Good News For a Change

A few years ago I started a blog called Good News for a Change in which I hoped to share uplifting articles, encouraging news, and stories of people finding ways to accomplish good things. Sadly the blog fell by the wayside for a number of reasons but I’ve always liked the idea.

SO… with this post… I am reinstating Good News for a Change, not as a blog, but as a category within this Getting Started blog — which has a much longer history and larger readership.

The following was submitted by a fellow clergyman and written by a friend of his, Steve Farmer. Enjoy the good news! And anytime you have good news to share please do. Add a comment below, or send me a note back-channel and I’ll write up an article for you.

Steve writes:

“Back to work today, forgot my pass so locked bike outside Cannon Street [London] station. Left work at 6pm to find just the cut lock and no bike, resigned to never seeing my trusty stead again asked the station if they have cameras. A guy appeared waving at me, asked me to put the code into my cut lock. He replied ‘I have your bike’ with a smile I will never forget!! His name is Abdul Muneeb and he works for South Eastern Railways, he was on a break and saw a guy bolt cut the lock and challenged him to give it back, he then took it inside and waited 4 hours after his shift finished to personally make sure I got my bike back. The world needs more Abdul’s, he is a legend of a man and a credit to his employer.”

 

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Voice of a Dreamer

A week ago today the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that our nation’s Dreamers will be allowed to stay awhile longer — that efforts to dismantle the DACA program were attempted illegally.

DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) protects people who came to the United States as dependent children from deportation. It also provides work papers for those who are old enough to legally work.

DACA recipients – or “Dreamers” – have grown up in the U.S., gone to school here, gone to college or learned a trade here, have not broken any laws, and in many cases have served in the military. They are people who embody “the American dream”.

This past week I received the following email from a Christian organization that supports legal immigration. It was written by Liz Dong, a Dreamer, who is head of the organization Voices of Christian Dreamers. Shared with permission.

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“Like many people in my situation, I will never forget the day that I first heard about DACA. By the grace of God – and thanks to a lot of advocacy from brave young immigrants who were sharing their personal stories when I was not ready for that myself, not to mention many Christian leaders who were beginning to speak up for immigrants in ways guided by biblical principles – the DACA program was announced eight years and one week ago. I’d recently graduated from Northwestern University, which in itself was a miraculous answer to prayer as an undocumented student from a single-parent family, without a lot of financial resources and ineligible for federal financial aid. But even after graduation, I still could not work lawfully.

“DACA changed that for me: I was able to get a job and contribute, which is precisely what I’d always wanted. It’s allowed me to go on to graduate school, earning my MBA from the University of Chicago, and to work with the Evangelical Immigration Table for many years, mobilizing local churches to advocate.

“Last Thursday was another day I’ll never forget. That morning, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in such a way that – for the moment at least – DACA remains in place, despite administrative efforts to terminate it. I’m overwhelmed with gratitude – first and foremost to God, but also to you and others who have advocated with and for me and the many other Dreamers within your congregations and communities.

“I’d ask you now to keep praying and keep advocating – because while the decision is a huge relief, it’s not the end of the story. The majority of the Supreme Court found that the administration’s process for terminating DACA was unlawful, but not that they (or a future administration) could not terminate DACA by a more appropriate process. The only way for Dreamers to become citizens of this country, which a great many of us are eager to do, would be for Congress to pass permanent legislation.

“So, thank you for praying. Please don’t stop.

“Thank you for advocating. Please don’t stop. You can start by adding your name to this letter to Members of Congress, and by asking those you know (at your church, via email, on social media, etc.) to add their names as well.”

In Christ,

Liz Dong

Founder, Voices of Christian Dreamers

P.S. Dreamers like me are thankful after last week’s decision, but that’s not new. This video is our tribute to some of the people for whom we’re thankful, who have helped us along the way!

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Music for Easter Sunday

“My God” – Stuart Townend

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJpHhCDLXaI

My God, full of mercy,
Heard our weeping, came to bring us home again.
My God takes the broken and makes them whole.

My God touched the outcast,
Raised the lame man, and He caused the blind to see.
My God takes the broken and makes them whole.

My God stood for justice,
Shamed the prideful, but He called the sinner ‘friend’.
My God takes the broken and makes them whole.

My God felt the anguish
Of the soldier, made his child to live again.
My God takes the broken and makes them whole.

My God, mocked and beaten,
Crushed and bleeding, yet crying ‘Father God, forgive.’
My God became broken to make me whole.

My God, on the third day,
In the morning broke the shackles of the grave.
My God takes the broken and makes them whole.

My God knows my failures,
Speaks forgiveness, gives me strength to try again.
My God takes the broken and makes me whole.

