Journal of Sacred Work

Days 180-184 - Calling All Good People

"The surest way for evil to succeed is for good people to do nothing." - Attributed to Edmund Burke, 1770 

   Four centuries before Edmund Burke, Aleghieri Dante, author of the masterpiece, The Divine Comedy stated the concept more harshly, "The hottest places in Hell are reserved for those who in time of great moral crises maintain their neutrality."

   Last week I departed from the usual Journal approach to write how Donald Trump's views clash with Radical Loving Care. I also described his opinions as inconsistent with Christianity.

   Why does this relate to Christianity & the sacred work of caregivers? Because Trump's example emboldens the worst leaders in healthcare & elsewhere. Because hate-mongers like Trump threaten the whole concept of loving care for all - including Muslims & Hispanics, legal or not. Because degrading people with disabilities is an insult also to those who treat people with disabilities lovingly rather than (as in times past) with derision.

   When I was a kid the only fights I got into were with other children who mocked my sister's disability. For the past forty years I have fought for the concept that loving leaders should take care of the people who take care of people, that love is the highest power. Everyone says they agree. 

   So why would some of these same people support any leader who expresses hate? What are we to do when a leader degrades Hispanics & Vietnam POWs, who insults every one who disagrees with him, who proposes banning 1.5 billion people only because they are Muslim & who makes derogatory comments about women?

   Cartoonists, along with thousands of other responsible commentators, have struggled to warn us. My best friend, attorney & author Bill Banta, is guiding a course on the Trump issue at his Presbyterian church in an effort to create further dialogue on this subject in a Christian context.

   But many good people have decided that the right response is...nothing. They sit silent or, worse, fail to learn the facts needed for an informed position. Others rationalize Trump's racist & misogynist comments by saying, "The country has gotten so PC you can't say anything." or "he didn't mean that." or, most commonly, "I like that he speaks his mind." 

   Yes. He speaks his mind. But, what comes out of his mouth when he does?

   Political correctness calls for respect not censorship & insults. Jesus taught that "God is love." Trump implies that God is money & winning is all that matters. 

   Trump's success fuels every bullying boss in America. His message to leaders is that you win using intimidation (his book, The Art of the Deal), deceit (Trump University), slight of hand & other tricks con-men use every day.

   Sadly, many hate groups including the Ku Klux Klan, the racist American Freedom Party and the Council of Conservative Citizens (which, according to CNN, "is widely considered to be white supremacist") have rushed to support Trump.

   What harm can hate speech cause? The Trump-endorsing American Freedom Party, again according to CNN, "inspired Dylan Roof, who last summer confessed to shooting and killing nine people at the Emanuel African Methodist Church in Charleston, South Carolina." 

   Donald Trump has been slow to decline support from some of these hate groups. CNN reported that "he initially refused to disavow former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard David Duke" and claimed that he really did not know who Duke & his supporters were.

   In the face of Trump's hate speech why have so many American's voted for him? It is baffling, deeply discouraging & a core reason why I, as a Christian minister & healthcare leader, speak out against his demagoguery.

   If Trump says Muslims & hispanic immigrants should not be allowed in America will some caregivers think these same people do not deserve medical care? Is this the America Trump wants to "make great again," to take us back to a time like the 1950s when hundreds of doctors, nurses & hospitals refused to treat black people?

   Advocates of hate anywhere are threats to loving care everywhere. 

   We can argue Donald Trump is "not as bad" as the other choices. We can also sit in silence every time someone tells us they support this demagogue. 

   Or we can decide that love calls us to action not acquiescence, to understanding but not to tolerance of such fear-mongering.  We can ask, "Which leaders appeal to our highest & best self?" and, "Who appeals to the worst in us?

   This is not a call to hate Trump & his supporters. This is an appeal to live the tougher side of love, the side that called Jesus to attack the money lenders in the temple & inspired his disciples to speak out against bigotry toward Christians.

  For America to be a temple of God's peace & tolerance we need only turn our eyes & our votes toward love instead of away from it, toward open arms instead of closed fists. 

   In a way, the British have faced this choice & 52% of them opted for isolation. Interestingly, after their vote to leave the European Union hundreds of thousands who supported the "Brexit" watched the collapse of their currency in horror. "We didn't know it would mean that," these short-sighted people say now. They failed to pay attention & now they are paying the price.  

  I am always haunted by the language of Lutheran pastor Martin Niemoeller during World War II. His words speak to the best & worst in each of us & call us to speak up:

   "In Germany they came first for the Communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time no one was left to speak up." 

   

Reverend Erie Chapman

Days 178-179 Love Is The Bridge

 

 

Note:  Shared by Liz Sorensen Wessel

 

Love

 

is the bridge

 

between

 

you

 

and

 

everything

 

                           -Rumi

Photo - high school to life long friends- Brattleboro, Vermont

Days 173-177 - Is Trump the Anti-Christ?

