Holy Saturday 2020
Dear
Friends,
Tomorrow
we will celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus.
Don’t
forget. Don’t be distracted.
I’m
sorry we shall not be taking communion together.
Bishop
Stephen has described the Anglican theology of communion: that the
prayer must be made by priest and people together. You will find his
message, and much other good stuff, on the diocesan web site
‘CalledSouth’.
Another
aspect of our beliefs is that the material things of communion are
unimportant. A person who cannot eat or drink but who is spiritually
present with their brothers and sisters receives just as well as one
who eats the bread and drinks the wine. Therefore, Steve exhorts us
to partake of one of the many on-line services and to make the prayer
below when we would otherwise receive bread and wine:
My
Jesus,
I
believe that You are present in the Most Holy Sacrament.
I
love You above all things,
and
I desire to receive You into my soul.
Since
I cannot at this moment receive You sacramentally,
come
at least spiritually into my heart.
I
embrace You as if You were already there
and
unite myself wholly to You.
Never
permit me to be separated from You. Amen.
At
9.30am tomorrow we in our bubble will follow the service on page 730
of the NZ Prayer Book, (which you can find on the Prayer Book
website). You could follow in your bubble and pray as above when we
get to that part.
Blessing
to you all. Alleluia . Christ has risen.
Jeremy
Easter
Message.
I’ll
try not to pontificate.
I
urge you to look at this article on the BBC.
I
of course identify with Lucy. Of course? Look at Molly. This is heart
breaking stuff and should remind us why we are isolating.
I
had never heard of Lucy, but she is, and is proud to be, the 9th most
influential person in Britain.
Her
achievements, both at a personal level and as someone seeking to
change society are outstanding.
Yet
she recognises that, when push comes to shove, and she contracts
Covis-19, she will not be on the list for getting a ventilator or
resuscitation. Nothing personal, but with need outstripping supply,
resources will not be given to someone so likely to die. Even given
the miracle of her surviving so long.
I’m
impressed with Lucy’s arguments about her service to humanity,
moving on to her inner strength and a life that is one battle after
another. Her fear that she will end up in the care of someone who
doesn’t know she’s the 9th most influential person in Britain,
just judges on appearances and thinks she is not worth the effort. We
see also in her tale that the NHS has fought well for her so far.
What
I missed in her story was that if care is given to the worthy first,
then there will be people behind her, as well as in front.
Perhaps
appropriately in a news story, we only hear of social values. We know
that Lucy is made in the image of God and He recognises her true
worth. When she comes to God, and I hopes she serves her people here
on earth for years to come, but we all come to judgement eventually.
When Lucy comes to God, He will know her true worth, as a loving
person who has used her life to help others and she will receive a
first equal share of heaven.
Amen.
So
be it.
Happy
Easter.
Christ
has Risen.
No comments:
Post a Comment