Good Friday Meditation

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BBC Radio 4 - Good Friday Meditation

The Wounded Surgeon. A meditation on the healing hands of the Crucified Christ.

The Wounded Surgeon. In this meditation for Good Friday, the Rev Lore Chumbley, a former hand surgeon,  reflects on the healing hands of the Crucified Christ.

The Wounded Surgeon.

As a hand surgeon, Lore Chumbley has performed some of the most intricate operations in the book.  When Lore began training for the priesthood she was struck by the frequent imagery of God’s hand in the Bible. Whether in fashioning Adam out of clay, smiting his enemies or showing His  care, God’s hands are everywhere. “See I have engraved you on the palms of my hands,” he says in Isaiah.
In the gospels Jesus uses his hands to heal, to bless and to break bread. And then there’s the story of the  Passion, the  story  of how those healing hands have nails driven through them. “See from his head, his hands, his feet, Sorrow and love flow mingled down.” 
This mediation for Good Friday will weave together music, Bible readings, poetry and interviews as  Lore reflects on the Wounded hands that became the means of Salvation. 
Lore talks with Dave Bell, a hand surgeon and former colleague,  about the appeal of working with the hand, and the creative and saving hands of God. Professional violinist Mark Butler shares his experience of the  hand surgery that saved his career, and Andrea Lucas explains the Jewish rituals around preparing bodies for burial.

The reader is James Quinn

Producer: Rosie Dawson

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