"If Donald Trump wins we should shut down the churches," a Presbyterian minister said in his sermon this past Sunday, "because it would show what a terrible job we have done teaching Christian principles." 

  Maybe another cleric would offer an opposite view. But, it is hard for me to reconcile Trump's behavior with Christianity. 

   This is not about being Republican or Democrat or Independent. It is also not to say that Hillary Clinton is a saint. It is about the bullying, barbaric language of a demagogue like Trump on the one hand and the whole idea of civil & respectful discourse on the other. 

   In its ten year history The Journal of Sacred Work has remained steadfastly apolitical. That is because no candidate for President on either side has ever attacked the notion of God's love as the guidepost for our lives & our caregiving - until Donald Trump.

   Consider just a brief list of some of Trump's offenses to date: He has serially criticized Vietnam POWs as "not heroes because they were captured," described eleven million illegal Mexican immigrants as "rapists & murderers," has called for a temporary ban on all Muslims entering the U.S. simply because of their religion, has insulted candidate Carly Fiorina as ugly ("Just look at her,"), Senator Marco Rubio as "Little Marco," Senator Ted Cruz as "Lyin' Ted", Hillary Clinton as "Crooked Hillary" & every other opponent with name-calling typical of a schoolyard bully not a national leader.

    Trump has described the Federal Judge in his Trump University fraud trial as unqualified because he is of Mexican descent, has said that women who seek abortions should be prosecuted &, in a particularly disgusting display, degraded a New York Times reporter afflicted with multiple sclerosis (on left in photo) by mocking the reporter's condition. 

   At least twenty men & women ran for President this year. Trump was the only one to race to the top of his party's ticket on a carpet woven almost entirely of insults & innuendo. He is the only one who, in the words of Republican Governor John Kasich, is "taking the low road to the highest office in the land." 

   I travel the country speaking about the need for Radical Loving Leadership in healthcare. Every principle I teach is love-based & grounded in the language of competence, compassion & respect for the dignity & worth of each person. 

   Trump's behavior teaches the opposite. He is long on insults & short on substance. 

   We know Jesus' teaching: To love one another, even our enemies. Trump's teaching appears to be "love only those who agree with you, humiliate those who don't & ridicule minorities & women whenever you can."

   So is Trump "the Anti-Christ?" That title more properly fits dictators like Hitler & Mussolini & Stalin as well as demagogues like Senator Joe McCarthy in the 1950s. 

   But, over the last twelve months Trump has given many the impression that he is not running for Commander in Chief. He wants to be Hater in Chief.

   Is that what we want in our President? Is that the model we should be asking America's healthcare leaders to follow not to mention the example we want for our children & grandchildren?

   Can Donald Trump possibly unite his own party let alone the country? Is Donald Trump who we want as the keeper of our democracy & the leader of the free world?

   Fortunately, Trump will never win the Presidency. The day after he loses we will see a phenomenon typical of the failed bully syndrome: He will be abandoned by millions. Those who supported him will feel like fools. And future generations will wonder, "How did such a hateful person con so many people into nominating him in the first place?"

   The day of Trump's loss will be a good one for America, for Christians & for those of all faiths who believe that "God is love." 

   Now. Even if you have seen it already take 45 seconds to watch what a person looks like when he is expressing hatred:  

Reverend Erie Chapman

Days: 171-172 Weave Upon Weave

Note: Reflection by Liz Sorensen Wessel

“The longer we live/The more of your presence/ We, find laid down, Weave upon weave/Within our lives.” -John O’ Donohue

As Father’s Day approaches images surface; weaving's of our fathers lives intertwined with ours; yours and mine, of fathers beloved, of those who went missing and of the generous souls who stepped in to offer wisdom and guidance along the way.

There are happy memories, and sad goodbyes, poignant life lessons, and perhaps misgivings that still beg forgiveness.

Life begins as a small seed that travels the distance so that we may have life, such is love’s longing. All movement is toward Light. Just as a sapling grows and sprouts through earth reaching for the sun, a baby pushes forth from a mother’s womb towards the light of day. This is the miraculous intelligent design of love.

All movement comes full circle, our stories are passed on from a father to child, and on to their children and their children’s, children. If not in words, then through every cell in our body, in our heart’s beating and our blood pulsing, circulating to nourish us.

 “There are many things, / We could have said, / But words never wanted to name them; / And perhaps a world that is quietly sensed / Across the air / In another’s heart / Becomes the inner companion / To one’s own unknown.”  -John O’ Donohue

I know an exuberant father to be for the first time and I am aware of orphaned children longing to be held. Some of us have experienced the great care of a loving father and still others are neglected and abused.

