Recently, Pastor Rebecca Ebb-Speese (Pastor Becky), MapleCreek's director of pastoral care was approached by a journalist, G. Jeffrey MacDonald who was doing an article on the change of faith in seniors.

The article, titled "Soul Search," appears in the May's USA TODAY special publication, "The Best Years." Pastor Becky gives insight about what she's learned about senior faith from working at MapleCreek. She talks about how some seniors grow spiritually, even after moving into a retirement community.

She mentioned how seniors often have a hard time feeling comfortable with faith. 

From the article: "Ebb-Speese says many newcomers hesitate at first, worrying they don't have the right clothes for worship, lack the right knowledge for discussion, or can't spare a dollar for the offering ...  "But somehow when they're here, they mellow ... A lot of them enter into religious activity through personal one-on-one relationships.""

She also tried to break down some stereotypes about seniors:

""People have an assumption that seniors are very stuck in their ways, but they are not," Ebb-Speese says. "There's something about the senior years that enables them to blossom and be open to new things, much more so than middleaged people.""

MapleCreek resident, Jean Skiver, who was recently baptized by Pastor Becky, was quoted in the article as well. To read the full article click here, and to order a copy of the magazine, click here.

These thoughts on Lent are from Pastor Rebecca Ebb-Speese, chaplain at MapleCreek in Grand Rapids.

I have been pondering what I should be giving up for Lent this year. A given is always sugar. But this year I have had an awakening that Lent is for receiving, which requires giving up the need for fierce independence.

I started Lent this year by having knee surgery. This has given me the gift of a little over two weeks off work. I looked forward to this time of rest and reflection at the beginning of Lent. 

Now, a few days into my leave, I have had to experience a lot of giving up: of independence, of driving, of cooking my own meals (that’s a gift in its own right!), of caring for the household chores. I have given up most of these to my husband, who is willing to give of his time to take over.

When I was in the recovery room, the surgeon came in to tell me how the surgery went. I was quite surprised to hear him say that I had donor parts in my knee. At first, I thought it was kind of creepy to realize I had a dead person’s ligaments and cartilage in my body. I didn’t even realize that donor parts were used for knee repair. When I think of organ donors, I think of the big ones, like the heart, lung and liver. It never occurred to me that that what seem like small, insignificant body parts are also used. And I never imagined myself being a recipient. Wow! Someone’s death gave me new parts in my knee so that I can experience healing. That sure sounds like Lent to me. Someone else gave his whole life so that we can have new life! 

Lent is about receiving. It’s about receiving the sacrifice of life that Jesus gave to us. It’s about receiving grace and forgiveness. It’s about letting go of our need to be gods in charge of our own lives as we let God guide us and the Holy Spirit open us up to receive wonderful gifts.

I am also learning that Lent is about letting others care for me. I am a professional caregiver. It’s hard for me to be on the receiving end. Most people want to be able to give and care. It’s a gift for them to receive. I am thankful for the gift of my donor’s knee parts, for the gifts of prayers and cards, for meals and flowers, for calls and visits and for the many other ways people are reaching out. I am humbled. As the weeks progress, I will be more and more opened to learn to receive with thankfulness, especially to Jesus for his life-giving gift of going to the cross, which led, ultimately, to his resurrection!

(Photo by Enygmatic-Halycon, Creative Commons)
 

Jean Skiver, 85, just never got around to being baptized. She attended a Baptist church with her first husband, and became close to the pastor’s wife. Her second husband was an active member of a Lutheran church, and she attended worship services with him but never formally joined.

Jean moved to The Terraces in Grand Rapids, which offers catered independent living for active seniors, 13 years ago. She says it’s a very caring community.

“When I moved here, I met a man who is still a friend and who was active in the chapel. I would also attend his Lutheran church in the community,” said Jean, who spent her working years as a housekeeper in a hospital and a college.

At MapleCreek, Jean enjoys the wide variety of social activities that offer fellowship with other residents. She started going to a volunteer-led Bible study Because Jean has some health problems that it hard for others to understand her, she doesn’t like to speak in group settings. She relies on her friend, Barb Bell, who also lives at MapleCreek, to be her voice, helping her to participate in activities she formerly avoided. She also began talking to MapleCreek's chaplain, Rebecca Ebb-Speese, known as Pastor Becky, about spiritual matters. Jean says she enjoys exploring issues of faith.

Early in the new year, Jean told Pastor Becky she wanted to be baptized. “I want to accept God and to feel more connected to church,” she said.  “I had my children baptized and now it’s time for me.”

Pastor Becky officiated at the ceremony and Barb Bell served as Jean's sponsor.

“My quality of life has changed since I moved to MapleCreek and started attending spiritual activities,” Jean said. “I know these are good for me. I feel better about my life.”

After witnessing Jean’s baptism, another resident came to Pastor Becky and said she’d never been baptized either, and she wanted to do it too. Her ceremony was held the following day, with all the residents in attendance serving as sponsors.

The "Faith at Work" blog series is created and written by Pastor Doug Kahl, LSSM's Organizational Chaplain. Look for a new entry every week!