The Power of the Cross – Stuart Townend  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P22lpnmgJbs

Jesus Christ is Risen Today https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6sj9ljVsfk

Thine Be the Glory https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPH7-dNrwb8

Crown Him with Many Crowns https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kPkjghup8E

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Parched or Planted?

“There’s a wideness in God’s mercy like the wideness of the sea;
There is kindness in His justice which is more than liberty.
There is welcome for the sinner, and more graces for the good;
There is mercy with the Saviour; there is healing in His blood.” – hymn by Frederick William Faber
O Lord inspire our hearts today to know you and to trust you more, to your honor and glory. AMEN.

Heads up: Today’s sermon is going to be a little dark.  It kind of fits the weather today. And besides, we’re only a few weeks away from Lent, and this sermon goes well with Lent.

We’ll be looking today mostly at the reading from Jeremiah (Jeremiah 17:5-10) which leads off with the words: “Thus says the Lord: Cursed are those who trust in mere mortals and make mere flesh their strength…”

Jeremiah is speaking to the rulers of Israel, and through them to the people of Israel, during Israel’s darkest days: dark, because the nation was in complete and total rebellion against God.  Jeremiah’s task was to warn them that if they didn’t turn back to God, the kingdom would fall and the people would go into exile – which is exactly what happened not long afterwards.  Jeremiah’s listeners responded by making fun of him and persecuting him and saying “can’t you ever say anything positive???”

That’s the context of today’s reading. But today I don’t want to focus so much on ancient history as I want to talk about now, recent history, and present day, in a sermon called “Parched or Planted?”

Parched or Planted?

Jeremiah, sharing God’s word and God’s heart, tells the people ‘you have a choice.’ Your life can either be like a shriveled up little shrub trying to squeeze water out of what’s essentially a lava-field or desert sand, or your life can be like a tree planted near a fresh-water stream, never dry and always producing fruit.  And God says through Jeremiah what makes the difference between the two, is what direction the heart is pointed in: the dried-up shrub has a heart that is turned away from God; the fruitful tree has a heart that trusts God.

The President of Jewish Theological Seminary, Behar Behukkotai, recently pointed out that in the Hebrew language and in Jewish thought, God’s curses are related to drought and dryness and a failure of crops. He writes that the Law of Moses teaches us to live by faith in this regard.  The law says “Do not sow seed in the seventh year, as you do the other six.” Be confident that God will take care of your needs that year and the next. Buy and sell property knowing that, in the jubilee year, all property will revert to its original owners. Walk through the land… tak[ing] responsibility for its stewardship… follow[ing] God’s commands, and subordinat[ing] your will to God.”

Behukkotai sees a parallel between disobedience to these commands and idolatry.  And when he talks about “being confident that God will take care of our needs” in the sabbath year – this is the definition of what Jeremiah is talking about when he says “trust in the Lord”. This kind of trust is not just an intellectual thing; it means to rest in, to feel completely safe. And so the question comes to us today: are we trusting in human power, or are we trusting the Lord? Are we parched, or are we planted?

The answer to these questions may not be as easy as we think.  At the end of our passage in Jeremiah, God comments: “The heart is devious above all else; it is perverse – who can understand it?” This is not a change of subject; it’s a continuation of the earlier thoughts.  So in case we start thinking, “I know which direction my heart is pointed in,” God confronts us with the fact that we don’t even know our own hearts.

And this is where the message begins to get dark.

Even psychologists will tell us that we don’t really know ourselves; that all of us have at least some mild neuroses; and, as the saying goes, “‘Normal’ is only a setting on the dryer.”  In some ways we can only know ourselves by getting feedback from others, and that’s why intimate relationships and friendships with faithful people are so important. The apostle Paul tells us to “encourage one another and build up each other” (I Thess 5:11) and we can do this for each other because we are able to see things from different perspectives and help each other fill in some of the missing information.

But then we have to take into account that other people aren’t perfect either, and the fact is, we often hurt each other without meaning to. You may remember the old song “You Always Hurt the One You Love”. This is not some sado-masochistic theme song, it’s reality: only the people closest to us are in a position to hurt us deeply. And I know, for myself, my prayers of confession are incomplete; there are a lot of sins I’ve forgotten already, a lot of memories that have faded over the years, and a lot of things I’ve done that I can’t begin to explain. We really don’t know our own hearts.

By way of illustration: Over the past few months I’ve been reading a couple of books that bring the depth of our human lack of self-knowledge into brilliant focus. The first book was a best-seller back in the 1960s called Inside the Third Reich by Albert Speer, who was one of Adolf Hitler’s closest friends.  The second book is written by prize-winning European journalist Gitta Sereny, called Albert Speer: His Battle With Truth.

