="2">Christ shield me today <br></font></span></div><div class="gmail-copy-paste-block"><span style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif"><font size="2">Against wounding<br>
Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,<br>
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,<br>
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,<br>
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down,<br>
Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,<br>
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,<br>
Christ in the eye that sees me,<br>
Christ in the ear that hears me.<span><br></span></font></span></div><div class="gmail-copy-paste-block"><span style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif"><font size="2"><span><br></span></font></span></div><div class="gmail-copy-paste-block"><span style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif"><font size="2"><span>
<span class="gmail-bigcap">I </span>arise today through a mighty strength,<br>
the invocation of the Trinity,
through belief in the Threeness,<br>
through confession of the Oneness of the Creator of creation. <br></span></font></span></div><div class="gmail-copy-paste-block"><span style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif"><font size="2"><span><br></span></font></span></div><div class="gmail-copy-paste-block"><span style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif"><font size="2"><span><br></span></font></span></div><div class="gmail-copy-paste-block"><span style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif"><font size="2"><span>Allison Cline-Dean <span style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif"><font size="2"><span></span></font></span>
</span></font></span></div><div class="gmail-copy-paste-block"><span style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif"><font size="2"><span>Lead Chaplain,</span></font></span></div><div class="gmail-copy-paste-block"><span style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif"><font size="2"><span>East Suffolk & North Essex NHS Foundation Trust,</span></font></span></div><div class="gmail-copy-paste-block"><span style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif"><font size="2"><span>Based at Colchester Hospital, Colchester, Essex, UK</span></font></span></div><div class="gmail-copy-paste-block"><span style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif"><font size="2"><span><br></span></font></span></div><div class="gmail-copy-paste-block"><span style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif"><font size="2"><span>
<span style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif"><font size="2"><span><span style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif"><font size="2"><span>(A Canadian transplanted from Sudbury, ON, Canada six years ago)</span></font></span></span></font></span></span></font></span></div><div class="gmail-copy-paste-block"><span style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif"><font size="2"><span><span style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif"><font size="2"><span><span style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif"><font size="2"><span>@ESNEFT Chaplaincy sheds light in a different way!<br></span></font></span></span></font></span>
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