| T.R | Title | User | Personal
Name | Date | Lines |
|---|
| 407.1 | Do we have something in common or what? | SWAM1::DOTHARD_ST | PLAYTOE | Mon Feb 17 1992 15:29 | 31 |
| RE: Basenote
CAREGIVING! First, let me say I agree 100% with this as the crux of
the call into the MINISTRY.
Secondly, I'm wondering is this mere coincidence or is their some
reason for your starting this topic today? I ask you this because last
night I watched the movie "In the Best Interest of the Children", and
this morning it came to me, the following idea!
You've heard of INTERCESSARY PRAYER, RIGHT? Well how about...
Intercessory CARE
A program where instead of removing kids from homes to Foster Care, we
would place caring people IN the homes of single parent families,
teenage-mother-headed families, undereducated-parent headed families,
to help guide that family into better ways of living on a DAILY basis.
I felt that the main problem with the mother in the movie was not so
much Manic-Depressive problems, but the lack of daily guidance and
support...even to helping them go about developing a proper
relationship with a man in the light of her situation.
Did you see that movie and was inspired by it to start this note?
Playtoe
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| 407.2 | | CSC32::J_CHRISTIE | Peace: the Final Frontier | Mon Feb 17 1992 16:34 | 5 |
| Actually, I started the note last Friday offline and didn't see the movie
last evening. I was at church! 8-}
Peace,
Richard
|
| 407.3 | I can relate to that to! | SWAM1::DOTHARD_ST | PLAYTOE | Mon Feb 17 1992 17:09 | 10 |
| Re: 2
That's good to know! As it keeps this sort of spirituality in the same
light as I've always found it. The inspiration for this idea is not in
the movie itself, but from above, a "pouring out of the Spirit" upon
us....it's a "social empathy" thing.
It happens all the time...
Playtoe
|
| 407.4 | | CSC32::J_CHRISTIE | Peace Reservist | Tue Jun 16 1992 22:41 | 15 |
| A couple of things I learned early on in my training as a chaplain were:
1. Do not defend God, the Bible or the church. It is neither a necessary
nor godly thing to do. Besides, if a wall cannot withstand a few tomatoes
hurled against it, then it wasn't very substantial wall to begin with.
2. Do not rush in and rescue people. It invalidates, alienates and
often humiliates people.
Of course, these guidelines are easier to verbalize than to practice. Our
pride, our sense of loyalty and sense of duty often cause us to react in ways
which do not promote healing.
Peace,
Richard
|
| 407.5 | I See Your Pain | CSC32::J_CHRISTIE | Peace Reservist | Tue Jun 23 1992 17:19 | 26 |
| I see your pain
and want to bannish it
with the wave of a star,
but have no star.
I see your tears
and want to dry them
with the hem of an angel's gown,
but have no angel.
I see your heart fallen to the ground
and want to return it
wrapped in cloths woven of rainbows,
but have no rainbow.
God is the One
who has stars, and angels and rainbows,
and I am the one
God sends to sit beside you
until the stars come out
and the angels dry your tears
and your heart is back in place,
rainbow blessed.
-Ann Barr Weems
Searching for Shalom
|
| 407.6 | When We Dare to Care | CSC32::J_CHRISTIE | Strength through peace | Tue Dec 01 1992 19:31 | 118 |
| How can we become
a
caring community?
A community of people not trying
to cover the pain
or
to avoid it
by sophisticated bypasses
but
rather share it
as a source
of healing
and new life?...
...often we keep
the greatest gift
to HEAL
hidden from
each other.
Every human being
has a great,
yet
often unknown,
gift to CARE
to be
compassionate...
If that gift could be
set free
and
made available,
MIRACLES could take place.
Those who can really
receive
bread from a stranger
and
smile in gratitude,
can feed many
without
even realizing it...
Why is it we keep that
great gift of CARE
hidden so deeply?...
Why are smiles still
hard to get
and
words of comfort
so
difficult to come by?...
