Spiritual Care at Jericho Road Community Health Center

Because of his limited English, and my non-existent Arabic, Ali* spoke to me through his teenage son.  I introduced myself as a part of the Spiritual Care team, and explained that my role was to see how he is doing spiritually, and offer whatever spiritual care that I could.  Ali said that he was comfortable talking with me about this, so I sat down.  I asked him about his background and discovered that he was an Iraqi man and a muslim.  He shared more, that he had come to Buffalo several years before.

As we discussed how his immigration to the US had affected his life and his spiritual health, I asked him, “Do you like it here, does this feel like home?”  At this question, Ali’s countenance fell, he responded, “No, I miss my homeland very much.”  He described his hope for the future of his homeland, and his desire to return there, but his equally strong desire to raise his children here in the US and his preference that they would stay.  He spoke of the violence and brokenness in Iraq, and his longing to bring help to his people.  It was obvious from his body language and facial expressions, as well as the words he was using, that he had some deep emotional discomfort.

I asked if I could pray for him, this led to a long conversation (confused by the need for translation) that I was a follower of Jesus, and that, while muslims pray at regular times during the day, I would like to pray for him right there in the room.  At first he seemed a little wary of my offer, and I couldn’t tell if it was because I was offering him prayer as a Christian, or if it was simply because of the language barrier.  When I was able to convey that I would like to ask God to bless him and his family, he responded with a strong, “yes!” in English.  He would not, however, let me pray just for his family.  He asked that I pray for the peace and prosperity of Iraq.  Again, I could see his distress over his nation and his people.

We held hands, the three of us, and I spoke to Jesus in English, while Ali’s son translated into Arabic for his father to understand.  I prayed very simply, asking the Holy Spirit to come and visit us there in the room.  I spoke a blessing to the father-heart of Ali for his children, and asked for God’s protection and provision over their family.  Then we prayed for Iraq, and we asked for God to set things right in that country.  We asked for peace, hope, and justice.  When we finished Ali thanked me repeatedly and heartily for my prayer.  I also thanked him (and his son) for joining me in prayer, and for allowing me to know some of the intimate details of their story, and I encouraged them that I was convinced that God cared deeply about them and about their homeland.

*Ali is not his real name.

Trinitarian Prayer

Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth:

Set up your kingdom in our midst.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God:

Have mercy on me, a sinner.

Holy Spirit, breath of the living God:

Renew me and all the world

Both in Tension

"This raises a really interesting point, too. One problem I’ve seen in the postmodern/emergent church conversation is you tend to have one of two different kinds of things going on: one is the emphasis on social justice. That’s a great thing unless you over-privilege social action and have no contemplative life. Someone who over-privileges social justice runs the risk of becoming an angry, disillusioned and very often, a smug activist. On the other hand, there are people who ignore social justice and only care about the contemplative life and this leads to a sort of saccharine piety. They start watching EWTN and saying the Rosary without any interest in the fact that so much of the world is starving to death."

Click on the title to read the whole interview

Corrie ten Boom

Corrie ten Boom and her sister were sent to Nazi concentration camps for giving help to Jewish people during the holocaust.

Corrie stood naked with her older sister Betsie, watching a concentration camp matron beating a prisoner. "Oh, the poor woman," Corrie cried. "Yes, may God forgive her," Betsie replied. And, once again, Corrie realized that it was for the souls of the brutal Nazi guards that her sister prayed.

A Bona Fide Healing

At the Saturday night tent revival the preacher announces,

"Anyone with 'needs' to be prayed over, come forward, to the front at the altar."

Leroy gets in line, and when it's his turn, the preacher asks:

"Leroy, what do you want me to pray about for you?"

Leroy replies: "Preacher, I need you to pray for help with my hearing."

The preacher puts one finger in Leroy's ear, and he places the other hand on top of Leroy's head and prays and prays and prays, he prays a blue streak for Leroy.






After a few minutes, the Preacher removes his hands, stands back and asks,

"Leroy how is your hearing now?"










Leroy says, "I don't know, Reverend, it ain't 'til next Wednesday."

Pray

"To clasp the hands in prayer is the beginning of an uprising against the disorder of the world."

Karl Barth

Prayer Week

Our Church is wrapping up our week of prayer (well five days of prayer anyways...)

It has been marvelous!

God has been stirring my heart to be with Him in prayer, but also that our community must be established and maintained by prayer and worship in God's presence. It is wonderful that we do good deeds, but so does the Red Cross. We are not called to be the Red Cross, but rather the Body of Christ. Our good deeds must flow out of His guidance...

And so, we began to discuss this as a Church, and to my great encouragement, the women and men of this community have responded with passion to this call to prayer. We have come to a place of great hope in our journey as a people. We now have a group of people who are saying "Yes!" to God in ways that speak of deep conviction and a willingness to repent from a whole heart.

We began our monthly prayer meetings 2 weeks ago with a night of prayer and worship and we rented an art-space here in the city for five days (we had to choose between five days now, or seven days a month from now, and thought it prudent not to wait) and have been gathering from 5-10pm to worship and pray.

The first days have been spent praying largely for our city and the issues it faces; as well as asking God to open doors for us to be apart of the change we believe God is bringing to Buffalo. Last night, however, we spent several hours praying over each other. God wants to pour out His mercy and goodness on those outside of the Church, how much more does He pour out blessing and delight upon His people?!!?

I was filled with strength watching people lay hands on each other and pray God's will and God's word over brothers and sisters... God is knitting together a people! I also had the opportunity to be prayed over...

...don't worry if you missed out, we will pray over you yet!

Karl Barth

"To clasp the hands in prayer is the beginning of an uprising against the disorder of the world"

Feast of Booths

I have been reading the book of Nehemiah lately...

...I came across this passage (check the title link)...

I began to think about what this would look like here and now...

What would it look like for you, your family, all of your neighbors, in fact, everyone in your entire city and surrounding area, to do this?

Take a week, and spend the entire week living in tents, reading the Bible, worshiping, praying, meditating; gathering with those around you...

I would love to see this happen!

The Opposite Spirit

Lord, make me a channel of thy peace,

that where there is hatred, I may bring love;

that where there is wrong, I may bring the spirit of forgiveness;

that where there is discord, I may bring harmony;

that where there is error, I may bring truth;

that where there is doubt, I may bring faith;

that where there is despair, I may bring hope;

that where there are shadows, I may bring light;

that where there is sadness, I may bring joy.

Lord, grant that I may seek rather to comfort than to be comforted;

to understand, than to be understood;

to love, than to be loved.

For it is by self-forgetting that one finds.

It is by forgiving that one is forgiven.

It is by dying that one awakens to Eternal Life.

Saint Francis of Assisi