From Fr Stephen Delbridge
Canon Christopher alerted us last Sunday to these weeks that we will spend in James’ Letter. Last Sunday we had the line: ‘be doers of the word and not hearers only’. Today we have the follow-up verse: ‘faith without works is dead’ (!). We can match this verse with the actions of Jesus in today’s gospel when he heals the daughter of the Syrophoenician woman. Jesus is known by his actions, yes also by his words, but elsewhere in the gospel Jesus says to the disciples of John the Baptist: what do you see? The blind see, the lame walk, and the poor have the good news preached to them. Yes, actions and words!
As a hospital chaplain these past twenty years and more, it is this combination of words and actions that have undergirded what I do. I turn up for the patient, I listen to their story, I offer comfort and presence, and prayer as required. The patient may or may not be connected to a faith tradition, however the need for the care of their spirit is paramount to me. This ministry is ‘making the word of God fully known’ as the Archbishop formulates our vision, and yet the ability to maintain this ministry has collapsed in the face of financial pressures. This opportunity to be, as a person of spiritual alertness and connection, at the bedside of the person in their moment of need is lost.
May we continue to be alert to this tension in our own lives, that we be doers of the word as well as hearers, and that we not limit in our own minds what that doing might require as we are open to the winds of the Spirit blowing in our own lives. And gently we pray, unlike the winds that have blustered and blown our city over this last week!
Grace and peace to you all,
Stephen