How can I get better at pastoral care? I can pay attention to my own practice, my own interactions with husbands and wives, parents and children, moments of excruciating difficulty. In each of those moments (or immediately after) I can ask myself, "What am I learning that will help me with the next one of those moments. What questions can I ask myself and others? What can I learn about attending to bits of information and infusing them back into the care all of us provide?"
Video: What’s the lesson God’s teaching?
I often hear people talking about God teaching them this lesson or that. Though we have many stories about the ways that Jesus was teaching people, most of them don't fit in our sense of "teaching people a lesson." This video from a few of my friends will help you understand what I mean. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdYWGRfKW9w
10 simple phrases when visiting in the first hours after a death.
I’m sorry. Nothing: (Sixty seconds of silence) May I take care of that? (and take the tissue out of their hands and give them a fresh one and throw it away and wash your hands) This is hard. Yes, I remember that time. I don’t know. . whether pets are in heaven . . . … Continue reading 10 simple phrases when visiting in the first hours after a death.
Can my loved one hear me?
In the last hours and minutes of people's lives, laying in hospital and hospice beds, we often hear the question, "Can they hear us?" Chaplains and nurses often say, "Yes. Of course. The hearing is the last thing to go." But I think there may be a more important question to ask. And that is, … Continue reading Can my loved one hear me?
