Out of the blue, I get a phone call from Big Rosie in Brum. She met Hub at the bus stop in our previous parish one day, was invited to church, and blow me, she came. She came to everything!
One of the things that kept me going there was one of Rosie’s legendary hugs. She is biiiiiiiiiiig – you sort of disappear in all the kindness and love. But she isn’t a confident person, and would be worried to death about doing something in public.
Anyhow, she had to go to hospital. On Sunday morning she announces to the ward that normally she would be in her church, but as she isn’t, she’d like to say a prayer for everyone. She’s not being funny or anything – but would they mind?
The ward stops. The staff as well as the patients are attentive and quiet. And Big Rosie prays her prayer, extempore, asking God to be with everyone. Then they all say Amen, and get on with the next thing, and Rosie is taken down for the next test. It’s an MRI scan and she’s scared of the tunnel. Then she says to herself ‘What are you scared of? He’s with you!’ and she finds she’s immediately calmer.
It’s tempting sometimes to feel we haven’t done anything much for God. We have very little to offer him. But this reminds me. God is at work in the most unlikely situations. And people.
CofE Network of Distinctive Deacons 