Day 170: Left Behind

DAY 170

                              Faith in the Midst of a Pandemic                     

A series of daily reflections for people of faith

by Rev. Robert Bayley, Interim Pastor

Patuxent Presbyterian Church, California, Maryland

pastorrobert@paxpres.org

Week Twenty-five   Monday 31 August 2020

LEFT BEHIND

Deeply Personal and Left Behind: 

Hospitals are Struggling with a Growing Collection.

“Rafael Eli, 68, stopped breathing in the early morning hours of April 16 after having spent 18 days on a ventilator. Every day his sister, Myriam Eli, called to inquire about her brother who had been diagnosed with COVID-19 after having been hospitalized in March. After his death Ms. Eli called the hospital to inquire about his belongings… . Across the country workers in patient services at hospitals have had to figure out what to do with the thousands of cellphones, chargers, walkers, canes, hearing aids, glasses, books, Bibles, jewelry and other items left behind by patients who have died of COVID-19.”  - From a recent newspaper article by the same title

                                         

They brought a cart out from a storage area with a very old TV on it, a half dozen or so pieces of clothing – none of which were his, a few magazines, a pair of shoes – nothing personal, nothing ‘him,’ and I left it all and walked out the door of the nursing home for the last time. There was nothing he left behind that marked who he was, because we didn’t place him there with anything personal. For others there are probably highly personal items to retrieve, things left behind. The only thing my father left behind that day were memories. Everyone leaves something behind.       

As family members retrieve well worn Bibles and prayer books, pieces of jewelry worn into the hospital, and other personal items, I wonder two things: what would I want to take with me should I go into the hospital with COVID-19, and what would I want to leave behind from my hospital stay should I die? What we would choose to take with us into the hospital says something about what we value most – for me it would be a Bible, a bound notebook of blank paper and some pens, my cell phone and a charger, and some family photos.

As human beings we are hard pressed to discern the world of the invisible, of things like love and respect and admiration and appreciation that we hold toward another, and so we look to visible items associated with them to remind us of these invisible things, and these items take on new and emotional meaning for us. This is a different but meaningful way to view our mortality.

Reflective question: If you should go into the hospital, what would you want to take with you that might also be what you end up leaving behind?

Reflective Scripture: Hebrews 9:27 – “…man is destined to die…”

Reflective hymn:

“Rock of Ages, Cleft for Me” – Augustus Toplady (1740-1778)

While I draw this fleeting breath, when my eyelids close in death,

When I soar to worlds unknown, see Thee on Thy judgment throne,

Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in Thee.