Top 25 Spiritual Equivalencies of HOME, Rev. J. Scott Cartwright 1

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1 WHCA/WiCAL 53 rd Annual Spring Conference Top 25 Vital Spiritual Equivalencies of Rev. Scott Cartwright, MDiv., BCC Director of Spiritual Care Cerenity Senior Care of White Bear Lake Top 25 Vital Spiritual Equivalencies of Outline 1. Presentation Description & Goals a. Elder s and Chaplain s Stories b. Identifying & Answering the Big Question Top 25 Vital Spiritual Equivalencies of Outline 2. Hindrances & Nurturances a. Elders Views b. Your View c. The Institution s View Top 25 Rev. J. Scott Cartwright 1

2 Top 25 Vital Spiritual Equivalencies of Outline 3. Top Twenty Five Countdown Vital Spiritual Equivalencies of 4. Personal and Professional Integration 5. HOME Blessing An Elder s Story: Facing Reality What is the matter with us, that when you need home the most when you need community the most, when you need choice the most, when you need self-confidence the most, when you need relationships the most you don t have it? It never even occurred to us that where you live could be a home. Steve Shields, nursing home administrator Top 25 Rev. J. Scott Cartwright 2

3 A Chaplain s Story: Realizing the Big Question Introducing The Big Question Am I willing to live in my Care Center? Am I willing to make this my HOME? We must learn to see ourselves in the faces of elders if we are to cultivate the empathy needed to create a real home with them. Imagine yourself as a resident. What if it were you? (Shields, Norton, Sunbeam, p. 8) Am I willing to make this my home? Top 25 Rev. J. Scott Cartwright 3

4 Your Story: Let s ask the Big Question Am I willing to make my Care Center HOME? Hindrances & Nurturances Elders Views Your View The Institution s View Top 25 Rev. J. Scott Cartwright 4

5 Top Twenty-Five Vital Spiritual Equivalencies of is #24...Journey or Pilgrimage fueled by a universal longing. Classically, the understanding of life, the unfolding of identity and creativity, the notion of growth and discovery were articulated through the metaphor of the journey Each human life is the journey from childhood to a realized adult life. Each day is a journey out of darkness into light. Each friendship and love is the intimate journey where the soul is born and grows. The journey is the drama of the heart s voyage into the tide of possibilities which open before it. (O Donohue, Beauty, 25) Top 25 Rev. J. Scott Cartwright 5

6 is #23 Paradox/Contradiction/ Perplexity/Not Knowing The very contradictions in my life are in some ways signs of God's mercy to me. Thomas Merton is #22 Wildness Top 25 Rev. J. Scott Cartwright 6

7 in Wildness is the preservation of the world. (Thoreau, Collected Essays and Poems, Walking, p. 239) is #21 Solitude Top 25 Rev. J. Scott Cartwright 7

8 Margaret, out on the Veranda, early in the morning one day last summer I love the quiet, the solitude. It helps me think about my life, put things together get things into perspective. is #20...Belonging in a Community In and through community lies the salvation of the world. (M. Scott Peck, The Different Drum, p. 17) Top 25 Rev. J. Scott Cartwright 8

9 is #19...Body The body is your only home in the universe. It is your house of belonging here in the world. (O Donohue, Anam Cara, 48) is #18...Strength found in Brokenness/ Weakness/Disability Top 25 Rev. J. Scott Cartwright 9

10 Adam: God s Beloved Through embracing Adam s brokenness, Henri Nouwen came to be able to embrace his own brokenness, and to become more human, and to find himself finally at home. Adam: God s Beloved Through embracing Adam s brokenness, Henri Nouwen came to be able to embrace his own brokenness, and to become more human, and to find himself finally at home. is #17...the power of Gentleness/Tenderness Top 25 Rev. J. Scott Cartwright 10

11 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. (Matthew 5:5) Everywhere there is tenderness, care and kindness, there is beauty. (O Donohue, Beauty, 12) is #16...experiencing Beauty Top 25 Rev. J. Scott Cartwright 11

12 The human soul is hungry for beauty; we seek it everywhere in landscape, music, art, clothes, furniture, gardening, companionship, loved, religion and in ourselves. No-one would desire not to be beautiful. When we experience the Beautiful, there is a sense of homecoming. (John O Donohue, Beauty, 2) is #15 having Time "Life is now. There was never a time when your life was not now, nor will there ever be" "Nothing ever happened in the past; it happened in the Now. Nothing will ever happen in the future; it will happen in the Now" (Tolle, The Power of Now, p. 41) Top 25 Rev. J. Scott Cartwright 12