I should explain I was drawn to these two books by many conversations I’ve had recently with people who are afraid that Nazi-ism is on the rise in America today, and in the world in general. I think there’s a great deal that 21^st-century people can learn from these two books, and I recommend both.

Speer’s book

Speer’s book is a memoir: an inside view of Nazi Germany, which he wrote while serving 20 years in prison for war crimes.  He tries to be as detailed with his memories as he can be, and he brings to life all the major characters of the Nazi hierarchy. The first thing that struck me as I was reading this book was that he is talking about people.  Today we make Nazis into monsters, which is a natural thing to do knowing what they did, and remembering all millions who died; but putting a human face on the perpetrators is necessary if we are going to say “never again” and make it stick. Because if the Nazis were not human, then Nazi Germany was just a fluke, and it never will happen again.  But if these people were human then we must remember, and we must keep watch, and we must say “never again” and make it stick, because the possibility is always there.

Speer as Hitler’s Architect

So Speer’s book is the confessions of one man who realized what he’d fallen into – but too late. He had served Hitler first as an architect, and then as Minister of Armaments, he provided all the materials the army needed for the war. He was convicted of war crimes at Nuremburg because some of the factories he controlled made illegal use of prisoners of war and other forced labor.  But Speer is known to history as the only Nazi who ever said “I’m sorry.” Towards the end of the war, when they knew the war was lost, and Hitler was descending into suicidal madness and ordering a “scorched earth” policy for Germany, Speer traveled the country countermanding Hitler’s orders and telling the people “when the Allies get here, for God’s sake surrender. Don’t blow up the factories, don’t blow up the bridges, leave something standing for the next generation.”  And then… he risked his life to return to Berlin and tell Hitler what he’d done, and to say ‘goodbye’. There was something in Speer that could not let go of the charisma of this madman. And Speer can’t explain this; he finds that he doesn’t even understand himself.

Gitta Sereny’s book

So the second book I read is titled well: “Albert Speer: His Battle With Truth”. Gitta Sereny spent 12 years of her life researching this book, including three years of interviews with Speer himself in which she becomes the most brilliant psychologist I’ve ever read, holding her own self out of the picture, and asking him questions that slowly tease the truth out of his memories, for 700 pages.

Speer being interviewed by Sereny

If you want to know her conclusions you’ll have to read the book. Or you could save yourself some time and read Jeremiah.  “Cursed are those who trust in mere mortals…”  Nazi Germany was taken in by one particularly evil mortal, but any mortal will do to prove the truth of this verse. If our trust is in political leaders, economic leaders, even religious leaders, we’re going to find ourselves in some very parched places.

But! Blessed are those who trust in the Lord.  They shall not fear when drought comes; they will be like trees that stay green; they will not cease to bear fruit.

And Gitta Sereny’s book gives a brilliant example of this.

After spending 20 years in prison, from 1946 to 1966 – think about how much the world changed in those two decades – Speer was released and was faced with rebuilding his life. And one day he received a letter from a Jewish rabbi by the name of Aba Geis, a man who trusted in the Lord. He wrote:

Sehr geehrter Herr Speer,

In 1963 I read G.M. Gilbert’s Nuremburg Diary, and after that I thought of you time and again. You were different from the others accused at the Nuremburg trial and I found the sentence you were given too severe…

Not long ago I saw parts of two of your TV interviews and was again impressed by you. You will have to go on bearing your lot, as I and the survivors must bear ours. But I did want to tell you that even where I don’t understand you, I respect you.  But even more than that, as a devout Jew, I feel that there has to be forgiveness, and I am profoundly convinced that you are under the star of this forgiveness, for you are today an honest man.  I haven’t read your book yet, but… I didn’t want to delay until then sending you these few words.

With warm greetings, Raphael Geis

Speer commented to Sereny, “I think the day I received that letter was one of the most important days of my life.”  The two men became friends and remained friends until Geis’s death.

This letter contains the words of a man who is a tree planted by water; who knows the truth of human hearts, and who places his trust in the Lord. And with his trust in God, he turned the heart of a former Nazi.

