It was the strangest feeling to be moving to a town we had not heard of until a few months before. In point of fact, we had only visited Crewe as a family once before moving into our home there. Our first visit was to place post cards in shop windows asking for help in finding a house. Our two daughters, young but independent, longed for a bedroom each, whereas our aspiration was more budgetary led.
The week we moved in, a couple from the church at which we would make our initial spiritual home, organised a welcome party for us. Some of our fondest memories of those early encounters centre around those new found friends. Over time we grew to see in their relationship an unambiguous expression of what we presumed they had declared at the altar on their wedding day. They are loving and kind, often deeply moved by the needs of others but the story of their lives is written in the care they lavished on each other.
Today is world Altzeimers day. Not a celebration but an acknowledgement that those we love may one day experience a change in their mental activity which often alters how we act around them. Our friends, as many of us will, experienced this uninvited intrusion as they approached their retirement years. Such an unexpected and fear-filled condition is draining and calls to deep within the soul. It brings days, even years, when finding the well from which to draw strength can seem beyond human reach. I completely understand why we ask ‘where is God in this’?
Forgive my oversimplification but as the 16th century follower of Christ, Ignatius of Loyola, said ‘God in all things.’ It is a challenge and an act of will which is easier in some circumstances and harder in others. To see God in all things is to look through a lens which can elude many of us. Today is my grandson’s birthday. He is 10 years old, good looking, athletic and bright. In his face, something that brings me to tears of joy, I see the vibrancy of God. Kudzai looks clothed in hope and walks in the shoes of a confident young person, the world lays before him to be experienced and enjoyed. Currently he intends to be a footballer, Olympic runner and formula 1 driver. We shall see!
Last week we celebrated and sang happy birthday to our friend who lives with that uninvited guest we name Alzeimers. I looked in her face and there I saw the mystery of God, for she is more than her mind and body, she is a spiritual being. In days past this beautiful woman swam and laughed with our children. We shared hundreds of meals and times of worship. In her voice we heard the subtle notes of God’s voice confirming His love for us. Often in advance of taking communion she would bring a relevant thought to help us focus on the world to come or the way to walk towards it. I’m convinced that the well from which she drew continues to fill her soul with the blessing of God’s presence.
The Psalms are a great source of inspiration and chapter 46 verse 1 is a great reminder of the omnipresence of God it says of him that he is ‘very present’. Reading such words reminds us that God is present in all things – in the storm and in the calm, on a sunny beach and a cold rain soaked bus shelter. When our friends lovingly said ‘in sickness and in health’ God was, and continues to be present. God is present in every act of care now given and received.
Today we remember not Alzheimers but the precious people we love, we remember that God is very present and that our friends, wives, husbands and parents have a spiritual dimension that continues unchanged with the capability to be fully aware of the presence of God. I think today too of those who are caregivers for whom that first line of Psalm 46 most applies and for whom our prayers evoke: may God indeed be their refuge and strength.
Psalm 46:1 God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble.
Rob Wykes 