03Meadorthechurchasa caringcommunity

Slide1: 

The Church as a Caring Community Formation in Practices of Caring Keith G. Meador, MD, ThM, MPH Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Professor of the Practice of Pastoral Theology and Medicine Duke University

Slide2: 

Therapeutic Technique or Practice of Caring

Slide3: 

“Both at the beginning and at the end of the penance the bishop identifies himself with the penitents, sharing their prostration and their tears.” McNeill, A History of the Cure of Souls, 1951

“I had baptized the whole Christian tradition in the waters of psychological empiricism, and was vaguely awaking to the fact that, after this procedure, what I had left was hardly more than a moralistic ghost of the distinctive Christian reality. It was as if the baptismal waters of the empirical stream had been mixed with some acid which ate away the historical significance, the objectivity and the particularity of the Christian revelation, and left me in complete subjectivity to work out my own salvation in terms of social service and an “integrated personality.”Charles Clayton Morrison, The Christian Century, 1939: 

“I had baptized the whole Christian tradition in the waters of psychological empiricism, and was vaguely awaking to the fact that, after this procedure, what I had left was hardly more than a moralistic ghost of the distinctive Christian reality. It was as if the baptismal waters of the empirical stream had been mixed with some acid which ate away the historical significance, the objectivity and the particularity of the Christian revelation, and left me in complete subjectivity to work out my own salvation in terms of social service and an “integrated personality.” Charles Clayton Morrison, The Christian Century, 1939

Slide5: 

Newsweek November 10, 2003

“Religious man was born to be saved, psychological man is born to be pleased”Rieff, The Triumph of the Therapeutic, 1966: 

“Religious man was born to be saved, psychological man is born to be pleased” Rieff, The Triumph of the Therapeutic, 1966

Slide9: 

Formation In Practices of Caring

Slide10: 

“Reading a few books and coming to an intellectual understanding of the reality of our situation cannot deliver us from our wounds” Roberta Bondi ,To Pray and To Love, 1991

Slide11: 

“Every day above ground is a good day-praise the Lord” Rev. Joseph Davis 2001

“Christian faith is a way of life, not an impregnable fortress made up of ideas; not a philosophy; not a grocery list of beliefs…It is a paradox of human life that in worship, as in human love,it is in the routine and the everyday that we find the possibilities for the greatest transformation”Norris, The Quotidian Mysteries, 1998: 

“Christian faith is a way of life, not an impregnable fortress made up of ideas; not a philosophy; not a grocery list of beliefs…It is a paradox of human life that in worship, as in human love,it is in the routine and the everyday that we find the possibilities for the greatest transformation” Norris, The Quotidian Mysteries, 1998

Slide13: 

“truth is not a concept that ‘works’ but an incarnation that lives…an organic body of personal relations and responses,a living and evolving community of creativity and compassion.” Palmer, To Know as we Are Known, 1983

Slide14: 

“We must recover from our spiritual tradition the models and methods of knowing as an act of love…Education of this sort means more than teaching the facts and learning the reasons so we can manipulate life toward our ends. It means being drawn into personal responsiveness and accountability to each other and the world of which we are a part” Palmer, To Know as we Are Known, 1983

Slide15: 

“By ‘Christian practices’ we mean things Christian people do together over time to address fundamental human needs in response to and in the light of God’s active presence for the life of the world” Dykstra and Bass, A Theological Understanding of Christian Practices,2002

Slide16: 

Worship

Slide17: 

“In sickness or in health, in sanity or in madness, in the vigour of youth or in the decrepitude of senility, God speaks these words which He spoke once to St. Augustine: ‘Run on, I will carry you, I will bring you to the end of your journey and there also will I carry you’ ” M. O’C. Drury, The Danger of Words, 1973

“It is a paradox of human life that in worship, as in human love, it is the routine and the everyday that we find the possibilities for the greatest transformation ”Norris, The Quotidian Mysteries, 1998: 

“It is a paradox of human life that in worship, as in human love, it is the routine and the everyday that we find the possibilities for the greatest transformation ” Norris, The Quotidian Mysteries, 1998

Slide19: 

Worship Participation and formation in the life and knowledge of God Healing care though proclamation, confession, receiving of pardon, singing, passing the peace and going forth to “love and serve the Lord”

Slide20: 

Baptism

Slide21: 

“Liturgy takes place as a fundamental experience of God as a fellowship of being…This personhood of God…, which is communal by nature, is itself the paradigm of all personhood” Anderson, On Being Human, 1982

Slide22: 

“Health is not just the sense of completeness in ourselves but also is the sense of belonging to others and to our place; it is an unconscious awareness of community, of having in common” Wendell Berry, Health is Membership,1995

Slide23: 

Baptism Covenant of God’s grace and compassionate presence embraced in gratitude Names us as the children of God and members of the Body of Christ

Slide24: 

Eucharistic Hospitality

Slide25: 

“Gratitude is at the center of a hospitable heart” Homan and Pratt, Radical Hospitality, 2002

Slide26: 

