David's Deliberations

Dear friends,

This lovely prayer is taken from ‘A Service of Wholeness and Healing’ in our Church of England service book.

Peace is a word which is much used in this month of Remembrance. But true peace is more than just the absence of war: it is a special quality found in the heart of the person who knows and trusts God – whatever is going on around them. Jesus said: ‘My peace I give to you…not as the world gives do I give’.

Without that gift of peace we can be in inner turmoil even when all around us is tranquil. With it, we can have ‘peace that surpasses all understanding’, however troubling our circumstances, even, dare I say, in our current situation.

In turn, our lives should allow God’s Peace to flow out from us to make a difference in the world around us: we pray with St Francis, ‘Make me a channel of Your Peace’.

The word ‘healing’ has particular resonance for us…. I was going to write ‘at this time’, but in fact it has always been a reality of this life that our bodies ail, and fail. One day we all must die, and all of us know the pain of losing loved ones. And yet Jesus promises us healing: how can this be?

Well, on the one hand, prayers for healing can sometimes be answered in unexpected ways. Most people who, like me, regularly pray for others will have had the experience of someone expressing their belief that those prayers have made a tangible difference: a physical improvement, perhaps, or an inner strength. But even so, all healing in this life can only be temporary and partial: we must all still face illness – and death. Any such ‘answers to prayer’ are a sign of the inner ‘wholeness’ which is the thing which Christ really longs to give us – and which all of us need. That wholeness is only found in Him, and it is a wholeness which neither illness nor death can take from us.

Your friend and vicar, David