Happenings 27 August 2020

I loved a story that came out of the last lockdown from the Bradford Manor Rest Home in Dunedin. This facility was home to a number of elderly residents including 26 dementia sufferers. During the lockdown, the home was closed to visitors, and family were not allowed to visit because of the fear that they would bring the covid-19 virus with them. Nine of the staff made the decision to not be with their own families during the lockdown, but to stay for the duration of level 4 with these dementia residents to look after them and keep them company. "The residents are vulnerable," they said. "If a dementia resident gets it, it's very very hard to self-isolate them." There were only two empty rooms with beds in them in the facility to be shared by the nine staff, and so the night staff slept there during the day and the day staff slept there during the night. The manager, Michelle Donaldson, talked about one of the staff: "This is huge. My cook has three children. The sacrifice that she's making - she's not going to see them for a month." What an amazing picture of incarnation. Incarnation is a big fancy word that simply means 'embodying'. To save us, Jesus 'embodied' himself and became one of us, sharing in our experience, walking in our shoes. He could have communicated from a distance, but his love impelled him to love close-up. It makes sense, then, that the ministry he has given his church is also incarnation - we are to 'go into all the world', not stay at arms-length. May we all find places over the coming weeks where we don't just speak of love, justice and rightness, but where we embody them.

In Him,
Murray