I celebrated the Eucharist at St John's this morning with nine others. The church was open when I arrived, but nobody had a safe key, by Fr Benedict rang the caretaker, and we were able to open the safe at the last minute. Mthr Emma came as well. I appreciated being able to minister to the Parish clergy for a change.
The Gospel of the day struck a chord with me, Jesus healing a leper whose appeal to him begins; "If you want, you can heal me and make me clean" (Matt 8.2). Jesus says "Of course ..." It's like the man is trying to make Jesus feel guilty, rather than saying outright "Have mercy on me, and heal me" Jesus doesn't try to teaching him a lesson, or play his game, he just heals him, and sends him off to register his healing with the local priest and make a thank offering, and say nothing about how he has been healed. The man can't resist being indiscreet and tells everyone he meets about who healed him.
Yes, he's got a great story to tell after goodness knows how long living in social isolation, but he ignores the only thing Jesus asked of him in return. There's no comeback, no sanction for disobeying Jesus. He's already on his way, someone else is begging him to heal them. The story begs the question why Jesus seeks to avoid publicising his ministry. It's what biblical scholars call 'The messianic secret'.
It struck me, perhaps for the first time, that Jesus doesn't look for approval or support. He asks those he helps to be discreet about his ministry. He gives to each person individually. Contrary to popular ideas about what a Messiah should be or do, His aim isn't to start a new religious or political movement, but to offer a no strings attached experience of God's unconditional free grace to anyone open to receive it, no matter what their status, motive or attitude. He's not out to change anyone he helps. They must find in themselves the need to change in response to grace they have freely received. This was hard to grasp in His own time, and it still is nowadays.
Yesterday Clare started talking about making face masks, as both of us find the designs of those we find in the shops are never quite satisfactory in use. She found a sewing pattern to work with on the internet and then produced a trial version which fitted me better than her. I have a larger head and a long jaw. A mask that I wear correctly always feels as if it will slip off when I talk, as I have a big jaw and long chin. It's good to have a mask that gives me more confidence to wear when I'm ministering to others.
I had a walk around Pontcanna Fields after lunch, and was surprised to find, later in the day, that I walked further in total today than at any time since the first week I was in Ibiza, without feeling tired. It's good that my energy levels are still improving - well, maybe not every day. I'm just glad that improvement is still possible at all.
By chance this evening I discovered Series Two of the New York City hospital drama 'New Amsterdam' started last Thursday on the More Four Channel. I was much taken with series one, both the story-lines and the characters, and the first couple of episodes of series two which I watched this evening didn't disappoint.
It was amazing tonight to see a hospital's medical director portrayed as making a effort to learn what was possible to do to improve the general health and well-being of staff complaining that they never had enough time for themselves and their families and always felt tired. He figures out that most of them are taking four hours a day to commute to work, on public transport if not driving across a congested city, exhausting in its own right. He proposes that staff pool their commuting expenditure and hire a coach that will pick them up from home to take them to the hospital, saving a couple of hours a day to be that much longer at home, and give them quiet time on the bus, enabling them to plan their day, and get extra rest. It just works.
So often in life complex problems can be addressed in a simple creative way, once a right understanding of surrounding issues has been reached. John Bell's 'Thought for the Day' on Tuesday spoke of Jesus, not as one who handed out edicts from on high, but as one who sat down and discussed essential matters with people at grass roots level. It's something the church needs to pay more attention to in its 'strategic' planning, rather than do surveys and bring in experts to forge policies everyone can follow,
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