Sereny quotes one other letter from Geis in her book that I think speaks very clearly to life in the 21^st century, as well as illustrating the words of Jeremiah. Geis writes to Speer:

“When I was a young rabbi in Munich, at the beginning of the Third Reich, I couldn’t allow myself tears, because I had to be strong for the confused and frightened Jews in my care. That is how I survived Buchenwald… [and the passing of] my sister and her family at Auschwitz. Why do I write you this? Certainly not in order to open up a mercifully drawn curtain, but to tell you that my own fate in the Third Reich… taught me that one cannot categorize human beings. I knew, for instance, high-ranking Nazis whose helpfulness was exemplary, and I knew of Jews who denounced me to the Gestapo. I always understood about the quality of the world’s so-called compassion… Without the cowardly silence of the great powers, Hitler would never have become the awful reaper of death he became. And in the subsequent years? Vietnam, Greece, Spain, South America, South Africa… If one does not wish to despair and if one recognizes that the battle is on many fronts, then one knows that the first victory is to say time and time again “Yes” to individual human beings. I can look upon you as a comrade because I sense you to be true…”

This is a foretaste of life in God’s kingdom: this is a place where living waters flow; where there is nothing to fear, and nothing is lacking. As Jeremiah says, God searches human hearts: to understand, and to bring truth: but ‘searching’ a wound is also the beginning of healing. And so we see in Luke, Jesus comes as the great healer. Luke says: “Power came out from him and healed them all” – that is, all who were following Jesus. Jesus didn’t heal everybody in Israel that day, but he healed all who were there… everyone who put their trust in him.

BTW there’s a lovely postscript to the story these books tell: just last month, Albert Speer’s daughter received the Obermayer German Jewish History Award, presented on Holocaust Remembrance Day (2019), for work she has done creating a foundation to support Jewish women artists. And they remark that she also has welcomed refugees from Syria and Afghanistan to live her own home.

Parched or planted: the decision is ours.  We live in a world that is dying of thirst, and yet continues to put its faith in mere mortals; a world that trusts in human power, in spite of the fact that human power has led to tragedy over and over and over.

Will we live like dried-up shrubs in the desert? Or will we live like fruit trees planted by the stream? And the fruit we bear – what will it help others to become? As we turn our hearts to the Lord in trust – resting in God’s goodness and mercy – Jesus brings healing and the hope of rich blessings to come. In a world of uncertainty, this we can trust. AMEN.

 

 

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Preached at Fairhaven United Methodist Church, Spencer United Methodist Church, and Incarnation Church (Anglican) in the Strip District, Pittsburgh 2/17/19

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Jeremiah 17:5-10  Thus says the LORD: Cursed are those who trust in mere mortals and make mere flesh their strength, whose hearts turn away from the LORD.  ⁶ They shall be like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see when relief comes. They shall live in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land.  ⁷ Blessed are those who trust in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD.  ⁸ They shall be like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream. It shall not fear when heat comes, and its leaves shall stay green; in the year of drought it is not anxious, and it does not cease to bear fruit.  ⁹ The heart is devious above all else; it is perverse– who can understand it?  ¹⁰ I the LORD test the mind and search the heart, to give to all according to their ways, according to the fruit of their doings.

Luke 6:17-26   He came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon.

 ¹⁸ They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured.  ¹⁹ And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them.

 ²⁰ Then he looked up at his disciples and said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.  ²¹ “Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled. “Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.  ²² “Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man.  ²³ Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets.

 ²⁴ “But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.  ²⁵ “Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry. “Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep.  ²⁶ “Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.”

 

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Chasing Down a Haunting Question

Specifically, “Are Nazis really on the rise again, here in America? And if so, what can people do to work against the trend?”

And another haunting question, perhaps seemingly unrelated at first: “Does the current worldwide refugee crisis — and our response to it — contain echoes of World War II that we ignore at our own spiritual peril?”

How does one begin to answer questions like this without falling into a quagmire of pop-culture politics, without being lost in the noise of morally bankrupt mantras of the major political parties and media pundits?

My instincts say: Seek out original sources contemporary to WWII.

A few months ago as I was mulling over these thoughts I discovered a book on my shelves I didn’t even know I owned: Inside the Third Reich by Albert Speer.

I’d never heard of the book, or of Speer, even though both were on the best-seller lists in the 1960’s. For those who are as in the dark as I was, Speer was an architect hired by Adolf Hitler to design many of the government buildings and civic projects that were built during the early (mostly pre-war) years of the Nazi regime.  When WWII got under way Hitler promoted Speer to Minister of Armaments, where he had responsibility to manufacture everything Germany needed for the war. Speer was also one of Hitler’s closest personal associates — personally overwhelmed by Hitler’s personal charisma and yet professionally with a mind sharp enough to navigate the bizarre political waters that were the upper echelons of the Nazi party.  When it became clear Germany was not going to win the war, and that Hitler was determined to take Germany down with him in his suicidal mania, the scales fell from Speer’s eyes, but it was essentially too late. Speer was convicted of war crimes at Nuremburg and spent 20 years in Spandau Prison, where he wrote these memoirs.

