[Propertalk] Lent 2C Reflection

[Allison Dean]

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).

I don’t know about you but I have nights where I can’t sleep because I’m
worried.  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.  I pray alot when this happens, hoping that
I will eventually drift off to sleep which does happen around 5:00 a.m.  Then
the alarm goes off shortly afterwards to start a new day, still tired and
still worried.  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.

In our first reading we encounter Abram as an elderly gentleman.  Most of
us think of Abram as one of the patriarchs of the faith, reassuring and
strong.  Yet in this reading, we see a worried Abram as Sarai has not borne
him a son and heir.  Abram is feeling rather insecure about how his lineage
will continue without a son from Sarai.  He continues to question God, to
ask for answers as to when a son will be born to carry on Abram’s name.  Abram
is not easily reassured by God’s various responses.  Yet there is something
in the stars in the skies from which he draws comfort.

Our Gospel reading continues the theme of worry and fear.  Jesus is
continuing his journey to Jerusalem when he is warned by some Pharisees
that Herod is seeking him.  It would appear that not all Pharisees were
against Jesus.  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.  So after Jesus tells them
what to tell Herod, he speaks of his fears and anxieties for Jerusalem.  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.  This is God through Jesus experiencing the worries,
fears, and anxieties of Abram back in Genesis.  And why wouldn’t Jesus be
worried?  He knows that the coming days are not going to be easy for him or
for those who follow him.  He knows he will be tested – will he be strong
enough not to be tempted to give in?  He knows that there will be those who
will abandon him – will he be able to face the questioning and the
persecution alone?  Jesus is probably feeling very alone and possibly very
afraid.

Yet it is the psalmist who brings light and hope to this picture.  Possibly
this was the psalm that gave Jesus strength in those days walking to
Jerusalem.  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.  God is our shield, our breastplate, our buckler.  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.  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.  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.

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:  a portion of
St. Patrick’s Breastplate.
I arise today
Through God's strength to pilot me;
God's might to uphold me,
God's wisdom to guide me,
God's eye to look before me,
God's ear to hear me,
God's word to speak for me,
God's hand to guard me,
God's way to lie before me,
God's shield to protect me,
God's hosts to save me

Christ shield me today
Against wounding
Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down,
Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in the eye that sees me,
Christ in the ear that hears me.

I arise today through a mighty strength,
the invocation of the Trinity, through belief in the Threeness,
through confession of the Oneness of the Creator of creation.


Allison Cline-Dean
Lead Chaplain,
East Suffolk & North Essex NHS Foundation Trust,
Based at Colchester Hospital, Colchester, Essex, UK

(A Canadian transplanted from Sudbury, ON, Canada six years ago)
@ESNEFT Chaplaincy sheds light in a different way!
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