Reflection on our Mission Partners

IONA EASTER REFLECTION 2010

The tomb was silent,
and the body of the One
who had valued them for themselves
had somehow gone.

Sorrow was now their companion
as they encountered the bewildering
silence of God.

Yet in that place of dislocation,
they met a stranger on the road,
and slowly recognised
that hope could be reborn.

Their hope and our hope,
present in the very silence
which makes desolate the heart
and imprisons the spirit.

For in the places of fragile hope and few resurrections
still that stranger walks,
and understands,
and heals.

It’s the solidarity of Love at work
in our uncertain but still beautiful world,
and we are held.

Peter Millar, Iona Community

When I read this, I thought of our missionary, Kate. She has clearly been challenged and touched by ministering to kids who struggle with their daily existence, not having enough to eat and other things that put them at risk. I think of other ELCA missionaries who work with the Women of Hope ministry of the Mashiah Foundation in Africa with women and children affected by HIV/AIDS. The people in Chile and Haiti also come to mind. We all experience a place of "fragile hope" at some point in our lives. I like how this Iona reflection captures the accompaniment model of walking along side others and the solidarity of Love at work. I pray that in this Eastertide we and those we pray for around the world will feel the comforting presence and impact of this Love at work.