Christmas reminds me that we live in a material universe with a beginning and an end, but which itself exists in a wider spiritual world which does not. Most of us share this spiritual sense and have prayed, sometimes with miraculous effects, unexpected ones, or none at all.
I can’t be certain why some are answered and others not, but Charlotte Elliott in her the hymn ‘Just as I am,’ captures a way in which we can approach the Lord who will always respond to an open and willing heart.
Just as I am, though tossed about
with many a conflict, many a doubt,
fightings and fears within, without,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come.
Just as I am, thou wilt receive,
wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve; because thy promise I believe,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come.
Very recently I had an operation on my left foot, injured some years ago when one of our animals stood on it. As a result, I now have one of those hi-tech boots to wear day and night for six weeks.
The surgeon inserted a titanium peg and plate, and the latest check showed that the external wound has healed, but it will be another four weeks before we know how new bone has formed.
Each of us has their own pain threshold and, as my pain was tolerable and at the same level as it was before the Op, I stopped taking paracetamol on day four. However, next day it shot up considerably, and so that night, as usual I started my prayers with the Gloria, Creed, and the Lord’s prayer but, as my thoughts moved on to others, I wondered if I could ask one of the Saints about this additional debilitating pain. I asked if he was able to take the additional pain but leave my pain at the level at which it had started.
Instantaneously, I felt a sliding shutter come down between the two levels of pain. The intolerable pain had gone, and I was left with the old level which is now ebbing a week or so later.
I thanked him and then as my prayers continued; realised the Saint had taught me that Jesus was speaking a spiritual and unmeasurable truth when he told us to place our burdens on him. I now better understand the phrase, “He has borne our suffering.” In this case it is a physical pain, though I also recall occasions when prayer has relieved a problem of the mind.
In fact, as I type; my mind hears the words, “Cast thy burden upon the Lord and He will sustain you,” (Psalm 55) set by Mendelsohn in his oratorio Elijah. It was indeed unforgettable to feel the immanence of God in the moment of need. I remembered also that Jesus warned us that this world would not be without its suffering.
However, throughout history the healing Spirit has come through the barrier of space and time. It came to Abraham, Moses. Samuel and again when Jesus was Incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Blessed Virgin Mary.
During Prayer, the Eucharist, and Scripture study we are on the boundary between the Spiritual and the Material worlds, and so are moments when, we can allow the Holy Spirit into our hearts. Once there, its gifts become available to the humbled believer.
I hope this year’s celebration of the birth of Yeshua as he is known in Hebrew, is a step on our journey via prayer, into a better understanding of how our immortal Spiritual life can be developed in company with our temporal Material life.
I invite readers to come to church or chapel this Christmas and, in singing the Tune Adeste Fidelis learn that we are more than temporal beings in a temporary world: but that this world itself exists in a wider-deeper everlasting world in which a purposeful spiritual fulfilment is our destiny.
O come, all ye faithful, joyful, and triumphant,
O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem!
Come, and behold Him, born the King of angels!
Refrain:
O come, let us adore Him;
O come, let us adore Him;
O come, let us adore Him, Christ, the Lord!
Go on. Sing it aloud and enjoy the words !
“Yea Lord, we greet thee born this Christmas Morning.”
View from the Pew 