As a follow-up to the Cross Roads January issue on aging, I'd like to highlight the Elder Ministry's plans for the year 2001. Before addressing the future, I'll briefly review how the Elder Ministry came to exist.
In the spring of 1999, several parishioners began to voice concerns for more focused attention on the interests, gifts, and needs of older adults in our church community. By the fall, the Rev. Vicky Jamieson-Drake and Dr. Andy Dobelstein, a member of the Vestry and a faculty member of the University's School of Social Work, helped the church procure a social work student intern to assist parishioners and staff with the task of understanding our older adult population. Over the year, the church's first social work intern, Sue Davis (2 days/week), worked with members of the Elder Ministry Steering Committee to identify existing resources in the community and to further explore the issues and interests of our older adult members.
By the time I arrived as the new social work intern for the year 2000-2001, the Elder Ministry Steering Committee had named four areas of program focus: enhancing the spiritual, educational, social, and personal well-being of our older adult members. One of my first tasks was to conduct a survey of 250 members, aged 65 and older. This survey was an initial attempt to learn more about our older adult members' interests, gifts, and needs in regards to the four areas listed above. The majority of those who responded to the survey affirmed an interest in the development of Elder Ministry activities and support. This is where the Elder Ministry currently stands as we look toward further development this year.
After meeting with the Elder Ministry Steering Committee, Vicky Jamieson-Drake and I made a presentation to the Vestry on December 14, 2000. We proposed the continued funding for a three-day/week social work intern to assist with the further development of the Elder Ministry during the 2001-2002 academic year. In the meantime, as the current social work intern, I will coordinate program events that focus on the educational and social interests of our older adults, such as our luncheon with guest speaker Robert Seymour last October. We designed this January's facilitated discussion -- "Where We Have Been and Where We Are Going ...," -- with the goal of building community, and 32 people have already signed up to share their life experiences and their expectations of future paths. Through programs like these, we hope to create a safe environment where participants may eventually feel open and supported to discuss more difficult life issues, such as the loss of a loved one and end-of-life planning.
Above all, we see the Elder Ministry evolving over this next year and, as a process, we hope to understand better how this ministry might connect with existing parish and community programs to support and integrate the gifts of our older adult members and to respond to those in need. To this end, I will be collaborating with Parish Visitors, Stephen Ministry, Adult Education, and Campus Ministry to help strengthen the parish's commitment to our older parishioners. Together, as a caring community, we can determine how better to serve, love, and learn with each other.
*** Elder Ministry programs and events are open to all ages -- we encourage you to get involved!
In 1995, I retired from a 28-year career with the Army Nurse Corps. I still needed to work, so I bought the latest copy of What Color Is Your Umbrella and began to compile lists to help with my job search. However, there was one item I never consciously acknowledged, and therefore it never found a place on my many lists. I longed to find a way to do things for my late mother (and her caregivers, my father and aunt) that I never had the chance to do while she was alive because I was too busy with other things.
Of the offers I received, I chose the role of director of nursing in a retirement community. I didn't know anything about long term care, its regulations, nuances, and people, but I was reassured by those who hired me that I could quickly learn all "that stuff." Personnel management was needed first. Yet, "that stuff," particularly the people and situations, were what ultimately bound my work with my faith.
I learned that treasures were important (a life-time of collecting memories). Yet, there were other things of importance to which I had previously given little thought. Among this "stuff" were the ability to manage one's finances or to drive a car; the sense of taste so food eaten could be enjoyed; privacy in the bathroom and with aspects of personal hygiene; control over making even small decisions, like which shoes to wear or what time to take medicine; the reassurance of recognizing oneself in the mirror rather than seeing a stranger. It certainly said a lot for the different kind of losses one might experience with long life.
One evening, after a particularly difficult day at work, I sat in the living room of our house, thinking about "stuff" what I would have about me if I lived in just one small room, how it might be if there was no way to get myself outside to enjoy the sunshine, if I saw only a pinpoint from each eye, if no one touched me, except to do a task. The old adage of walking a mile in another's shoes was an uncomfortable fit. It was the window into the world of the elderly that I needed to experience even if it did pinch.
The next Sunday found me thumbing through my prayer book during a sermon (I confess!). I was stunned to find things written just for ME (or so it seemed). Of them all, I found the sum of "that stuff," the binding of my work with my faith and the knowledge that I am giving back to Mom, Pop, and my aunt, in the words of Prayer 49. [The Book of Common Prayer, page 830]
Look with mercy, O God our Father, on all whose increasing years bring them weakness, distress, or isolation. Provide for them homes of dignity and peace; give them understanding helpers, and the willingness to accept help; and, as their strength diminishes, increase their faith and their assurance of your love. This we ask in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
Its beauty is its simplicity. "That Stuff" is what I do. It's a wonderful life.
Some years ago I agreed to be a helper in a Sunday school class of 4-year-olds. This was the beginning of a learning experience unlike any other I have had. Robert Fulgrum was right, everything you need to know is there. There is something about me that likes the literal possibilities in the metaphorical: I like handling manna, touching the stars that Abraham counted, and netting the fish that were in one of the first great Eucharistic meals. However, I need a guide to assure that balance and emphasis are right in the classroom.
Early in my career as a Church School teacher the Episcopal Children's Curriculum (ECC) was published. Using this curriculum has been a fascinating journey for me. The ECC is that rarest of all educational tools: a program of complete flexibility within sublime organization. It is firmly based on scripture, the Book of Common Prayer, the Hymnal, and Church history and tradition, and it provides ample exploration of the often neglected aspects of education: the intuitive and the imaginative.
The materials are divided into three yearly programs at the primary and intermediate levels: Cross (worship), Chalice (Eucharist), and Shell (Baptism). Each of these yearly programs is divided into four units that focus on the Old Testament, the New Testament, the Sacraments, and the Church. Each lesson within the units provides the teacher with a plan that contains resources for the creative and imaginative as well as the didactic approach to the focused material. The ECC has made it possible for teachers without a profound background in Church scholarship to become truly effective Christian educators‹as well as students themselves. Each week I learn something new as I prepare to share some aspect of our Christian heritage with my class.
Parents can participate in the Church School experience in many ways: by offering to share a talent or interest with the class, by assisting in the classroom on occasion, but most importantly by taking an interest in the child's participation and initiating dialogue about class content. This is a good opportunity for the child to communicate thoughts about religious and ethical subjects with parents. In the younger grades art cards are distributed at the end of the class to take home. This card will indicate the lesson content. At the intermediate level a newspaper, Church Times, goes home with the students and a more detailed layout of the week's focus is available.
The four-year-olds I taught years ago are now past confirmation and are juniors in high school. Today, along with Patty Courtright and Miranda Hodgkins, I have a fifth-grade class. The last time I told them they were the best class in the whole church school they suggested that I "just said that." Well, I didn't, they are. In the fall we studied the Psalms and the children wrote one. They were all fine; space allows me only to share one of them.
My PsalmI feel love when I think of God
God has helped me through hard times.
He helps me, and shows me the right way to go
He shows me how, and helps me through it.Because of God's love, I show love and happiness to others
When I praise him, he fills my heart with love.I will give him thanks and praise
I will give him thanks and praise in church, with love.
I will do my best to make the world a better place
I will praise him lovingly.-- Mary Ann Reeves
Amy Gordon, our Director of Christian Education, will be happy to discuss with potential teachers opportunities in Church School education at the Chapel of the Cross.
So, if you feel the need to return to Sunday school -- don't hesitate -- it's never too late.