<div style="color:black;font: 14pt Times New Roman, Times, serif;">Forwarded: <br>
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<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica;font-size:10pt;color:black">-----Original Message-----<br>
From: Allison Dean <aaclinedean@gmail.com><br>
To: prcl-l <prcl-l@googlegroups.com>; propertalk.topic <propertalk.topic@ecunet.org><br>
Sent: Sat, Aug 3, 2019 6:11 am<br>
Subject: [propertalk.topic] Reflection for Pentecost 8 (Trinity 7)<br>
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<div class="yiv7426405443gmail-MsoBodyText" style="text-indent:0.25pt;font-size:13.5pt;font-family:New;"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(22,22,22);" lang="EN-US">Greetings everyone. A reflection re-worked from a lengthier one given in 2004 - possibly it will give hope to those who will be listening on hospital radio tomorrow morning. Comments and suggestions for improvement, as always, gratefully received.</span></div>
<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);"><font size="2">Allison Cline-Dean,<br>
Lead Chaplain, East Suffolk & North Essex NHS Foundation Trust<br>
Based at Colchester Hospital, Colchester, Essex, UK</font></span>
<div class="yiv7426405443gmail-MsoBodyText" style="text-indent:0.25pt;font-size:13.5pt;font-family:New;"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(22,22,22);" lang="EN-US"></span></div>
<div class="yiv7426405443gmail-MsoBodyText" style="text-indent:0.25pt;font-size:13.5pt;font-family:New;"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(22,22,22);" lang="EN-US">Working
as a long-term care chaplain back in Canada gave me the privilege to meet all
kinds of people, young and old, rich and poor, alert and cognitively impaired</span><span style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(52,52,52);" lang="EN-US">. <span> </span></span><span style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(22,22,22);" lang="EN-US">What they all had in common is that they could no
longer live on their own.<span></span></span></div>
<div class="yiv7426405443gmail-MsoBodyText" style="text-indent:0.5pt;font-size:13.5pt;font-family:New;"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(22,22,22);" lang="EN-US"><span></span>For some
reason or other they needed to be in a long-term care facility. <span> </span>I had residents aged 21 to some over 100 years
old. Some were angry at being put in a long-term care facility, others accepted
it with grace.<span> </span>All were looking for someone
who cared about who they were, what they did, what was happening to them, and
who would listen to their stories as they came to grips with life-changing
events. They explored doubts and fears, shared joys and sorrows,
but most of all, they just wanted a hand to hold through it all (literally and
figuratively) and a listening ear. Our readings today speak of a God who is there
with us, if we are willing to open our hearts and minds to God's love and
healing graces</span><span style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(52,52,52);" lang="EN-US">.</span><span style="font-size:12pt;" lang="EN-US"><span></span></span></div>
<div class="yiv7426405443gmail-MsoBodyText" style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:New;"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(22,22,22);" lang="EN-US"><span> </span>Paul and
Jesus emphasise that God is a generous God, a forgiving God, one who wants to
be at the centre of our hearts and minds. <span> </span></span><span style="font-size:12pt;" lang="EN-US">The reading from Colossians and Jesus in Luke's Gospel, say the same thing:
<span> </span>Leave behind the old life and focus on
God.<span> </span>Paul, of all people, knew that
wasn't an easy thing to do. <span> </span>He gave up a
rather comfortable life to become an apostle.<span>
</span>He knew all the things he had done wrong and he knew that God had
changed him and given him a new start in life. <span> </span>It wasn't easy for Paul to give up his home, his
place in the synagogue, his wealth, his pride in his learnings. <span> </span>Instead Paul put up with roughing it on the
road and in prison, accepted floggings, and calloused his hands as a tentmaker so
he wouldn't be a burden to the community as he taught those who wanted to learn
about Jesus.<span> </span>All this so he could
proclaim the Gospel.<span> </span>Paul knew what it
was like to be redeemed, renewed, and re-created and this is what he urges us
to do. <span> </span><span></span></span></div>
<div class="yiv7426405443gmail-MsoBodyText" style="text-indent:0.15pt;font-size:13.5pt;font-family:New;"><span style="font-size:12pt;" lang="EN-US"><span> </span>Sounds like a hard
thing to do. <span> </span>So let me tell you a story
about a gentleman I'll call Fred. He was an angry gentleman.<span> </span>He had been living on his own in an apartment
but his doctor said he couldn't remain on his own owing to several health
factors. <span> </span>There weren't any beds
available in the long-term care facilities in his area so he applied for a bed
in Sudbury, ON. <span> </span>He had family here but
he wasn't close to them - he had been a loner for many years.<span></span></span></div>
<div class="yiv7426405443gmail-MsoBodyText" style="text-indent:0.35pt;font-size:13.5pt;font-family:New;"><span style="font-size:12pt;" lang="EN-US"><span> </span>When I first went to
his room to meet him and to introduce myself, we shot the breeze but he made it
very clear that he didn't want to talk religion. <span> </span>So we didn't but I kept saying hello to him
each time I saw him in the hallway with his walker or in his wheelchair. <span> </span>One day he stopped by my office which was just
down the hall from his room and asked to speak with me privately, so I closed
the door and we talked. He spoke about how he had been separated from his
family many years ago, how alienated he felt, how hard it was to be a loner and
how angry he was at being in the situation he was in.<span> </span>It was a long discussion touching on many
things:<span> </span>alcohol, the many jobs he had
held due to lack of education, the difficult up-bringing he had had and the
beatings received, leaving home at the age of 14 and so on. <span> </span>Then the kicker: <span> </span>I've been a backslider for over 40 years. <span> </span>Do you think God will take me back even though
all I've done in 40 years is curse God?"<span>
</span>I said to him:<span> </span>"Yes - God
