Consider
this Volume 2 of a series …
A year ago, the March-April 2002 issue
of Church & Society
Magazine (C&S) ("Encircling
Care: A New Vision for Congregational Caregiving")
consolidated an emerging program emphasis within National
Health Ministries on congregational care giving. That programmatic
emphasis, when augmented by funding earmarked for programs
focusing on Alzheimer's disease, led to the creation of a
national conference, Encircling
Care.
This issue of C&S draws the majority of its articles
from that Encircling Care conference, continuing the conversation
about congregational caregiving, with a specific focus on
older adults, particularly people and families struggling
with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias.
As exemplified on the preceding pages, author Sue Miller's
new book, The Story of My Father: A Memoir, became the literary
reference point for our conference and the entrée
to our work. The story of Sue Miller's father, Dr. James
Nichols, a Presbyterian minister, scholar, writer and editor,
grounded it in real life. Caregiving was no longer an ‘issue' but
the poignant and tangible account of a family caring for
an elder member, even as the person they knew was being
taken away from them.
James Nichols' experience with Alzheimer's
illustrated well the complicated process of life, loss and
struggle when
a family is confronted by overwhelming illness. The onset
of his illness began the questioning. Was Alzheimer's
disease exacerbated by his wife's death? Had her presence
kept him present? Had his distance, his absentmindedness,
been a lifelong foreshadowing? Will his Alzheimer's
also strike the next generation?
Miller recounts his struggle with
the illness—and
her own. She shares her process of coping on a personal and
family and professional level, coping with a crisis faced
by many others as well, both personally and within our congregations
and communities.
Ultimately, she realized that though
her father had an overwhelming illness, he was not overwhelmed.
Her father's faith,
his sense that he belonged, not to himself or his family or
anybody of this world, but to God, enabled him to progress—without
rancor or defeat—through an illness that incrementally
took him further and further from the reality shared with
family, friends and colleagues. While he lost his ability
to live independently, to read, to write, and finally to communicate
in a coherent fashion, his faith, his core was unshaken.
Miller recalls with reframed understanding,
the simple cross-stitched sampler embellishing his office
wall at Princeton Seminary.
Drawing on words from Calvin's Institutes of the
Christian Religion, it read:
We are not our own: let not our reason or our will, therefore,
sway our plans and deeds.
We are not our own: let us therefore not set it as our goal
to seek what is expedient for us according to the flesh.
We are not our own: insofar as we can, let us therefore forget
ourselves and all that is ours.
Conversely, we are God's: let us therefore live for
him and die for him.
We are God's: let his wisdom and will therefore rule
all our actions.
We are God's: let all parts of our life accordingly
strive toward him as our only lawful goal.
Perhaps that lesson of faith should
be the platform from which we approach the life transitional
events described through
this conference and this issue of C&S. As A Brief Statement
of Faith declares, "In life and in death, we belong
to God…" (Book of Confessions, 10.1)
This journal focuses on difficult,
life altering issues - the loss of the ability to live independently,
dementia, end
of life questions, grief, and, the realities of choices and
long-term care. Yet the caring responses of congregations,
motivated by conviction and concern and woven throughout these
pages, demonstrate the interconnectedness of our faith—and
remind us that we are God's. In life and in death, we
belong to God. We are not alone.
In a society aging by the minute,
yet yearning for lasting youth, the opportunities afforded
to congregational caregiving
with and for older adults, especially those who struggle with
Alzheimer's disease, become paramount. Again, a lesson
can be taken from Sue Miller's story of her father.
While the account of the progression of his illness does not
censor the pain and sheer complicating intensity of the illness,
it also reveals the joys, the humor and the gift of a re-defined
relationship. As we look at ways that congregations can take
part in a caregiving ministry, it is important to remember
and acknowledge the rewards and gifts of caregiving: Through
the processes of needing care and giving care, we are all
transformed and enriched.
The Encircling Care conference and this
journal begin with basics: Theological and Pastoral Responses
to Alzheimer's
Disease. In this first section, readers will learn of
the theological challenges Alzheimer's presents both
to persons and to the church. Nancy Ramsay reframes five
theological
challenges nearly always voiced, whether in theological
language or not, when Alzheimer's disease is present.
Georgine Buckwalter provides helpful guidance for the church
to care and attend, to become "the Remembering Community" for
members who are memory-impaired. Earl Shelp reminds us that
caregiving is one of the primary ‘marks' of
the church and introduces us to care team ministry, a direction
for congregational caregiving that is assumed in much of
the material that follows. An Instructed Eucharist (utilizing
the liturgy developed for the conference worship service)
provides a guide for worship planning when members are memory-impaired,
and Terry Hargrave speaks of caregiving as a spiritual discipline,
a means to growth in the faith.
The second section of the issue calls congregations to the
hands-on ministry of Encircling Care through a series of articles
that suggest appropriate roles and responsibilities for congregations.
Anne Streaty Wimberly, drawing on her experience in the African-American
church, calls the church to a ministry of honoring our elders.
Other pieces in this section evolved from workshops presented
at the conference. To mention only a few:
- Diane Brasie calls for an intentional ministry with older adults (rather than
simply assuming that because persons
55+ have been leaders in the congregation that these needs
are being adequately voiced and addressed).
- Donna Coffman outlines the philosophy undergirding health
ministry, as well as practical steps to develop such a
ministry in your congregation or community.
- Gracie Wishnia provides vital information on the often undisclosed
problem of elder abuse.
- William Clark reminds us that retired ministers, spouses and
survivors should not be forgotten in the circle of care.
The final section of the issue is
structured to provide an informational, contextual foundation
for caregiving as well
as to offer successful models and approaches to the ministry
of care. Here we learn of the unique influences that culture
and ethnic tradition play in considerations of caregiving.
Building on Anne Wimberly's reflections, we learn from
European American, Native American and Latino(a) caregiving
traditions. Basic information about Alzheimer's disease,
and concrete models shared by conference leadership are also
presented.
The conference and this issue are
enhanced by art created by people with Alzheimer's
disease. We are very grateful to Donna Lott, who secured
the wonderful representations and
images from the Alabama Alzheimer's Association—to
help us see and appreciate the individuality and vitality
of people with Alzheimer's disease, even as their disease
progresses.
It is our hope that through this issue
of Church & Society,
as through the Encircling Care conference itself, congregations
and church leaders will be better enabled to focus on the
needs of members who are aging, members who have long-term
illness and the family members who care for them. It is our
hope that together we might share Christ's spirit of
hope, healing and encompassing love through caring relationships
with one another.
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