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“For do you not know |
Pastoral Care and Presence
As C.S. Lewis says, we are all “possible gods and goddesses… All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to this destination… There are no ordinary people.”
There are no ordinary people. Each of us is created in the image of God. Most of us have forgotten this fact; or it has been buried under the effects of trauma or neglect; or obscured by fear and grief. When we lose our awareness of the Divine within, and our connection to the Divine in others, there is suffering, grief, anxiety, loneliness. Spiritual care, first and foremost, is reminding, affirming, and guiding people back into the fullness of their own divinity and their connection to all beings and to God.
Pastoral care is not always “particularly pastoral or ‘nice’…[it] disturbs as well as comforts, provokes as well as guides. It breaks silences and calls for radical truth telling; it names shame and guilt, calls for confession and repentance, and moves vigilantly towards forgiveness and reconciliation,” says Bonnie Miller-McLemore in her book Christian Theology in Practice. However, in order for pastoral care to be effective and meaningful, all of these things must flow forth from a deep, underlying compassion.
We human beings are social creatures, requiring emotional and physical connections to be whole, to reflect back to us the truth of our divinity, and to offer strength and courage when our own are failing. Parker Palmer speaks to this in his book A Hidden Wholeness, saying, “First, we all have an inner teacher whose guidance is more reliable than anything we can get from a doctrine, ideology, collective belief system, institution, or leader. Second, we all need other people to invite, amplify, and help us discern the inner teacher's voice.”
There are no ordinary people. Each of us is created in the image of God. Most of us have forgotten this fact; or it has been buried under the effects of trauma or neglect; or obscured by fear and grief. When we lose our awareness of the Divine within, and our connection to the Divine in others, there is suffering, grief, anxiety, loneliness. Spiritual care, first and foremost, is reminding, affirming, and guiding people back into the fullness of their own divinity and their connection to all beings and to God.
Pastoral care is not always “particularly pastoral or ‘nice’…[it] disturbs as well as comforts, provokes as well as guides. It breaks silences and calls for radical truth telling; it names shame and guilt, calls for confession and repentance, and moves vigilantly towards forgiveness and reconciliation,” says Bonnie Miller-McLemore in her book Christian Theology in Practice. However, in order for pastoral care to be effective and meaningful, all of these things must flow forth from a deep, underlying compassion.
We human beings are social creatures, requiring emotional and physical connections to be whole, to reflect back to us the truth of our divinity, and to offer strength and courage when our own are failing. Parker Palmer speaks to this in his book A Hidden Wholeness, saying, “First, we all have an inner teacher whose guidance is more reliable than anything we can get from a doctrine, ideology, collective belief system, institution, or leader. Second, we all need other people to invite, amplify, and help us discern the inner teacher's voice.”