Why do we keep
bypassing
each other always
on the way to
something
or someone
more important?
Maybe simply
because we ourselves are
so concerned
to be different
from the others
that we do not even
allow ourselves
to lay down
our heavy armor
and
come together in
mutual
vulnerability...
To CARE means
first of all
to empty
our own cup
and allow the other
to come close to us.
Then we discover
that nothing
human
is foreign to us,
but that
all
the hatred and love,
cruelty and compassion,
fear and joy
can be found in our own
hearts.
By honest recognition
and
confession of our sameness
we
can participate
in the
care of God,
who came,
not to the powerful,
but to the powerless,
Not to take away our pain
but to share it.
Through this participation
we can open our hearts
to each other
and
form a new
community.
-- Henri Nouwen
|
| 407.7 | | CSC32::J_CHRISTIE | Ps. 85.10 | Thu Oct 05 1995 12:37 | 10 |
| As abhorrent as it may seem to who believe it central to Christianity,
having been trained as a chaplain at a hospital run by the Sisters of
Mercy and Franciscan Sisters, and having served the dying and their
loved ones in that capacity on several occasions, I can assure you it
was never considered a foremost duty to seize the moment and solicit
acceptance of Jesus as one's personal savior.
Shalom,
Richard
|
| 407.8 | | MKOTS3::JMARTIN | I press on toward the goal | Thu Oct 05 1995 12:45 | 6 |
| That's too bad Richard...in my opinion.
I believe deathbed conversions to be amongst the most rewarding gift of
our faith.
-Jack
|
| 407.9 | | DECALP::GUTZWILLER | happiness- U want what U have | Thu Oct 05 1995 12:48 | 7 |
| richard, what is the difference between a chaplain and a priest?
i don't know what the term chaplain is referring to.
andreas.
|
| 407.10 | | CSC32::J_CHRISTIE | Ps. 85.10 | Thu Oct 05 1995 13:01 | 12 |
| .8
As I stated in .7, I knew it would be.
But if you were on the verge of dying and a Buddhist or Moslim were to
attempt to effect an urgent conversion on you and your family, think
how you might feel.
Also, read .0.
Richard
|
| 407.11 | | MKOTS3::JMARTIN | I press on toward the goal | Thu Oct 05 1995 13:09 | 14 |
| Gosh...nevermind being a Buddhist. Michele has an aunt on the verge of
death who was born in a non practicing Catholic family. Michele went
down to her house to ask her if she would ask Jesus to come into heart
and save her so that she can spend eternity with Him. Aunt Terry was
less than congenial and stated she was religious and is fine with
herself.
Coldly rejecting the message of salvation...but Michele was there to
hold her hand for awhile anyway. Now Richard, when Aunt Terry passes
away in a few hours/days, and is either with Christ or without Christ,
then what possible difference will it make that Michele held Aunt
Terry's hand? What possible difference?
-Jack
|
| 407.12 | | CSC32::J_CHRISTIE | Ps. 85.10 | Thu Oct 05 1995 13:13 | 18 |
| .9
The simple answer is that I was a chaplain, but not a Roman Catholic
priest. ;-)
Speaking broadly, a chaplain serves an institution outside the church
which may incorporate a chapel.
Not being a Roman Catholic priest, I would be off limits administering
last rites or the Eucharist. I had a telephone number to a beeper
should such an occasion arise during my shift.
I served all varieties of Christians, Jews and even a few agostics and
atheists.
Shalom,
Richard
|
| 407.13 | | CSC32::J_CHRISTIE | Ps. 85.10 | Thu Oct 05 1995 13:15 | 7 |
| .11
I'm afraid I believe that God is bigger than that, and that with God all
things are possible.
Richard
|
| 407.14 | | MKOTS3::JMARTIN | I press on toward the goal | Thu Oct 05 1995 13:23 | 1 |
| Bigger than....what are you saying!?
|
| 407.15 | | APACHE::MYERS | He literally meant it figuratively | Thu Oct 05 1995 14:24 | 24 |
|
re .11
I believe I am "saved" and that God cares and loves me dearly and will
comfort my spirit beyond this earthly life. I also suspect many of the
more fundamentalist Christians would not consider me "saved." My point
is, if I was on my death-bed and someone came to me suggesting I was
going to Hell unless I followed their view of salvation, I would be a
bit annoyed.
