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.