“we cannot embark on the quest for truth if we do not at the same time commit ourselves to the full disclosure of reality as it confronts us…we must now realize that such a posture is not possible without love” Norman Wirzba, Placing the Soul,2003

Slide27: 

“If an object is sought principally for its novelty, the amount of time given to its scrutiny will be inversely proportional to the degree of satisfaction it can bring to curiosity’s appetite. Curiosity precludes contemplation, which requires time and repeated attention” Paul Griffiths, The Vice of Curiosity,2006

Slide28: 

“Because God is social, so are we called to be social, to live our lives for God and for those others for whom God has made room.” Shuman and Meador, Heal Thyself, 2003

Slide29: 

“Every particular…can be known as what it is only when it is seen as a participant in something other than itself…To exist in this way, by participation in divine excess, is what it means to exist in common, as public: for everything that exists participatively is open to all because it is given by God” Paul Griffiths, The Vice of Curiosity,2006

Slide30: 

Eucharistic Hospitality Sustenance and strengthening of the community at a table of abundance and grace Formed in gratitude and faithfulness Eucharistic time - “eternal now”

Slide31: 

“If becoming friends of God means we are to love what God loves, we need to bear in mind that God loves people…we must also come to yearn for the things God yearns for, including the well-being of the people with whom, left to ourselves, we would rather not share the kingdom.” Roberta Bondi,To Pray and To Love,1991

Slide32: 

“One of our most difficult duties as human beings is to listen to the voices of those who suffer” Frank, The Wounded Storyteller

Slide34: 

Caring for Storied Lives Truthful Storytelling, Narrating Our Lives Together Intentional, Attentive Listening Capacity for Silence Formed Theological Reflection

Slide35: 

Listening, Storytelling, and Theological Reflection Giving voice to the other through intentional, attentive listening surrounded by meditative silence Formed narration in a spirit of exploration and anticipation Honoring the person’s narration while contextualizing within the story of God’s creation and redemption seeking wisdom and insight Lending of self/personhood to attend/absorb stories of struggle/suffering and/or joy within a relationship/s of solidarity and compassionate vulnerability Theological reflection with renarration grounded in gratitude and hope trusting in the abiding faithfulness of God

Slide36: 

Virtues of Caring Communities Formed in Practices of Caring Gratitude/ hope Trust/ faithfulness/ steadfastness Hospitality/ compassion/ mercy

Who are You, My Daughter?Reading Ruth Through Image and Text: 

Who are You, My Daughter? Reading Ruth Through Image and Text Ellen F. Davis, Translation and Notes Margaret Adams Parker, Woodcuts Hospitality Faithfulness Gratitude

Slide38: 

But Naomi said, “ Turn back my daughters…” Ruth 1: 8

Slide39: 

... Ruth Said, “ Entreat me not to leave… Ruth 1:16

Slide40: 

Faithfulness Faithfulness Faithfulness Faithfulness Faithfulness “Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you from me.” Faithfulness

Slide41: 

And Boaz answered her and said to her, “ It has been fully reported to me all that you have done for your mother-in-law…” Ruth 2:11

Slide42: 

Hospitality Hospitality Hospitality Hospitality Hospitality Hospitality “ I have told the men not to touch you. And whenever you are thirsty, go and get and drink from the water jars the men have filled.”

Slide43: 

And Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife… Ruth 4: 13

Slide44: 

“ The women said to Naomi: ‘ Praise be to the Lord who this day has not left you without a kinsman-redeemer……He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age’. ” Gratitude Gratitude Gratitude Gratitude Gratitude

Slide45: 

Transforming Relationships and the Healing Care of Naomi Ruth - faithfulness and steadfastness Boaz - compassion and hospitality Friends of Naomi - gratitude and hope

Slide46: 

Formed spirituality claims us within a covenant story and community of faith to serve God with gratitude, mercy, hospitality, trust, and faithfulness embodied in practices of caring for one another with a spirit of mutuality and interdependence.

Slide47: 

The Church as a Caring Community Formed in Practices of Caring : A Spirit of Gratitude, Presence, Hospitality, and Hope Gratitude to a gracious Creator and acknowledgment of interdependent createdness Faithful, steadfast, compassionate presence Caring communities bearing witness to the gifts of God through mercy and hospitality in service-mutuality of caring within our frailty and vulnerability Healing without “cure” -hope embodied in a community formed through practices of caring committed to faithfulness rather than “success” with hope grounded in gratitude for the the gifts of God

Slide48: 

“Reading a few books and coming to an intellectual understanding of the reality of our situation cannot deliver us from our wounds” Roberta Bondi ,To Pray and To Love, 1991

Slide49: 

“In sickness or in health, in sanity or in madness, in the vigour of youth or in the decrepitude of senility, God speaks these words which He spoke once to St. Augustine: ‘Run on, I will carry you, I will bring you to the end of your journey and there also will I carry you’ ” M. O’C. Drury, The Danger of Words, 1973

Slide50: 

We belong to God in sickness and in health and yes, even in death. Thanks be to God.