It took the disciples years of daily contact with Jesus to become fully
aware of his greatness. How can one on their death-bed reasonably be
expected to comprehend "accepting Jesus as their personal savior?" I
think so-called death-bed conversions make the missionary feel warm and
fuzzy, but I wonder if the convertee fully comprehends. It's not as
simple as saying the magic words, is it?
If you want to bring a dying person the gospel, come to them with
unconditional love and compassion. Demonstrate the fruits of your
Christianity before you demand anything of them.
Eric
|
| 407.16 | | MKOTS3::JMARTIN | I press on toward the goal | Thu Oct 05 1995 14:31 | 29 |
| ZZZ loving God with all my heart
Interesting. I am reminded of the mother of two apostles. She asked
Jesus if they could each sit at his side...one on the right and the
other on the left. Jesus asked her if they were indeed willing to
drink from the cup He was going to drink from. Her reply was yes.
The cup they drank from was indeed suffering and death. They died
because they spoke of the words of the messiah...and martyrdom awaited
them. They loved God with their whole heart.
Remember the account at the end of the gospel... "Jesus said, Peter do
you love me. Peter became indignent and for the third time replied,
Yes Lord, you know I love you. Jesus said unto him, Feed my sheep.
For behold, when you were young you were but a child and went wherever
you wished. But when you become old you will not go where you wish to.
Thou shall stretch forth thy hand and another will gird thee, and will
carry you where you do not want to go."
Tradition tells us Peter was crucified upside down. He was also in
jail a few times, whipped and left for dead.
Loving God with thy whole heart has a heavy price Eric. Each example
of somebody loving God with their whole heart involved sharing the
gospel, in difficult circumstances no less, and eventual death.
Be careful not to confuse the gospel with the social gospel. The
social gospel does not redeem.
-Jack
|
| 407.17 | | CSC32::J_CHRISTIE | Ps. 85.10 | Thu Oct 05 1995 15:00 | 6 |
| The gospel and the social gospel are so inextricably interwoven
that one would be in serious error to try to pry them apart.
Such distinctions are not Hebrew in origin.
Richard
|
| 407.18 | | APACHE::MYERS | He literally meant it figuratively | Thu Oct 05 1995 15:01 | 13 |
|
I am commanded to love God with all my heart, not with all Peter's
heart, or Paul's heart, or Jack's heart. No doubt I could do better,
though. We are not all given the same "to-do" list, nor the same gifts.
If God told me to jump as high as I could, would you slight me for not
being an Olympic champion?
Martyrdom is not something to strive for, something I think the
hardcore fundamentalists miss. It is a possible outcome of being true
to you faith in God, just as dying in a war is possible, but not the
goal.
Eric
|
| 407.19 | | APACHE::MYERS | He literally meant it figuratively | Thu Oct 05 1995 15:02 | 7 |
|
> The gospel and the social gospel are so inextricably interwoven that
> one would be in serious error to try to pry them apart. Such
> distinctions are not Hebrew in origin.
Bravo! and well put.
|
| 407.20 | | MKOTS3::JMARTIN | I press on toward the goal | Thu Oct 05 1995 15:05 | 4 |
| Martyrdom was in that time something that would be
assumed...considering the plight of Israel under the Roman Empire.
-Jack
|
| 407.21 | | DECALP::GUTZWILLER | happiness- U want what U have | Thu Oct 05 1995 15:09 | 16 |
| re .15
eric, your note reminds me of a little anectode which happened in
our family.
my elder sister, who not so long ago became a fundamental christian
went to our grandmother saying: "grandma, you'll be dying soon, you
need to convert."
grandmother retorted: "i am old enoguh to know better!"
andreas.
|