Launch Extracts - The Rev. Joy Chapman, Chaplain at LOROS

I’ve been Chaplain at LOROS for almost six years, and I’ve met so many people with cancer, at all the different stages of the disease. And what is crystal clear to me is that a personal encounter with the big ‘C’ challenges people in most profound way, as they come to face to face with the reality that they are mortal, and that time is not forever.

And providing we are neither inappropriate nor insensitive to where people are in their searching or journeying, our faith and confidence can provide an open window onto the love, compassion and hope of God in Christ Jesus. A window which looks out onto stability and peace, but which does not coerce or manipulate people in their vulnerability; rather supporting and enabling them within the framework of God’s love for all his children.

You will all know that cancer is very common, it is no respecter of age, gender, creed or race. It can be a very tough experience, shaking all the assumptions and normality of life. For many an exhausting emotional roller-coaster that oscillates from hope and confidence, to fear and despair. It may necessitate difficult and exhausting treatments, and it has a profound effect on family, friends, work, lifestyle and expectations.

Our Gospel account where we encounter Jesus and the two sisters Mary and Martha, gives a little cameo of the principle of care that needs to be offered. Two sisters have encountered the worst disaster of all. The death of a dearly beloved brother. In their grief, they are surrounded by family and friends at his funeral – and into that raw situation, Jesus arrives. He is late – and both sisters in their own way, (and other mourners later) clearly express the view that if he had been there, things might have turned out differently.

‘Lord,’ says Martha, ‘if you had been here my brother would not have died.’ They are looking for answers, they are struggling, and not only are they distressed but they feel let down. And the way in which Jesus responds is wonderfully wise – He doesn’t challenge them, He doesn’t try to justify himself, but He listens with compassion. In that ‘being there’ with them, we read later in the account how truly He identifies with their feelings of loss and devastation… He weeps with them.

And later we read that Jesus acts in a very unique way, and the healing and raising of Lazarus goes beyond the usual remit of what is sought through the Christian ministry of healing. But it teaches us several things. In our ministering to others, we need to be confident of God’s authority over sickness, and to pray appropriately and in faith. Physical healing in this life is good and natural and we should always strive for it. But we also have to live with the fact that physical healing is always, in the end temporary – just as it was ultimately for Lazarus, who while raised from the dead by Jesus, had in time to do what we all have to do – encounter death. So if our view of healing is so narrow that it is seen to fail where physical healing does not take place – then we buy into the prevailing culture, which is profoundly death-denying and quite materialistic. Healing encompasses not merely the body, but the spirit and the mind. It is about WHOLENESS. And while the joining together of the medical and the spiritual seeks to give back to people their physical wellbeing, when it doesn’t happen that is not failure. Spiritual and mental / emotional healing can enable people to come to terms with things, to see life as a gift, and to live it to the full (even within limits) – and to come to a place of peace and confidence related to their eternal destination.

And that is why Jesus’ words to Martha are at the heart of what Christians believe. Words that bring comfort, hope and confidence in the face of death itself. ‘I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.’ Words of authority, that were not cheap to offer – coming out of the very experience of God in Christ entering into the very depths of human suffering and death. Words that reach beyond the sadness and loss of earthly death – transforming it from obliteration, and failure into restored life and glory… complete healing.

Helping those who will do very well within their illness and supporting those for whom things will be very complicated and with many ups and downs. And for those where illness is progressive and dying inevitable, the challenge is to help them face it with peace and confidence, and to ensure that those they leave behind are supported… remembering that all are made in the image of God, and that He loves them.