You Already Know This Person
Have you noticed that hospital stays are getting shorter? Patients are being sent home sooner and sooner, often after very serious surgeries and illnesses! Whatever the reasons for this change, it shifts the burden of care to the people at home. Family members with no nursing training, the adult child who lives three states away, […]
Support Groups at FBG
The TV series All Creatures Great & Small is set in a veterinarian’s home and hospital in World War II era England. One episode opens with a military veterinarian training new recruits beside a mule. He explains that though mules are more common in the field than horses, they are more difficult to read. Horses […]
Authentic Engagement?
Before he became Pope John Paul II, then Cardinal Wojtyla wrote a book—The Acting Person—which described church participation as either authentic or inauthentic. The two kinds of authentic engagement, he wrote, are solidarity and protest. We expect him to say solidarity. But he says there also must be a space for protest in communities where […]
Stephen Ministry Training Program
The Stephen Ministry is an international Christian caregiving program where trained laypeople (Stephen Ministers) provide one-on-one, confidential care to individuals experiencing difficult times. It’s a way for members of our congregation to offer support to those facing challenges like grief, illness or other life crises. A Stephen Minister typically meets with a care receiver once […]
The Healing Power of Our Tears
“Time heals all wounds” ain’t in the Bible; it’s just an old saying that needs revision. Like the love we feel, we don’t ever “get over” our grief like a head cold! However, the sharpness of the pain eases when we express and share it, learn new ways to carry and incorporate it, and allow […]
You Don’t Need to Be Fixed
When you are in pain, you don’t need to be fixed. You don’t need to be labeled as broken, your feelings shoved into codified lists or prescribed stages. You don’t need to be pushed to get better fast. What you need are those things, those people, those places, those words, that come up underneath you […]
Step Into the Circle of Care
The causes of spiritual malaise can be varied and complex, but a good starting place is to discern whether they come from a lack of fulfillment or—to play with words a bit—“fillment.” While the Christian life is one of service, we can suffer when our basic human needs are not met. These needs range from […]
Good Grief
Have you noticed that the standard-issue advice people tend to give to grieving people is the same advice they give to adolescents? We say: “It gets better.” With apologies to everyone who ever said that with good intentions, I keep that kind of advice in my “half-truth” file. The struggles of young adults are not […]
Make Someone Smile
Ok, Class, here’s your assignment… No grumbling! Put your hands down, spit out your gum and stop talking! I haven’t even told you what it is yet! Your assignment this week is to make someone smile. Mean-spirited smiles at someone else’s expense will be given an F. Glaring, lascivious or evil-villain grins will get a […]
Pastoral Care at FBG
Did you know scientists found anti-cancer agents in Periwinkle flowers and soil microbes, or that our first anti-retroviral treatment for HIV came from a sea sponge? Believing that God is a good God who cares about us carries the strong implication that everything we need to thrive has already been supplied and that it’s our […]