<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:small">Greetings!</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:small">Was informed this morning that all the radio broadcasting equipment has been removed from ourr chapel in anticipation of a move to new chapel premises in the next few weeks. However it has meant that I have had to pull together a Morning Prayer service for Sunday including hymns, reflection, and intercessions to be recorded at 7:am tomorrow morning for broadcast on Sunday morning. So here is something I have hurriedly and prayerfully put together for a reflection and hope it works. Comments/suggestions for improvement would be welcomed!</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:small"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:small">Allison</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:small"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:small">Allison Cline-Dean,</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:small">Lead Chaplain, East Suffolk & North Essex NHS Foundation Trust</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:small">Based at Colchester Hospital, Colchester, Essex (covering six other sites)<br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:small"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:small">
<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%">It’s been a difficult week.<span> </span>Easter Sunday we heard of the bombing in Sri
Lanka, the peace, joy, and hope of the resurrected Christ being celebrated in
Sri Lankan churches destroyed in a matter of seconds by suicide bombers.<span> </span>And we wonder where is the peace of Christ,
the <i>ruach, <span> </span></i>the Spirit of God, touching the lives of
so many people both in Sri Lanka and elsewhere in the world.<span> </span>As I pondered the news this week and the
readings for today, I was drawn to Jesus’ “Peace be with you” which he said
several times to the disciples and those in the Upper Room that first Easter
Sunday.<span> </span>Is this the <i>ruach </i>what he was breathing into the disciples and trying give to
Thomas that first Easter day?<span> </span>Is this “<i>ruach</i>”, “peace” what our newly risen
Christ is trying breath into our hearts, minds, and spirits in a world filled
with fear and uncertainty? <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%">As humans we have struggled since that
time to make our way in the world, to develop relationships, to find God and
peace, to understand what faith is and to develop a relationship with Christ
which is deep and personal; a relationship which will sustain us in difficult
as well as good times.<span> </span>Working as a
chaplain I have experienced the heartbreak of parents having to remove life
support from a baby and the questioning that goes into the decision to do this.<span> </span>I have also sat at a bedside where the person
is terrified of death.<span> </span>Sometimes it is
because the theology they have been raised with is one of judgment and punishment;
other times it is because they feel they have not said or done enough prayers,
rosaries, novenas, what have you; at other times it is because they have no
faith or do not believe that there is anything after death.<span> </span>The person literally clutches my hand in a
desperate attempt to avoid death even as they draw their last breath.<span> </span>I have also sat at the bedside of a dying
resident holding their hand, praying with them that these final moments in
their life journey will be ones of grace, peace, joy, hope, that they are at
peace both within themselves and in their faith as we have talked prior to
their death about the God that is a part of their core being.<span> </span>These end-of-life scenes speak to me about
relationships with God, faith in Christ and about God's Spirit dwelling within
us from birth to death, from beginning to ending.<span> </span>They speak to me about God’s calling to us
and our relationship with Christ just as Christ called to Mary Magadelene in
the Garden, as he spoke to the disciples in the upper room that long ago Easter
Day, and as he spoke<span> </span>to Thomas.<span> </span>In all of this both the disciples, the women
who provided for Christ and we ourselves are invited to experience the
indwelling of Christ’s spirit in our hearts, our lives, and our minds.<span> </span><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%">The readings today are point us
towards God, the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end; towards Christ
the new Adam who rolls away the stone from the tomb, giving a new beginning as
he stands in the garden speaking with Mary.<span>
</span>Our psalm today is one of praise and appropriately placed as the ending
of the Book of Psalms.<span> </span>Psalms 1 and 150
are, in the words of one of my seminary professors, the book-ends of the Book
of Psalms.<span> </span>The first psalm speaks of
spending time meditating on the Law of the Lord and how those who do so, will
be refreshed.<span> </span>The ending, Psalm 150,
tells us how to rejoice with God in spite of everything that has happened throughout
the book.<span> </span>In the last verse the phrase, “let
everything that has breath praise the Lord”we see again the word <i>ruach,</i> Spirit of God, taking us back to the
room where the disciples were hiding when Jesus appeared.<span> </span><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%">The Alpha and the Omega comes to us in
the Spirit of God being blown within us; within our hearts, within our minds, within
our spirits, within our lives.<span> </span>Imagine
the hub-bub in the room when Jesus entered saying “Peace be with you” and then
saying it again, breathing upon all those present and all present feeling that
peace and the Holy Spirit.<span> </span>Imagine how
Thomas felt when Christ stood there and said “Peace be with you”.<span> </span>Imagine how you feel as you experience Christ
breathing God's spirit, God’s peace, on you!<span>
</span><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%">We can all think of times when we have
been afraid, have locked our hearts and minds because we have been hurt badly,
our trust, and possibly, our love betrayed.<span>
</span>Christ, our Alpha and Omega, is able to break through the locks and
fears, as he did in that room with the disciples, stand in front of us,
breathing his Spirit and peace into our hearts and minds, and invites us to
touch him.<span> </span>Christ, the Lord of love, rolls
away the stone and gives us the opportunity to be resurrected from our old life
of fear and to live a new life where we can love and trust again and move
forward into the future.<span> </span>Jesus invites
us to begin a new relationship with him; to be transformed by God’s spirit and
peace blowing within our souls, our minds, and our spirits and to respond with
awe, joy, contemplation and new life.<span> </span>Just
as Thomas was transformed so we too will be transformed. <span> </span>In that new beginning, we will live a new life
in Christ as we are transfigured and transformed by God so that others see our
heart-print of forgiveness'<span> </span>when we go
out into the world to serve the Lord and others with Christ’s strength, grace,
and peace.<span> </span><span></span></span></p>
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