I decided at the beginning of the week that I would say something to you about one of the major news items this week, and there have certainly been a lot to choose from. But if you have watched the BBC at all this week, the most important news item seemed to be related to the live week on Eastenders, So today I will be talking about the death of Lucy. But this is not the death of Lucy Beale, it's someone you have probably never heard of. This was a very small news item that caught my eye. Lucy's death was not widely reported because it was not violent, but it was very sad because when she died last month she was only 29.
Lucy
Glennon had a genetic disease called epidermolysis
bullosa
which causes
the skin and internal body linings to blister at the slightest knock
or rub. The effect is equivalent to a third-degree burn and Lucy
lived a life of constant pain. The disease was also progressive, so
got worse as she got older.
Read more about Lucy here.http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/feb/17/lucy-glennon-disability-activist-real-effects-of-cuts?CMP=fb_gu
You have to read the
whole of the article to understand that this was someone who, despite
all her problems, was witty and lived life to the full. Also, despite
everything, she was a committed Christian. Her sister told of how
Lucy
was once asked how she could believe in God when she was in so much
pain. “She stopped and thought about it,” says Sally, “then
said that over the years she thought of all the people who looked
after her, and nursed her, and she sees God and love in every one of
those people.”
Lucy was someone who
lived an almost disregarded life, despite her impressive qualities. I
rather think she is with her Father now, healed at last. Jesus always
had compassion on those in need of healing, even if they were people
others ignored. Our Bible story is a case in point. It is one of the
least quoted healing miracles and tells of a woman with a long term
spinal condition. We are told she could not straighten herself up
properly. Imagine what it was like living with that for 18 years. It
was so long that probably people did not even notice this woman's
problem any more. However Jesus noticed her. She may well have been
elderly, and as a woman was not viewed as important, but we know
Jesus always noticed the humble, the disregarded. She did not even
seek healing – maybe she had given up hoping. But Jesus called her
forward (as a woman she would have been at the back of the synagogue)
and placed his hands on her and healed her. Sadly the synagogue ruler
is more interested in upholding the letter of the law on the Sabbath
than on rejoicing the fact that this woman is freed from her
captivity to Satan. Jesus cared about everyone equally – think
about the people he healed. He healed the son of a hated Roman
centurion as readily as he healed Jairus's daughter. He healed Jews,
Samaritans and Gentiles. Everyone is equal in the kingdom of God.
How did you feel about
Lucy's story? It seemed a bit unfair that someone so obviously good
and hardworking was afflicted with such a dire condition. Why wasn't
she healed? We see people who get amazing healing – and we see
people who do not get healed. In truth we all await the final
healing in heaven. In a book I am reading called Becoming
a true spiritual community By Larry Crabb the writer tells of how he
shared with a group about he struggled
with, his need for approval and to gain glory from his calling. But as he spoke he was worried that people would try to 'sort him out' whereas all he wanted was acceptance, because he believed that he would never be healed in this
life, not because he did not believe in healing but because he knew
it was too too deeply entrenched in his psyche to sort out in this life, and that also maybe because it was this
sense of being a wounded person that kept him seeking after God.
Sometimes people give
us negative messages about healing; that God would heal us if only we
believed, or confessed sin in our lives. But we're not put here to be
turned into perfect beings in this life, rather to go on a journey
with and to God. To do that involves being honest with God and with
ourselves and acknowledging that we all have messy, unsatisfactory
things in our lives because we live in a messy, unsatisfactory,
broken, fallen, sinful world – call it what you will! And we know
that we have a heavenly Father who loves us. We know this God loves
the Coptic Christians who were murdered because of their faith. He
also longs to reach out to their executioners. He cares equally for
those on both sides in the conflict in Ukraine. God cares so much he
sent his only Son into the world and Jesus says we can see him in
everyone in this world who is in need. We can see him in the black
man jostled off a train in Paris...and his Father seeks out the lost,
including the Chelsea fans who abused him. God is alongside the
Muslim parents desperately praying for their daughters to return
home, and with Lucy's family as they mourn her loss. I hope you will take with you this
knowledge that you are loved, and I pray that we can all take that
love into the world either through our words or through our actions.
And may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy
Spirit be with you always. Amen.
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