Outline- Christian Caregiving 1- Human Health as Christ-likeness

Outline- Christian Caregiving 1- Human Health as Christ-likeness
·        All Christians are called to be caregivers, though some will have a special gift for it (Rom 12:5-6).
·        Hindrances to caring:
o   Not feeling like an “expert” (psychologist/psychiatrist/counselor).
o   Not having a “quick fix”.
o   The community should be the normal place for healing (while calling on the help of “experts” if necessary). We are not “experts” and we do not have “quick fixes”. We are people willing to sit in the uncomfortable mess with people and call on God in hope.
·        What is a healthy human being?
o   We are not healthy by just ‘not having a problem’. Just pulling weeds makes a patch of dirt, not a garden. 
o   We try to be ‘health-centered’, rather than ‘problem-centered’.
o   Health looks like a human being continuously being shaped into the image of Christ. This means being his disciples/apprentices to learn his ways and character. We call on him to be Lord of our lives- Trusting him to know what is best for us. This is to live in the kingdom of God- to have God’s will done in our lives. 
o   As we care for people we keep God’s goal for them in mind (Christ-likeness- Gal 4:19; Gal 5:22-24; 1 Cor 13; Matt 5:48).
·        How does God’s goal (of Christ-likeness) for humanity help us as we care for people?
o   The help we offer has to be in line with God’s goal for a person.
o   This goal means God might be more concerned about your character than your comfort.
§  Don’t misunderstand, God cares about your suffering, but He also cares more about your long-term healing than your immediate healing.
o   This healing is God’s job, not ours. It’s not all up to us to make a person better. Our job is to compassionately walk with a person as we seek after God. We can let go of the pressure to ‘fix’ the person.

o   We can let go of the pressure to be an ‘expert’. If a fully healed person looks like Jesus, then caregivers need healing too. We are companions along the way, rather than an expert. We are on the same path and neither of us has arrived yet.  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Theology of Sex

Image
I spoke about abortion and the unborn in recent posts so I thought I should probably be clear on my theology of sex just to give it all a context.               When people found out that I was in seminary a common topic they would bring up for discussion was Dan Brown’s novel “The DaVinci Code”. They would look at me with scandal in their eyes and ask me about what I thought of Jesus being married.             One of the contradictions in the book was that it was somewhat based around a 12 th century Gnostic group in France sometimes called the Cathars. Gnosticism was a Heresy that has been with us for a long time. One of the main points of Gnosticism is that they deny the goodness of creation. In Gnosticism an evil god created the world, and it was a better and more pure God that came to rescue us from this evil physical material world. The Gnostics believed t...
Read more

Lust and Chastity

Image
Lust and Chastity 2 Sam 11:1-27 1 Cor 6:12-20 Matt 5:27-30 Hear the sermon here A couple years after I became a Christian I spent a month at a retreat center- actually at Kingsfold, which is where we are going this week for our parish retreat.  I spent three weeks in a fasting cabin there. It was one of the most important times in my life. That amount of time separated from television, radio, magazines and the general culture provided time for me to think about who I was and who God is. The solitude and silence allowed me to hear deeply into my own soul. It was a time when I heard God and my own thoughts very clearly.             There was a lot that came out of that experience for me. One particular experience happened when I left the retreat center to go back home. I stopped at a gas station and I remember looking at the magazine rack and being shocked at the blatant sexuality. There were some images ...
Read more

The challenge of being a priest today

I was shown a blog recently entitled “Eight of the Most Significant Struggles Pastors Face”   and it made me think about what I find challenging about being an Anglican priest, specifically, and a Christian leader in Canada, generally. Thom, in his blog above, mentions the following as struggles pastors face: Criticism and Blame, Family Problems (expectations laid on clergy families and lack of time spent with families), Stress, Depression, Burnout, Sexual Problems (often pornography or marital unfaithfulness) Financial Problems Time Management (unrealistic expectations placed on pastors) In the lengthy comment section below his blog there are many other comments like a lack of close friends, loneliness, and seeing a lack of spiritual growth in the congregations they lead .      It inspired me to think about what I personally find so challenging about being a priest. When I hear older clergy talk about the church in the 50’s is sounds li...
Read more