A Christmas Hospital Prayer

Loving God, 

In this season we wonder again

at the story that speaks of God, 

the One who is beyond anything and everything that we can imagine,

beyond our understanding,

beyond anything we are capable of, 

choosing to be limited to the vulnerable human body

of a helpless little baby;

Entirely dependent on the care of others

and at the mercy of their willingness to respond.

And in this season 

our hearts are warmed

by a story that tells of

the readiness of human hearts to answer in love;

To give their care,

and to find a way, 

even with circumstances stacked against them.

In this season, 

In this story,

We find hope,

And wonder,

And joy.

 

Here at this hospital, we are well-familiar 

with the wonders, needs, frailties and limits of our human bodies.  

We are familiar too, with hearts that want to care,

that keep trying to find a way, 

even when resources and reserves are pushed.

 

Oh God who understands, 

Be with us here we pray.

At the beginning of lives, and at their end;

When we are strong, and when we are weak;

When our needs make us dependent on the care of others,

And as we do our best to respond. 

In this season, 

and in our hearts,

May you bring forth hope, 

And wonder,

And joy. 

 

Amen.

Photo by Isaac Quesada on Unsplash

On the Ward

I met God today.

In a whispery voice

From a failing body 

He spoke.

I couldn’t understand him.

With a twinkling eye

He smiled at me even so,

And in the only words that I DID understand 

He thanked me for showing up 

And making him laugh with my efforts.

Intimate Strangers

A ward full of bleeps,

Your weary, half-formed mumbles,

A different faith;

It was hard work to hear your soul.

AlI I heard were snatches, really -

The best we could manage.

But in that wasteland place

Even snatches count for something.

And your snatches touched my soul.

Thank you.

Rest in peace.

Struggle/Dance/Blessing

For reference: Jacob Wrestles at Peniel Genesis 32:22-31

Libertango by Astor Piazzola, performed by Russian Philharmonic Orchestra, accompanied by dancers Inna Svechnikova, Dmitry Chernysh: https://youtu.be/kdhTodxH7Gw 

 ***

When the securities we hide in leave us, and we wait, exposed, in the terrible intimacy of 'alone';

When we find ourselves wrestling with night-time phantoms that seem to come from nowhere;

In all the clumsy rough-and-tumble of our encounters with others;

And when our tenacity in the struggle is costly, and leaves us with a limp;

Let us hold on.

Let us hear the rising swell of your rhythms of grace

in the dance that IS the struggle

Let us hold on 'til the daybreak

That when the light comes and the struggle is done 

Even limping, we may continue on

with new revelations of ourselves,

new revelations of God,

and new revelations of how we are blessed

Into the next chapter,

Into the next dance,

Into the next struggle, 

Into the next blessing.

Bubble

In all that I have witnessed as a hospital chaplain during the Coronavirus pandemic, somehow it is the image of this one man’s grief that sticks most poignantly in my mind. I offer it in tribute to all who have died over this last year or so, and all who grieve. 

**

She was fine

It was you “at risk”. 

But somehow here you are

And she is gone.

And trapped inside a plastic hood

Your anguish drips, unwiped, from your nose

Out of the reach of even your very own hands.

In Memoriam

We give you thanks

For life.

Yes - 

We give you thanks

for this unlikely,

miraculous,

fragile,

persistent,

re-generating,

finite,

wondrous, holy mix

of cells and breath and soul.

Yes,

For life

We give you thanks.

And we remember: [Read names]

We give you thanks

For these lives.

Yes - 

for these lives:

unique,

and common,

and individual,

and connected,

and ordinary

and rich,

and beautiful,

and flawed,

and graced,

and hard,

and blessed,

and holy,

and lived. 

Yes,

For these lives

We give you thanks. 

And we remember: [Read names]

We give you thanks

For these lives' legacies.

Yes - 

For these lives' legacies:

for tender moments shared,

and lifelong habits modelled;

for memories that raise a smile,

and conflicts that helped us grow;

for kindnesses that were offered,

and those that were received;

for the service that stands recognised,

and that which went unseen;

for Kingdom-values lived,

and for all the sins forgiven;

for scattered, holy seeds 

of faith and hope and love.

Yes,

For the legacy of these lives

We give you thanks.

And we remember: [Read names]

We give you thanks 

For love.

Yes -

We give you thanks

for the love that now seems ended,

and for the love that carries on;

for love that faltered and falters,

that tries and fails,

and fails and tries;

and for the love which is

patient and kind,

and self-effacing and generous,

and truthful and ever-hopeful,

and holy,

and eternal.

Yes,

For their love,

For our love,

For your love,

We give you thanks.

And we remember: [Read names]

And we give you thanks

that all these are held in your hands -

life, and these lives, and their legacies -

held in love,

held by you:

Alpha and Omega, beginning and end,

Our source and our completion,

The author and perfecter of our faith,

God who lived, and died, and rose again,

The Holy One. 

Yes,

We give you thanks

that we are all, 

all we are,

held in your hands,

held in love.

And we remember: [Read names]

Amen

Acknowledging Human Violence: A Good Friday Confession

On this day 

We are reminded

Of the violence that emerges

Even in the very closest of relationships -

Of brutal kisses.

On this day

We are reminded

Of the violence instigated, ordered, permitted,

By those given responsibility,

Abusing the power and authority 

Which they have been granted.

On this day

We are reminded 

Of the violence inherent

In standing by and saying nothing.

On this day

We see these violences

All around us

And within us. 

And we pray,

Lord, have mercy.