Friends in Christian Mission Hospitals-3

Letter-3

Dear Friends,

Greetings                                                                                                                                     8 May 2020

I kept watching this bird, a jungle Babbler, normally resident in our garden. It kept moving towards   the edge of the trunk and finally perched itself at the edge, balancing well and having a 360 degree view of the garden. In this movement, it did lose its balance a few times and but kept repositioning itself safely! For a bird such an adventure is normal and has an easy access to rescue itself from a fall because it has a pair of wings which is the source of its security. To be stationed at the edge is difficult  

When I watched video clip of a long queue of people in New York a few days ago, waiting to collect free supply of food, I could not but recall, all that I had read about the great depression of 1930. People seemed to have spent the next five years or so, struggling to live!

I have had replies from some of you about the adjustments all of you are making to keep the mission hospitals alive to the new realities that have come upon us due to the corona virus infection. What I sensed is that the regular attendance for the outpatient service has declined and it does cause a concern to you about two issues. Is it because of financial constraints that people are not coming! If so, how do they take care of their health needs!

A priest who dropped in to greet me referred to the present financial stress and recalled what his father had told him a few times about the ‘one handful rice’ story that they practiced during the great depression. Every family kept away a handful of rice each time they cooked rice, in a separate container, which they brought to the church once a month. The rice thus collected was distributed among those who needed to be taken care of. This was practiced widely in southern India, North East states and few other places. The priest mentioned that least 100 families in their neighbourhood lived from this provision for three years. 

The story of Elijah (1Kings 17;1-16) getting fed at Cherith by the ravens at the brook, after predicting a famine, might have a message for us now. When the ravens stopped arriving and the brook dried up, Elijah was guided to go to Zarephath, where a widow, who only had ‘a handful of flour in the bowl and a little oil in the jar’(v 12) would be his provider. Through the season of famine, the ‘flour was not exhausted nor did the jar of oil become empty (v16) following her willingness to offer food for Elijah.

It is when we become willing and ready to be mindful of others amidst us, the little resources left with us, becomes enough and more for us and others. Yesterday a stranger telephoned to say that he would make a regular contribution to the department, where I work, to help those who are disadvantaged. 

May we be guided to find our sufficiency in God, in each other and in the prospects of our resources becoming sufficient in difficult times, because they would last longer under God!  

M.C.Mathew