What better source to give insight into what the Nazis were really like behind the scenes, and to draw any parallels to 21st century life?

The book surprised me on many levels; probably the biggest surprise being how brilliant and engaging Speer’s mind was. Could a man like this really have been a cold-blooded Nazi? I discovered many people before me have asked the same question.

Speer’s text shed a great deal of light on both my questions. I recommend it highly to anyone who wants to give serious thought to our current political climate.

On the first question, “are the Nazis on the rise again?” — I discovered quite a few parallels between German politics of the 1930s and American politics of the 21st century.  The parallels seem to be just about evenly split between the two major parties at this point, but in the long run I’m not sure it makes much difference: a general atmosphere of prejudice, bullying, and scapegoating combined with unrelenting group-think never bodes well for a nation.

But as I read further in Speer’s book I began to doubt him a little: even in this tell-all book it felt like he wasn’t quite telling all. A quick Google search led me to another book called Albert Speer: His Battle with Truth by award-winning European journalist Gitta Sereny.

Mrs. Sereny spent 12 years combing through Speer’s documents, interviewing Speer himself and his family, co-workers and contemporaries. Her work is amazingly deep and rich, both historically and psychologically, not an easy read, but very worth the effort. She fills in the missing pieces and more, and I recommend it to anyone who reads Speer’s book, as a balance — it gives a far more complete picture, both of the man himself and of the inner workings of the Nazi party. What emerges from her pages is a portrait of a deeply and tragically flawed human being, about whom there is yet much to admire.

As to my second question: is there a connection between the refugee crisis of today and the millions of displaced persons during WWII?

To my great joy I discovered today: Speer’s daughter, Hilde Schramm, who has suffered much because of the things her father has done, considers this question a no-brainer.

She has hosted Syrian refugees in her own home.

 

PS – I would love to hear from others who have read one or both of these books. They’ve left quite an impression….

 

 

 

 

 

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On the Tragedy of Abuse in the Church

I have been wanting to write ever since the news broke this week of over 300 Roman Catholic priests perpetrating sexual and other forms of abuse, mostly on young boys, here in Pennsylvania. My heart goes out to many friends who are discovering this week that the clergy they trusted years ago were unworthy of their trust. And my heart especially goes out to the over 1000 victims.

Words seem so ineffective at a time like this, but my friend and colleague the Rev. Dave Ketter has written the best response I’ve seen so far.  With his permission I re-blog his post here:

“I… do not believe that any minister of the Gospel has the freedom to remain silent in the face of the recent report released by the Attorney General Josh Shapiro, of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania—a report that makes public the findings of a two year investigation into child abuse, molestation, and other heinous sins against the children among the faithful in the Roman Catholic Church. I have not been able to read much of the report, simply due to the horror contained. Use your own discretion in this. [Editor’s note: I’ve read a little further and agree with Dave’s assessment: this report is not something to be read out of curiosity.] But this is not something confined to Roman Catholics. This is a concern and need for every Christian church.

“The Apostle tells us in the Scriptures that “judgment begins with the household of God.” And Paul strongly rebukes Corinth for their toleration of sins that even non-Christians know to be heinous and evil. Jesus himself warns the Church in Revelation that tolerating the sins of leaders will lead to the removal of that church from the presence of God. So, I appeal to all who took vows before God to shepherd the flock of God—whether as Deacons, Presbyters, or Bishops—do not hide. Do not cover up. Do not tolerate, enable, or in any way pass by the abuse of children and others who are vulnerable in your churches. PROTECT them by all means. Believe those who speak up, for the love of Christ. Be the advocate of those who are victimized, as Christ is…because these undershepherds are unfaithful, and are preying upon the flock of God.

“To others in the Church, as we share a common baptism, I plead with you: Hear, Defend, and Love those who have been so evilly abused. There can be such temptation to “defend the reputation of the Church”. That is not your job. Leave the reputation of the Church in God’s hands. You are called to bear the burdens and wounds of those who have assaulted precious little ones who are made in the image of God. Love them. Support them. Cry out for justice for and with them.

“I don’t know whether anyone I know was abused by the priests in this report, or by others who managed to hide from the light of this investigation. What I want you to know and hold onto is that Jesus walks, sits, and stays with you. The sins done against you, He takes personally. He grieves with you. And I pray you experience His comfort, His healing, and His love for you. What was done against you is wrong, and Jesus does not bless or condone it. The Scriptures promise that He will hold everyone accountable for the deeds that they have done. The public exposure and any consequences that follow are only a pale imitation. In the meantime, I pray that if there is any way that others who follow Jesus can walk with you in gentleness, in grief, in compassion, and in solidarity with you, that this will happen. We as the Church owe you that.