13 is #14 Radical Hospitality / Welcoming the Stranger is #13 Surprise!! I would say about individuals, an individual dies when he ceases to be surprised. I am surprised every morning that I see the sun shine again. When I see an act of evil I m not accommodated I don t accommodate myself to the violence that goes on everywhere. I m still surprised. That s why I m against it, why I can fight against it. We must learn how to be surprised. Not to adjust ourselves. I am the most maladjusted person in society. Abraham Joshua Heschel, On Being with Krista Tippett Top 25 Rev. J. Scott Cartwright 13

14 is #12...Play Question Do you play at home? At your work home? To play is one of the most precious ways of being together and creating human fellowship. To play is the affirmation of the goodness of the here and now and the celebration of the moment. We play not because we want to accomplish something, but simply because we are alive life is a playful dance in the presence of God. (Nouwen, Care and the Elderly) Top 25 Rev. J. Scott Cartwright 14

15 is #11 Meaning and Purpose is #10 Remembering Everybody needs his memories. They keep the wolf of insignificance from the door. Saul Bellow Top 25 Rev. J. Scott Cartwright 15

16 is #9 Someone s Waiting for Me is #8 Love/Compassion and the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13:13b) Top 25 Rev. J. Scott Cartwright 16

17 is #7 Family is #6 Friendship/Anam Cara In everyone s life, there is great need for an anam cara, a soul friend. In this love, you are understood as you are without mask or pretension. The superficial and functional lies and half-truths of social acquaintance fall away, you can be as you really are. Love allows understanding to dawn, and understanding is precious. Where you are understood, you are at home. The anam cara is God s gift. (O Donohue, Anam Cara, 14,15) Top 25 Rev. J. Scott Cartwright 17

18 Gallup Poll Employee Satisfaction: #1 determining question is Do you have a best friend at work? is #5 Generosity/Kenosis Christian tradition the Kenosis of Christ Philippians 2 5 Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, 7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, 8 he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death even death on a cross. Top 25 Rev. J. Scott Cartwright 18

19 is #4 Elderhood elderhood noun The state of being and living as an elder. It is founded on the developmental potential that is latent in late life, and is as distinct from adulthood as adulthood is from childhood. (Thomas, What Are Old People For?, 226.) Truly Verily Top 25 Rev. J. Scott Cartwright 19

20 is #3 Seeing/Being Seen Peek-a-boo. I see you! Top 25 Rev. J. Scott Cartwright 20

21 1 When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. 2 Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying: 3 "Blessed are (Matthew 5) But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion.. (Luke 15:20b) is #2...My Self / My Human Being What can we gain by sailing to the moon if we are not able to cross the abyss that separates us from ourselves? This is the most important of all voyages of discovery, and without it, all the rest are not only useless, but disastrous... There is in us an instinct for newness, for renewal, for a liberation of creative power. We seek to awaken in ourselves a force that really changes our lives from within. And yet the same instinct tells us that this change is a recovery of that which is deepest, most original, most personal in ourselves. To be born again is not to become somebody else, but to become ourselves. Thomas Merton Top 25 Rev. J. Scott Cartwright 21

22 is #1 the end of my days - Dying/Death Lord, show me the end of my days, that I might gain a heart of wisdom. Psalm 90:12 is #0 God/Blessing/ Healing/Wholeness Top 25 Rev. J. Scott Cartwright 22

23 "You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you. Saint Augustine is +? What would you add? is +? What would you add? What is a vital spiritual equivalency of Home to you? Top 25 Rev. J. Scott Cartwright 23

24 Responses to Personal? Professional? HOME BLESSING For a New Home May this house shelter your life. When you come in home here, may all the weight of the world fall from your shoulders. May your heart be tranquil here, blessed by peace the world cannot give. May this home be a lucky place, where the graces your life desires always find the pathway to your door. HOME BLESSING May nothing destructive ever cross your threshold. May this be a safe place full of understanding and acceptance, where you can be as you are, without the need of any mask of pretense or image. May this home be a place of discovery, where the possibilities that sleep in the clay of your soul can emerge to deepen and refine your vision for all that is yet to come to birth. Top 25 Rev. J. Scott Cartwright 24

25 HOME BLESSING May it be a house of courage, where healing and growth are loved, where dignity and forgiveness prevail; a home where patience of spirit is prized, and the sight of the destination is never lost though the journey may be difficult and slow. May there be great delight around this hearth. May it be a house of welcome for the broken and diminished. May you have the eyes to see that no visitor arrives without a gift and no guest leaves without a blessing. John O Donohue, To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Blessings Thank you. May God bless you and those you work with in such a way that you are each at HOME. WHCA/WiCAL 53 rd Annual Spring Conference Top 25 Vital Spiritual Equivalencies of Rev. Scott Cartwright, MDiv., BCC Director of Spiritual Care Cerenity Senior Care of White Bear Lake scott.cartwright@bhshealth.org Top 25 Rev. J. Scott Cartwright 25