Following on from Breaking and Mending 2, we need to accept, of course, that a time may come when, as Rev Patrick McCluskey, (an inspiration for the healing ministry of Jesus), said, ‘the prayers have to change’. There may come a time in a person’s illness when all medical options have been exhausted, and there is nothing more that can be done. This situation is not easy to bear, either for the patient or their loved ones. The words, ‘we are sorry, but there is no more we can do’, strike fear in the heart, as all hope dissolves, and dreams are shattered.
Jesus knew, that whilst he offers ‘life in all it’s fullness’, our earthly lives are finite and will come to an end, irrespective of how much medication and treatment is administered, and however many prayers are offered. Which is why the healing ministry of Jesus, in that circumstance, continues to be valuable and effective, and why Jesus gives words of comfort and hope throughout the Gospels that we can draw on in what seems a hopeless situation.
Jesus said,’ Do not let your hearts be troubled, nor let them be afraid. I go to prepare a place for you’. He also said, ‘Come unto me all you who are heavy laden, and I will give you rest’. Words of hope and comfort abound throughout the Bible, and lie deep and richly within prayers of healing. In a world of brokenness, they offer words of hope, comfort and strength that mend and save, and enable you to walk through the valley of the shadow of death, knowing that you do not walk that path alone.
I invite you to listen to Elizabeth Storey singing, so beautifully, ‘And Jesus said, ‘Don’t be afraid’. You will find it on this website, featured in a videoed service for Sunday 9th August. The words of the first verse are :
And Jesus said: don’t be afraid
I’ve come to turn your fear to hope,
I’ve come to take you through the deep,
to be your friend
until the end,
and give your troubled heart to sleep.
Joanna Cannon remembers in her book, ‘Breaking and Mending’, of sitting with the parents of Gill, as they watch their daughter, a young woman, die of cancer. She waited with them until the end. She writes, ‘ We stood there, the three of us, only for a couple of minutes, but it felt a forever time. I knew, even without the checks and the watching, because the air was different. The room had changed. ‘I’m so sorry, Gill has died,’ I said. I felt the tears overwhelm me. ‘I am so sorry’.( Later she was able to say) Being with Gill’s parents was a job I had done well. If I helped to make the most traumatic experience of their lives even the slightest more bearable, it meant I was leaning to be a good doctor, after all.
Jesus said, ‘I will be with you always even to the end of the age’