AMEN.

 

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Guest Post: The Healing Power of Kindness

The following post was written by author and health care administrator F. Nicholas (Nick) Jacobs of Windber PA, who has spent his career working to make health care more humane, especially for those of us who don’t have much clue about it. He is also related to my mother-in-law which is testimonial enough right there. 🙂  His take on the healing power of kindness echoes many of the themes found in the healing miracles of Jesus. If you’d like to learn more about Mr. Jacobs’ work, check out his blog Healing Hospitals.

Having had responsibility for administering the first rural hospice in the United States, a palliative care unit that was established in 1977, I quickly learned about the critical nature of kindness. Although many serious diseases may be life-ending, these same serious diseases are always life-changing, and kindness helps everyone involved.  In fact, Stanford University did a study that demonstrated that kind medical care can lead to faster wound healing, reduced pain and anxiety, and lower blood pressure plus shorter hospital stays.

This coincides with my own finding where, with a fully integrative hospital, we had an infection rate that never went above 1 percent (national average was 9 percent), and we had the lowest readmission rates, lowest restraint rates, and even though we had a hospice where people came to die, we had the lowest death rates of our 13 peer hospitals. When we brought in the University of Pittsburgh, Penn State, and Georgia Tech to try to quantify these outcomes, there was only the ethereal connector, kindness.  Kindness seemed to be one of the root causes.

What are the keys to kindness?  They are profound, sincere listening, empathy and compassion, generous acts, timely care, gentle honesty, and support for family caregivers.

For empathetic listening, listen with minimal interruption and convey respect for the person’s self-knowledge.  As my brain surgeons used to say, “This is not rocket science.” And my rocket scientist friends used to say, “This is not brain surgery.”  It’s uncommon common sense. Nurses from Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston begin their shifts by asking their patients, “What’s the most important thing we can do for you today?” And then listening to and responding to those patients.

A key element needed to provide actual empathy is the avoidance of judgment. Hate the disease, but don’t judge the person.  Don’t give your unwanted opinions or interrupt with your personal solutions. Simply listen with empathy.  Another is the ability to recognize the emotion that is present and then genuinely respond to it in a caring way.

Generous acts do not have to be limited to healthcare activities.   I’ve had patients who have proclaimed that hugs from nurses or physicians literally saved their lives, and that is not an exaggeration.

My career path took a very circuitous route to where I am today.  I started as a professional trumpet player and school band director, became an arts organization executive, and later founder of two genomic research institutes.  But in my thirties, before I entered health care administration, when I was serving as the president of the Laurel Highlands Convention and Visitors Bureau, I learned about customer service.

In that scenario, timeliness is always a problem. When I got into healthcare, I’d ask why it was I could stay in a nice hotel and in 15 minutes have two or three employees bumping into each other to take care of me for less than $200 a night, but for $2500 a night, after ringing my call bell for 45 minutes, I couldn’t get a bedpan in a hospital? That all changed very rapidly.

The next challenge is carefully administered gentle honesty. A physician friend told me the story of his first year of practice when he told a congestive heart failure patient to get his things in order because what he had was not reversible. This patient had at least 18 months or more to live, but the physician didn’t mention that.  The patient’s wife called the next morning and told my friend that her husband had died that night. Words are powerful.  Use them very carefully.

Finally, it’s imperative that we treat not only the patient but also their family members by considering their daily needs and providing emotional support.  I can honestly tell you that more healing took place in my hospice than in any other department in the hospital: family healing.

That’s the magic of kind care.

Nick Jacobs of Windber PA is a Partner with SunStone Management Resources and author of the blog healinghospitals.com.

 

 

 

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Carnegie Ministerium Lenten Series

What are you Giving Up for Lent?

Come get our take on this subject!

Wednesdays during Lent, 12:00 Noon at St. John’s Lutheran Church, Carnegie

February 14 (Ash Wednesday): Giving Up for Lent

Fr. Richard Seiler – All Saints Polish National Catholic Church

 

February 21: Giving Up Idols

Rev. Peg Bowman – Carnegie United Methodist Church

 

February 28: Giving Up Fear

Rev. John Kent – Carnegie Simple Church (Seventh Day Adventist)

 

March 7: Giving Up Giving Up

Rev. Jim Snyder – Pittsburgh Prayer Network

 

March 14: Giving Up Ingratitude

Rev. Dr. René Whitaker – Carnegie Presbyterian Church

 

March 21: Giving Up Despair

Rev. Dan Pastorius – First Primitive Methodist Church of Carnegie

Services and Luncheons will be held Wednesdays at Noon at:

Saint John Evangelical Lutheran Church
601 Washington Avenue
Carnegie PA 15106

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How to Help Best When Disasters Strike

The photos and stories in the news coming out of Texas and the Gulf Coast – and now from overseas in India, Bangladesh, and Nepal – move us to want to do something for people who find themselves suddenly hungry, homeless, or having lost everything.

