Pentecost 18 year C Sermon 07‘I was sick and you looked after me’
I want you to imagine… you are very very old… you’re too weak… and to weary to move…
but your eyes and ears… are still sharp.
Your head is clear. There’s a sheep skin
covering the mattress underneath you on your hospital bed…keeping you comfortable and warm.
Out the window you can see and hear the promise of spring …the buds and the birds…
And right next to your bed…you can hear the reassuring beep beeping of your heart monitor…
‘I’m still alive’… you chuckle to yourself.
All in all you’re glad to have a quiet room to yourself. Away from unwanted intrusions…
There’s enough hustle and bustle in the corridor outside your room… and every so often…you hear the jarring clatter of a bed pan hitting the floor.
But mostly you’re alone with your memories.
The problem with being so old… you’re thinking…
is you outlive everybody else… and with the family in Aussie for the winter…there’s no one left to
pop their head in the door…
And you close your eyes at the sudden sting of tears
missing the ones who are now gone forever…
as a fresh wave of old familiar grief sweeps over you…
you’re used to it…it comes and goes…but today as the wave washes out to sea…you’re left with a hunger in your skin… and a longing for a friend.
You turn your head at the respectful knock…
a smiling stranger walks to your bedside…
and looks love… right into your eyes.
I’m the chaplain he explains and I’ve got time to talk if you feel like it…otherwise I’m happy just to sit here for a little while…
You try to wipe a tear away without him seeing…
but your hands are too heavy
And your gentle visitor scoops their hand…
gently under yours…and you sense you could shift it when you’re ready. But for now… you’re content just to savour the warmth… of skin on skin. [pause]
Leg slide
Now let’s imagine you’re just upstairs and down the corridor in another ward…a room with four beds. You’re only 18 years old …braving it out
on your own in the hospital… and bored to tears …they won’t let you use your cell phone on the ward …and you’re out of minutes anyway…
how are you gonna tell your mum and dad about the accident…you were so cock sure… you’d be on top of everything…travelling alone…
And you couldn’t get home if you wanted to…with your leg in a cast and no ticket…
home’s twelve thousand miles away…
You have no idea what to do…or who to even ask …for help…
And suddenly there’s some lady by your bedside…
looking like your nanna with a big cross on her chest…and she’s smiling down at you…
looking love into your eyes.
‘Heard you haven’t had a chance to contact your parents about the accident…the chaplain says…
you could email them from my office…but wouldn’t it be a whole lot better to hear their voices…
I’ll tell you what…I’ll still be on at midnight
so I can wheel you down to the phone box
on the first floor… so you can catch your mum and dad at home.
And just as quickly she disappears out the door… sweeping a wave of warmth and relief over you…
How did God find me here, you wonder…
[pause]
two hands slide
What on earth would motivate people… to spend their days… traipsing up and down hospital corridors of hope and healing…pain and fear and despair…
day after day…
Offering comfort to strangers…touching the sick
You know what I think it is…I think it’s Jesus’ words
Word slide
‘For I was sick and you visited me…you looked after me.
Chaplain slide
Hospital chaplains are people who get to see Jesus every day…aware of his presence in each person they meet. Aware of the intrinsic value in every human being…no matter how grumpy…how smelly…how tearful…how lonely…
why would Jesus tell us… we would minister to him in the sick and the prisoner… and the hungry begging in the streets…because it’s too easy
to walk right past them…ignore them…
You see in Jesus time the sick were unclean… and untouchable…people presumed it was payback for sins
Chaplain slide
Today we’re celebrating the work of people who who believe the Christ lives in us… Along with worshippers all over New Zealand…
Today we’re marking 35 years of Inter-Church Hospital Chaplaincy.
Hands slide
Jesus broke with the traditions of his day when he touched the sick… and cut across cultural and religious taboos and fears. His actions are the model for his followers in caring for the untouchable.
Jesus revealed… compassion is a central quality… of God and a life centred on God. Jesus showed us an alternative vision of human life lived in community.
We’re blessed here in New Zealand that for the past 35 years the Government has allowed the churches to provide Hospital Chaplaincy in public sector hospitals.
The service stretches the length of the country from Kaitaia in the North to Invercargill in the South. In all some 48 hospitals and health care units are covered. Hospital Chaplaincy is a specialised ministry – requiring intense training to meet the needs of patients across cultures and religions.
their duties require them to wrestle with the great realities of human injury and illness, accidents, and suffering, the termination of life support and grief…as well as the promise of healing, and wholeness offered to us by God… through Jesus Christ.
It’s a vocation that understands that while God is the healer…many people will have a place within God’s healing process.
A chaplain’s place is to create the kind of atmosphere where healing is more likely to take place.
It’s my experience that busy medical staff are grateful for the presence of chaplains on their wards…to offer what they don’t have time to offer…the dimension of hope, and personal attention, a listening ear, wisdom, and patience … maybe even a laugh…and the opportunity for prayer forgiveness and reconciliation.
Sometimes the chaplain is an advocate for the least powerful person in the hospital… and at the same time a support for the top decision maker.
The challenge to us as the Church… if we want to continue to have chaplains in our hospitals… is to help fund the churches’ share of the cost. Chaplains are our eyes and ears and hands…
when we can’t be at every bedside.
My prayer is that you would consider making a donation to this cause as you leave the church today.
Let us reflect on this as we listen to James Twyman’s The Servant Prayer.