loves you. <span> </span>All you have to do is say you
are sorry and open your heart to God's love." <span> </span>As I said that, he broke down in tears for close
to five minutes. <span> </span>He couldn't believe that
God still loved him. <span> </span>Fred couldn't
believe that I wouldn't judge him as others had based on what he had just told
me. <span> </span>"I know better than to curse
God - I was brought up to say my prayers but I turned my back on God. <span> </span>Don't you hate me?" <span> </span>I told him "No, I don't hate you." <span> </span>He found it hard to believe that someone like
me would spend time with someone like him – a poor, uneducated person who could
curse a blue streak and was angry with everyone.<span></span></span></div>
<div class="yiv7426405443gmail-MsoBodyText" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:13.5pt;font-family:New;"><span style="font-size:12pt;" lang="EN-US"><span> </span>Over the next couple
of years, Fred and I had many talks.<span> </span>He
started coming to a devotional group which consisted of mostly women and while
he didn't like a lot of people, he came to love and respect the women in this
group just as they cared very much for him. <span> </span>Being a proud man, he had difficulty accepting
help and gave the nurses a very rough time, often swearing at them and being
rude. <span> </span>I would receive a call from the
staff, go to his room to have a chat, hear what was bugging him, what the fear
was, and then I would leave. <span> </span>Turns out that
each time he and I had a talk, he would think about what he had done, and apologise
very sincerely to the person he had offended. <span> </span>He never did get over his dislike of people who
drooled, were mentally challenged, or were living with dementia - he had a fear
of becoming like one of them. <span> </span>But he did
start meeting with his family members and they started visiting him on a regular
basis.<span></span></span></div>
<div class="yiv7426405443MsoNormal" style="text-indent:0.3pt;font-size:11pt;"><span style="font-size:12pt;"><span><br>
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<div class="yiv7426405443MsoNormal" style="text-indent:0.3pt;font-size:11pt;"><span style="font-size:12pt;"><span></span>As Fred's health continued to deteriorate, he was unable
to attend the Wednesday afternoon devotional group however he always
appreciated hearing what was happening and the ladies of the group visited him
in his room. <span> </span>Once I asked him why he
treated me and the ladies of the group with respect and never swore when he was
around us. His response was that we treated him with respect, spoke to him differently
from the other staff and residents around him, and listened to him as he tried to
make God the centre of his life. <span> </span>It
wasn't an easy journey for him. <span> </span>He still
swore but many times towards the end of his life as I walked to the door of his
room and he didn't know I was there, I would hear him praying to God saying he
was sorry for whatever it was he had just done, praying for others and then
asking for relief from the severe pain he was in. <span> </span>Fred told people about how his life had
changed once he let God back in. <span> </span>Fred
knew that God was walking with him and was surrounded by God's love even as
Fred’s physical health became worse. <span> </span>He died
in March 2004 on the day he knew I would be arriving back in Canada from after my
wedding in the UK.<span></span></span></div>
<div class="yiv7426405443MsoNormal" style="font-size:11pt;"><span style="font-size:12pt;"><span> </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size:12pt;" lang="EN-US">Fred had let anger,
malice, envy, falsehood, pride and other temptations rule his life for many
years.<span> </span>Yet in later life Fred did as Paul
has instructed us:<span> </span>open our hearts and
minds to Jesus and let God slowly work changes within us. <span> </span>We don't need to pile up material things in
this world to make us happy. <span> </span>True
happiness comes from loving God with our heart, soul, mind, and strength and
trying to find ways to be the eyes, hands, mouth and feet of Christ here on earth.<span></span></span>
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<div class="yiv7426405443MsoNormal" style="font-size:11pt;"><span style="font-size:12pt;">Fred and the ladies of the devotional group represented
what we are called by God to do here on earth:<span>
</span>walk with others, sit and listen, pray with them, and love them just as
God loves us.<span> </span>Each of us is called to
proclaim the Gospel not just in words but in actions.<span> </span>Jesus proclaimed the Gospel in two ways: <span> </span>firstly by healing the physical ailment (e.g.
lameness, blindness, paralysis, etc.), then by speaking to the heart and soul. <span> </span>He fed the physical hunger with loaves and
fishes then fed the spiritual hunger with soul food.<span> </span><span></span></span></div>
<div class="yiv7426405443MsoNormal" style="font-size:11pt;"><span style="font-size:12pt;"><span> </span></span></div>
<div class="yiv7426405443MsoNormal" style="font-size:11pt;"><span style="font-size:12pt;">Our challenge is to take another look at our
relationship with God. <span> </span>Are we willing to
be transformed and to reset our priorities.<span>
</span>Each of us is invited to have a relationship with God, to say we are
sorry for what we have done wrong and for those things which we ought to have
done but didn't do.<span> </span>We are invited to
let Jesus into our hearts and lives so that we can be changed, renewed, and
re-created each and every day as we walk with God. <span> </span>Then we are asked to share God's love and
presence with others as we look for ways to be the voices for the voiceless,
provide food for the hungry and find ways of bringing healing to the sick. <span> </span>It may seem difficult and foolish to place God
at the centre of our lives but it gives us a different way of looking at people
and the way we are with them.<span></span></span></div>
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<div class="yiv7426405443MsoNormal" style="font-size:11pt;"><span style="font-size:12pt;"><span> </span></span></div>
<div class="yiv7426405443MsoNormal" style="font-size:11pt;"><span style="font-size:12pt;">Thanks be to God.<span></span></span></div>
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