Prayer Thirty-Six
Gracious God,
be with all those
who struggle today with symptoms
of dementia in its many forms;
mood changes,
memory lapses,
confusion,
helplessness
and isolation.
May they know in their hearts
your comforting embrace
amid their daily frustrations,
and continue to realise,
as names and memories fade,
that they are still loved by family,
friends, and especially by you.
Amen
John Birch
Covid has taught us about the perils of isolation. The importance of our connection with each other has been underlined as never before. But, pandemic or not, people become isolated for all sorts of reasons. And isolation can be frightening. As someone newly diagnosed with Alzheimer’s writes, “Isolation from others is the biggest fear I have”.
The figure in this photo seeks connection with the world beyond her room by gazing through her window. Is she isolated because she lives with dementia? If so, John Birch holds her before God in today’s prayer. He prays that, amidst all the frustrations, she’ll know herself loved by family, friends and, especially, by God.
Like John Birch’s prayer, Phil Coulter’s song below ends with a powerful statement about love. The song, reflecting on his own experience of a son living with Down’s Syndrome, describes his golden-haired child standing alone and apart as other children play together. He laments this ‘Passion of Isolation’. ‘Scorn not his simplicity,’ he urges, ‘but rather try to love him all the more’.
In the next few days, we’ll find an increasingly isolated Jesus alone in Gethsemane as his friends sleep. We’ll watch as he’s denied by Peter, scorned by soldiers, and even (he feels) forsaken by God. With every step towards death, he becomes more and more cut off from others. And there’s something about this utter aloneness which does indeed make us love him all the more.
Scorn not his simplicity
See the child
With the golden hair
Yet eyes that show the emptiness inside
Do we know
Can we understand just how he feels
Or have we really tried?
See him now
As he stands alone
And watches children play a children's game
Simple child
He looks almost like the others
Yet they know he's not the same
Scorn not his simplicity
But rather try to love him all the more
Scorn not his simplicity
Oh no
Oh no
See him stare
Not recognizing the kind face
That only yesterday he loved
The loving face
Of a mother who can't understand what she's been guilty of
How she cried tears of happiness
The day the doctor told her it's a boy
Now she cries tears of helplessness
And thinks of all the things he can't enjoy
Scorn not his simplicity
But rather try to love him all the more
Scorn not his simplicity
Oh no
Oh no
Only he knows how to face the future hopefully
Surrounded by despair
He won't ask for your pity or your sympathy
But surely you should care
Scorn not his simplicity
But rather try to love him all the more
Scorn not his simplicity
Oh no
Oh no
Oh no
Lyrics: Phil Coulter
Music: Luke Kelly
