Simon Marsh

SEVERAL FRIENDS AND COLLEAGUES attended the recent Thanksgiving Service for the late Bishop Morris Maddocks – a well-known instrument of God’s healing in the English Church. They’ve reported a wonderful occasion at St Michael le Belfrey in York. The Bishop’s own Trumpet Theme for Organ was played before the Service and the Archbishop of York, Dr Sentamu was the preacher.

I thought of Maggi Dawn’s delightful accounts of the observable humanity in the Archbishops’ recent visit to Cambridge when a friend and colleague said of Archbishop Sentamu: “He’s not a very big man, but you can’t not know he’s there! He lights up something inside you. He literally cares.”

And that’s what drew so many to Bishop Morris. That’s what drew so many to Jesus. That’s the stuff of real good news. Something lighting up inside you. Something or someone that reminds you that you’re loved today and forever. The Eucharistic service for the occasion was adapted from the Kenyan Rite, 1989. It tells us where the light comes from:

Is the Father with us? He is.

Is Christ among us? He is.

Is the Spirit here? He is.

This is our God. Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

We are his people. We are redeemed.

Redeemed. Morris Maddocks and John Sentamu, like Jesus, have long looked as though they believe it! We are redeemed. And can each of us, therefore, become instruments of healing.