BeFrienders

I spent four days this week with three amazing lay people at church who have committed to being the leadership team for a new ministry at Centennial. The four of us went to an intensive training for BeFrienders ministry - we learned what we need to know to begin, train, and administrate this new ministry. I believe our people need this ministry, because all of the pastoral care is currently provided by Brian, Julia, and myself. There are so many needs that the three of us alone can not meet. And we have so many in our congregation who have been gifted with the ability to offer care and compassion through a listening ear.

The training was a good reminder of what I learned in seminary - even with all of the training I have recieved, it is easy to forget at times, and fall back into the pattern of talking more than listening, when sitting with someone who is going through a difficult time.

The foundational principles of BeFrienders ministry is:
1. Remember that God is present.
2. We are called to care for people, not offer cures.
3. We are called to be a nonjudgmental presence to people during difficult times.
4. We are called to active listening (which means a whole lot of listening and a little bit of talking)

These seem basic enough, but they are pretty big things! May God be with us as we begin this ministry and guide us along a path that will lead to greater care for others...
melanie

Welcoming the Stranger, Part I

Whew!
I am excited to be talking about the role our faith plays in how we view issues of immigration. I was disappointed that the first article we read was written in such a polarizing way. I am particularly interested in how we study and explore our scriptures and understand them in ways that are relevant for today. So I was interested in Myers exploration of Isaiah and the early Israelite communities response to "the other" as they made their way back "home" after suffering in Babylonian exile. But it seemed to me that Myers muddied the waters -diminished the import of the scriptures - with his interpretive lens focused almost entirely on imperialism and elitism.

I am more interested in his allusion to Mark 7 - this was one of the passages that I preached on recently, along with James, when I spoke about being stained or unstained by the world. What the prophets Nehemiah and Ezra were doing was the same thing the Pharisees were trying to do during the time of Jesus. Requiring everyone to follow purity laws, or insisting that the Israelites divorce foreign wives, was really a fence built to around the Holy to protect the faith. By building enough layers of laws and enough fences around their identity, they felt more secure that outside forces couldn't seep in and estroy the fabric of their faith.

Christians do the same thing today. Most people of faith probably do. We love God and want to protect that which is precious to us. That is not in question. The question is how we go about caring for what we love. In an age of terrorism, when it's easy to be scared of "the other", it takes a whole lot more courage to embrace Isaiah and Jesus over Nehemiah and Ezra, who said, "My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples." (Luke 19:46; Isaiah 56:7).

What did you think of Ched Myers article? When looking at the issues around the migration of peoples, does it make a differense if a person is an immigrant versus a refugee?

I found the second article more interesting, as I like history and learned more about understanding of "sanctuary" throughout our collective history. I read a book about the Sanctuary movement of the early 80s when persons from Guatemala and El Salvador were trying to escape persecution by coming to the United States. I stayed with a nun in a small village in Guatemala several years ago, one that was greatly impacted and lost many persons during the Civil War in that country. The nun, Sister Mary, had stayed in the village throughout the worst of the atrocities and now teaches local people healing touch, so they can offer care to those with post traumatic stress disorder - those families members who were spared their lives but suffered much torture. I'm not sure I could have stayed during the atrocities like Sister Mary did. My natural instinct would have been to flee, which is what many tried to do during that time.

I am struck by the image of sanctuary as a place where God resides. Jesus described himself as a sanctuary - and we sing the words to a contemporary hymn -
Lord prepare me, to be a sanctuary
Pure and holy, tried and true
With thanksgiving, I'll be a living
sanctuary, for you.

Sanctuary, a place where God resides.
A place of safety. A place of peace.
How I wish there were more places of sanctuary within war-torn and poverty stricken countries. But when there aren't, how do we create sanctuaries, places of safety, for all the people of God?

Please post your comments on the two readings, any of the questions I've put forth here, or the questions posed on page 3 of our study guide. Your comments will not post to the site immediately, as I need to okay all postings. I will not edit anyone's comments - please speak your mind (please try to do so respectfully) - I only need to be sure that no spam postings are published on the blog. I am at a BeFrienders Ministry training all day Monday, so your postings will be published after 6pm on Monday. Please be sure to check back in during the week, so you can read what others think! And one more thing - please consider posting your thoughts - it makes the conversation much more lively and fruitful if people share their thoughts and experiences.
Blessings to you!
- Melanie