‘Gifts of nourishment and healing’
Good morning,
One further contribution from the Chaplaincy team in the week in which we’ve remembered the coming of the first lockdown a year ago. This is from Barbara Davey, honorary Quaker Chaplain, which she wrote before Tuesday’s first anniversary:
I remember well the evening of 23rd March 2020 – a sombre quiet descending and the sense of being on the brink of a great and fearful unknown. The twelve months that followed have told a story on an epic scale – such loss and courage, heartache and faithful dedication – and we are of course still in the midst of it.
Each of us has been called to explore the source from whence hope and resilience grow
and much has been made of the natural world’s abundant gifts of nourishment and healing. More than the blossom and the birdsong, it has been the light that has sustained me. I’m not thinking so much of the glorious blue-skied days (though these bring joy), but rather the grey days when I’ve been surprised and transported by a soft and momentary silveriness breaking through the shifting clouds. And the intimate light of the moon, with the constancy of waxing and waning, has helped in my understanding of vulnerability, and about how to trust when I am besieged by uncertainty and anxiety. I am loathe to write about ‘lessons learned’, but there is something in receiving the light, opening my heart and listening, that reaches far beyond what words can utter.
At the end of each calendar year I try to put time aside for re-evaluating aspects of my life, asking myself the question How has love flourished in your life over the past year? It seems fitting to do this on Tuesday too. I will make an opportunity for stillness, for reflection and gratitude and renewal. In the evening I will light a candle and place it in the window, bearing witness to the suffering, the fortitude and the wealth of kindness.
May the love we have received
Sink deep in our hearts
Bear fruit in our lives
And keep us in thanksgiving
And unity with all.
Yours,
Donald.
Revd Dr Donald MacEwan
Chaplain