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Organ Donor and Recipients Thanksgiving Service, May 2, 2010 
‘In recognition of those who have given the gift of life to others’.
Reflection: The Venerable Howard Leigh, Precentor

We have just heard the words of Jesus: ‘I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.’
The prophet Isaiah says: ‘I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it’?

Taking a risk and doing a new thing is seldom easy at first. But those who have wrestled with the issue of donating their organs or who have agreed that their loved ones organs can be gifted, frequently come to experience a sense of integration and peace. Most of us in so many areas of living feel regeneration in our spirits through the generosity of doing whatever is possible to sustain life.

In a similar way receiving can be just as difficult – for there is still an awareness of the unknown and the future that lies ahead. Suspicion is always in the human psyche.
Letting go and letting whatever will be unfold, requires amazing grace and trust.

Even if new possibilities are presented to us, we can still be fearful when we are familiar with and have learned to live with the status quo.

This not only relates to the donating and receiving of organs – it affects much of our daily lives. What if we could be healthier, happier, more pro¬ductive, and more alive? If it requires a huge change in who we are physically, mentally and spiritually, most of us would hesitate and let the possibilities pass us by. Change really is that hard.

Sharing in Creation by using our gifts and being creative is not any easier.
Creation not only means change, it also means change married to the unknown, to a not-yet-existing reality. Who actually knows what their unborn children will be like? Does a glass blower know how the light will reflect off the inner surfaces of the new piece? Can a writer know how the actions of a character will affect the reader? Creation is full of the unknown, the risky, alternate endings.