These thoughts on compassion are prompted by a sentence fragment which speaks about American society in general in 2011.  The fragment says:

                “Compassion is out of fashion; in fact, lack of compassion has become a matter of principle…”

In response to that I wonder if those who have become so “compassionless” have ever wondered what a day without God’s compassion would be like.  What would the world do without God’s compassion on display constantly?  His compassion is so intricately interwoven into all he has made; if we went without it for even a brief moment, it would mean chaos.  Psalm 145:9 says it all:

                “The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made.”

What scares me is that the virtue of compassion seems to be missing from so much of life today.  We seem to be unafraid to speak, act, and react without it, as though somehow God’s compassion will fill in all the places where we no longer care to express any.

Without our compassion to accompany the compassion of God daily life will be miserable for countless people who count on us every day to think with our hearts as well as our minds.  God chooses to not always make up for what we lack or refuse to use.  How do we go about making compassion an “in” thing in our society?

The "Faith at Work" blog series is created and written by Pastor Doug Kahl, LSSM's Organizational Chaplain. Look for a new entry every week!

One of the greatest spiritual gifts that can be offered in times of disaster is hope.  Hope is extended by our presence with those suffering, by listening ears that hear the pain and sorrow, and by well-timed words of hope.  The following Bible passages are quoted from the “Serendipity Bible,” NIV.  They are here to use with others and to bring a renewed sense of God’s direction for you.

1.     Ruth 1:16-17… But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you.  Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay.  Your people will be my people and your God my God.  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 and me.”

2.    Psalm 23

3.    Psalm 91:11-12… For He will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in your hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.

4.    Psalm 103:8… The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.

5.    Psalm 121:7-8… The Lord will keep you from all harm – he will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.

6.    Psalm 138:7-8a… Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life; you stretch out your hands against the anger of my foes, with your right hand you save me.  The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me.

7.    Isaiah 46:4… Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you.  I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.

8.    Isaiah 41:10… So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

9.    Matthew 76:7… Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.

10. Matthew 11:28… Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

The "Faith at Work" blog series is created and written by Pastor Doug Kahl, LSSM's Organizational Chaplain. Look for a new entry every week!

Think of all the wonderful things you can do in 72 hours.  That’s 3 full days.  If someone gave them to you as a gift (which God does over and over again) what would you plan?

·        Curl up and read a good book or two?

·        Go golfing until you couldn’t swing another club?

·        Take your grandchildren to the zoo?

·        Write letters to friends you haven’t written to in awhile?

·        Go for a long drive with no destination or deadline?

72 hours…3 full days…they would fly by in a heart beat!  Unless, you had to figure out how to survive a disaster for which you weren’t prepared.  That’s how long it could be before vital services are restored in a major disaster; 3 days or longer.  It’s time to once again think about how well prepared we are to survive, on our own, for that critical 72 hour period.

So let’s begin by going over the basics.  First we need to have a kit; then we have to make a plan; and finally we need to be informed.  These are the basic activities at the heart of disaster preparation. 

The "Faith at Work" blog series is created and written by Pastor Doug Kahl, LSSM's Organizational Chaplain. Look for a new entry every week!

In school we were all part of certain groups.  There were the athletes and the nerds.  There were who we in the late 1960s called the “hoods” (bad kids) and the good kids.  There were cheerleaders and other cool kids and the shy, skinny or fat on the sideline kids who weren’t cool.  The group you belonged to identified you, caused you to feel good or bad about yourself, and often dictated where you ate, where you walked, to whom you talked, and at least during those years what your future looked like.

I believe adults today (and maybe always) put themselves and others into certain groupings as well.  And all the groups boil down to those who belong and those who don’t.  For those who belong life is pretty good.  For those who don’t it isn’t.  During this process, unfortunately, the group that belongs marginalizes the group that doesn’t.  And the longer this message is allowed to continue the less hopeful marginalized people feel.

The sad reality is that it is often those very folks most marginalized whom God expects us to welcome and encourage.  Is it possible for all of us to belong and none of us to feel left out?

Hi!  I’m Doug Kahl, LSSM’s Organizational Chaplain. The writings that will appear in the "Faith at Work" blog series are intended to encourage the use of what we believe in our work lives. They will, I hope, also encourage dialogue about the public use of what is often thought of as  personal – our faith.  Welcome to the conversation.

BLOGGING ON LIVING THAT REFLECTS OUR FAITH

The tumult in the public square these days has me wondering about living a life that reflects faith in a nation that has a spiritual/Christian foundation.  I’m not seeing the faith that builds and maintains living for the furthering of the common good influencing our decision making.

The Bible is filled with stories about and “formulas” for what it means to live out our faith, especially for those of us who are Christian.  My favorite “formula” is recorded in the Old Testament book of Micah, chapter 6, verse 8.  It reads, with my additions in parentheses, like this:

“He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you but to do justice (making individuals, communities, and the cosmos whole by upholding goodness and impartiality), to love mercy (when we are spared from judgment and harm), and to walk humbly (free from pride, knowing that I am in inadequate but also knowing who I am in Christ) with God.”

In a recent New York Times opinion piece these statistics caught my eye:

1.       400 people control more of the wealth than 150 million of their fellow Americans.

2.      Average middle class family income has stagnated over the past 30 years while the richest 1 percent have seen income skyrocket.

3.      Political scientists have shown that it’s not public opinion but the opinions of the wealthy that predict votes in the Senate.

What’s all this say about justice, mercy, and humility (the very heart of faith) in America today?