|
PRIEST's LETTER
“Hello love”
When I was a curate, 30 years ago, I used to take Holy Communion
to an old lady who lived down the road.
One day she fell in the kitchen and lay there for three
days. The only thing that kept her alive was the cooker being
on. After three days a neighbour
came in and the lady was taken to hospital and recovered. I
went round to see her. "I met Jesus" she told me, "He said,
'I'm sorry love, it's not time yet, you'll have to go back."
About a year later, it was time. I went to visit her in
hospital. She was the calmest person I'd ever met approaching
death, because she had already been there and knew that there
would be warmth, welcome, love and light. And Jesus welcoming
her saying, "Hello love." The
good news of Easter, that we are approaching in these days
through Lent, is that life here as well as hereafter is truly
about that warmth, welcome, love and light. This is the
resurrection joy to lay alongside the griefs and sorrows of
life, not to take them away, but to give them space. As spring
unfolds and the days lengthen (the Old English word for Lent has
the same root as lengthen) the cycle of the seasons seems to
promise the same message of life. So, as this season unfolds
whatever path you may be on and whatever ups and downs it may
hold, may you silently hear Jesus calling you love, and
accompanying you every step of the way.
God bless
Love Peter
Canon Peter Greenwood
|