But how do we know what will help, or if the help we send will even get there?

Writing a check to a large organization will likely help someone somewhere, though your donation may not go directly to the hardest-hit area or even the most-recently-hit trouble spot.

Speaking as someone whose town was flooded a number of years ago, probably the best lessons I learned from our experience were: (1) connect with people who have feet on the ground locally, work with them, and help provide what they need; (2) listen: listen for specific needs, but mostly listen to the people who are suffering loss and just want a listening ear; (3) big programs don’t really help much – they come and go fast, and many locals don’t qualify for their help. (4) Recovery takes much, much longer than the news cycle. Usually years. Sending help, organizing a work crew, holding drives or fundraisers – may actually be more helpful six months from now when everyone else has moved on to the next crisis.

Here are a couple of excellent articles on the best (and worst) ways to help… recommended reading.

What We Learned from Hurricane Katrina – written by a pastor serving a church in the New Orleans area when Katrina hit

The Wrong Donations – Some Tough Words on Disaster Relief – written by an author currently living and volunteering in Texas

 

 

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Drug Naming Rules

While we think about the concerns raised in my previous post, here’s a satiric public-service announcement concerning the naming of new drugs (in case you’re planning on bringing a few to market).  Here in the second decade of the 21st century, drug names MUST:

• contain three syllables, no more, no less
• the first syllable may be made up of any randomly-chosen letters. If those letters sound vaguely like something that has something to do with the disease being treated, so much the better, but this is not necessary.
• the second syllable must contain a hard consonant sound such as “K”, “X”, “CK”, “P”, “T”, or “Q” in order to make the medicine sound strong and effective.
• the third syllable must end on a soft vowel or vowel-like sound in order to make it sound like it’s gentle on your system.

And the required list of possible side-effects — which may actually be worse than the disease — must be read at the end of the commercial by a summa cum laude graduate of the local auctioneering school.

Herewith are some examples of drug names and their uses, which (not having been copyrighted) are available to any pharmaceutical entrepreneurs:

• Smelecksa – Temporarily turns off your nose while you carry the trash out
• Furexie – Prevents cat hair from sticking to your work clothes
• Notaulska – Prevents strangers from babbling your ear off on the bus or train
• Denozno – Take before visiting homes with dogs, to keep Fido’s nose a respectable distance away
• Dorstepo – Prevents salesmen and Jehovah’s Witnesses coming up on your porch
• Peptoka – I can’t stand the taste of Pepto-Bismol but I need SOMETHING right now!
• Bunoyza – Stops the car making that weird noise
• Drugova – Blocks all those annoying drug ads

Feel free to add new drug suggestions of your own!

 

 

 

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What’s Up With All the Drugs?

In the past year or so I’ve noticed a sharp spike in new drugs being advertised, unlike anything I’ve seen since I was growing up in the early-to-mid 1960s.

Back then a spate of legal mood-altering drugs hit the market, originally designed to help people suffering from psychoses, neuroses, depression, and other legitimate conditions, but which were soon being prescribed for just about anything from nervousness to a hangnail.

Methamphetamines and barbiturates were legal back then, but the problem was very few people really knew what these drugs did, and many were highly addictive.  Stories of overdoses of “uppers” and “downers” began to hit the news on a regular basis.

And many of the drugs were particularly popular among suburban housewives – so much so they inspired a Top 40 hit for the Rolling Stones in 1966 – Mother’s Little Helper:

“Kids are different today, I hear every mother say
Mother needs something today to calm her down
And though she’s not really ill, there’s a little yellow pill
She goes running for the shelter of a mother’s little helper
And it helps her on her way, gets her through her busy day…”

I can’t help but wonder if having so many drug commercials on TV is seen as ‘permission’ by recreational drug users to continue to experiment with their bodies – and often lose their lives doing it.

And I can’t help but wonder if many of the drugs hitting the market today will, 50 years from now, be known as amazingly dangerous in the eyes of our great-grandchildren as the uppers and downers of past years seem to us.

