A Community Built Upon
Pastoral Care
Anxious Times
Ministers today are called to Pastoral Care that reaches beyond traditional hospital and home visits. Congregants carry the stress of a divided nation, a still-unfolding pandemic, a threatened democracy, and a warming planet—not to mention concerns about membership and engagement. Minsters must provide layered and subtle forms of pastoral care—from the pulpit, at coffee hour, and in meetings. The core lesson of chaplaincy is essential, to be first and foremost a “non-anxious presence” in an anxious time.
Counseling
I’m grateful for the pastoral care training I received while Intern Minister at Cedar Lane, where I learned how to organize care teams and facilitate support groups. That work now helps me extend my own efforts through a network of qualified lay leaders. I also find deep satisfaction in one-on-one sessions with congregants, where I’m honored to bear witness to the beauty and complexity of their lives.
Worshipful Care
Pastoral Care and Worship are intimately linked. Sunday services should be a response to real world events, both personal and communal. Emergency vigils offer comfort in the wake of Supreme Court decisions, contested elections, and the repeated killing of innocent Black people. Tradition-specific services, like those inspired by Yom Kippur, Samhain, or Good Friday, bring healing and comfort to the whole community.
7th Principle People
Flowing through the work of Pastoral Care is the need for a congregation to experience themselves as participants in a compassionate, interdependent network of human beings in mutual need and with mutual gifts to share. Our 7th Principle reminds us that we are part of an “interdependent web of all existence.” And yet, we often take pride in caring for ourselves - in being independent rather than interdependent. That approach creates unnecessary divides where speaking honestly about our needs and vulnerability might create bridges. The shift from rugged individualism to loving mutuality is a slow one and most likely to be embraced through first hand experience. As members learn to reach out with compassion and vulnerability, defenses begin to fall and the benefits of understanding ourselves as 7th Principle People begin to unfold.