 

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Wired.com: The Crisis of Attention Theft

Thanks to Facebook friend Ron Lusk for sharing this article from Wired.com:  “The Crisis of Attention Theft: Ads That Steal Your Time for Nothing In Return”

Pull-quote: “…in overstimulated lives, moments do matter, and indeed sometimes few things matter more than a few chosen minutes of silence. The important question is the aggregate effect of all of these various intrusions on both our health and that precious thing known as autonomy.”

I’m old enough to remember a time when ads were not everywhere, all the time. It’s amazing how quiet my childhood memories are: not silent, but filled with the sounds of nature and/or family and neighbors.  TV and radio commercials were limited to a one-or-two-sentence “sponsored by” acknowledgement (the kind of acknowledgement Public TV used to use — they’ve got full-fledged commercials now).

And the generation before mine grew up with nothing more obnoxious than roadside Burma-Shave ads.

Is it a coincidence that, in a time when we are being force-fed ads, and denied so much as an “off” button, we’re also being told what we must believe about politicians, religion, foreign countries, etc? Is it a coincidence that voices of dissent and change — like those found in the Green Party, the American Solidarity Party, or the Jesuits for that matter — are consistently marginalized or ignored?

If you doubt the power and pervasiveness of ads today, try this experiment: see if you can get through an entire day without seeing the words “Xfinity” or “Verizon”.  I tried every day for a month before I admitted failure.

Did you ever agree to give these corporations this much real estate in your mind? I know I didn’t.

The constant 24/7/365 over-stimulation of every person in the Western world can’t be healthy mentally, psychologically, or spiritually.

Awareness is a start.  Next steps?

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Quote of the Week 4-14-17 – Good Friday

From a sermon I heard at the local Ukrainian Orthodox Church earlier today.  This isn’t quite verbatim but it’s how my big-picture brain summed up the details of what the good padre was saying:

“Just as Eve was taken from Adam’s side to be his bride, the church was taken from Jesus’ side to be his bride.”

In the Genesis story, God causes a deep sleep to come over Adam, and takes a rib from his side and forms a wife for him. “This indeed is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh,” Adam remarks later.

In the Passion story, Jesus enters into the sleep of death, and while he is asleep a spear is thrust into his side to be sure he is dead. His sacrifice, and victory over death, makes possible the body of believers — “the bride of Christ” — who witness his resurrection three days later (and continue to witness to his resurrection).

One day Jesus will look at us and say “this indeed is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh” and he will delight in us just as Adam and Eve delighted in each other.

If you’ve ever doubted that Jesus loves you…… doubt no longer.

 

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Blogsurfing Finds 4-12-17

It’s been way too long since I’ve done any blogsurfing. It’s good to be out browsing other people’s work today and exploring the cyber-world out there.

These are in no particular order or category, and all the sites are new to me so I can’t really add much other than to recommend them, so I’ll just say “grab a cuppa and enjoy”.

Bhavna Misra – https://bhavnamisra.com/ – I love art. I love its beauty and creativity, and the unique way every individual views and expresses the world around them.  This young California-based artist has a real eye for color.

One Bottle, One Glass – https://onebottleoneglass.wordpress.com/ – Addiction and its heart-rending consequences is all around us these days.  I’m always looking for things that might help reach people who are trapped in addiction.  First-person stories are powerful.  This thirty-something mother of two shares her very personal journey to sobriety.

Wild About Scotland – https://wildaboutscotland.com/ – Scotland is breathtaking, and this photographer captures views most tourists never get to see.  Stunning!!

Shopfront Elegy – https://shopfrontelegy.wordpress.com/ – One of the best pieces of advice an undergrad professor ever gave us was: “when you walk around a city, look up!”  Urban architecture is full of beauty, history, humor, and surprises.  This blog preserves British storefronts – a unique online opportunity to get to know “the real England” and appreciate the vision (or lack thereof) of urban designers.

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America already has extreme vetting

Reblogging. Good information from someone who’s been there. The ultimate reason: “They need our help.” Exactly.

Rottin' in Denmark

I made a video:

I sort of couldn’t help myself. When I lived in Denmark I volunteered at an asylum center. I mentored a 17-year-old Afghan refugee. Since then, I’ve had friends and colleagues get jobs in international refugee policy. Seen them, one by one, become frustrated at the stinginess, the injustice, the cruelty masquerading as bureaucracy. It’s impossible for me to talk or write about this in my own voice without getting worked up, so I tried using someone else’s.

I grew up in a super religious family. Church on Sundays, hands clasped before dinner, Bible camp every summer. I remember talking to one of my parents’ friends when I was maybe 13 or 14. She worked at a homeless shelter, she provided food and clothes and beds all winter, a big brick building in the middle of a neighborhood I had lived my whole life avoiding.

I was in my Ayn Rand phase at the time, and I…

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