Whatever our circumstance in life, the privileges life affords and hardships that befall us, the caring we give and receive amidst  a world that is in desperate need of healing, it helps to remember that Love is in the midst of it all that is.

In times of enormous tragedy, love springs forth in solidarity. Love manifests through us when we are receptive  conduits of Love’s energy. Love asks us to show up,  grow up, and become as a Father who lives for the common good of all.

Our founding fathers sacrificed everything for freedom from tyranny. They tried to live the ideal "one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all",  even though some were slave owners at the time. Each generation holds this sacred trust,  to protect the precious gift we inherited and to never take our freedom for granted.

 OUR FATHER offers unconditional love and in celebration of all Fathers, I offer this reflection credited to Rabbi Abraham Joshua Hershel.

“Faith is not the clinging to a shrine but an endless pilgrimage of the heart. Our goal should be to live in radical amazement, get up in the morning and look at the world in a way that takes nothing for granted.

Everything is phenomenal; everything is incredible; never treat life casually. To be spiritual is to be surprised.

Prayer begins on the edge of emptiness. Wonder rather than doubt is the root of all knowledge. Just to be is a blessing. Just to live is holy. We can never sneer at the stars, mock the dawn or scoff at the totality of being.

Self-respect is the root of discipline: The sense of dignity grows with the ability to say no {or yes} to oneself. The primary purpose of prayer is not to make requests. The primary purpose of prayer is to praise, to sing, to chant. Because the essence of a prayer is a song.

When I was young, I admired clever people. Now that I am old I admire kind people. Know that every deed counts, that every word has power…Above all, remember that you must build your life as if it were a work of Art.” -Rabbi Abraham Joshua Hershel

Because it is and you are, Blessed Father’s Day!

With love and gratitude,

Liz Sorensen Wessel

Photo/Birdsong image by ~liz

 

Days 166-170 - Special Genius

      Here comes some boorish bragging: According to IQ tests taken when they were young both my children (pictured) are geniuses. Their subsequent records offer proof. Both were high school valedictorians & both graduated with honors from Harvard & from law school. Beyond academics both were student council presidents & my daughter was a state champion in two sports. 

    It has always been a great experience watching them solve problems far beyond my limited intellect. What matters, of course, is not test scores but that both are wonderful, light-filled beings. That is their special genius. 

   "Love, love love, that is the soul of genius!"Mozart wrote. So there are geniuses all around us. My younger sister, Martha, is one. She has an exceptional ability to understand how others feel & to heal them with her heart. 

   Without light, intelligence does not matter. Without love, brilliance dips dark. 

   What if we took the question of genius to a quantum level? Einstein & Newton looked through life's scrim & discovered truths that eluded the rest of us.

   Musical notes are available to all. Bach plaited gossamer from those same notes & created music that yet wraps us in its thrall. 

   Yet, there is a mystical land of secrets yet unknown because no genius has yet been born who can see them & translate them for us. 

   Deep insight requires much more than analytics. It calls for a "seeing" available only to the rarest among us.

   One day, new souls will bring new light. Their discoveries could be as profound as the differences between handwriting & the printing press, a train & a spaceship, an abacus & a computer. 

   Even more startling, these special mutineers may splay open spiritual perceptions we cannot imagine nor are describable with language we know now.

   What if we learned that roses have souls? What if the problems of pain were solved? Could robots kidnap human consciousness?

   Meanwhile, my nominee for the greatest genius of all time is not Plato, Beethoven or Rembrandt. It is Jesus. 

   The most shattering knowings lie in a higher consciousness. Birthed from the lap of Love Jesus engaged his other-worldly awareness to introduce a view of God never seen before his time. 

   Jesus took the theory of God & made it real here on earth. Can there be any more special genius than that? 

-Erie Chapman

Days 164-165 A Mosaic Heart

 

"Anything Good in life comes from love." ~Haifa Bint Kadi

Mosaic Heart

A fully living heart
In the passing of time
And love, and loss
Breaks and stretches
Heals and shatters.
Striated, scarred,
Misshapen, resilient
Until finally it assimilates
Its wounds and callouses
Into character.
A rare glimpse of this mosaic
(deep in eyes opened in surrender)
Reveals the soul's holy icon
Inscribed on the flesh
Inspired by love
Born of attachment and release
Colored in bits of joy and pain. 

By Tine Tessina

 

What can love teach us today?

"Love is always loving us." Tara Brach

 

Copy and paste the link below for a remarkable 2 minute video- and meet artist, Haifa Bint Kadi.

 

http://www.lohud.com/videos/news/local/westchester/yonkers/2016/05/31/85214846/

 

Shared by: Liz Sorensen Wessel

Mandala by ~liz

 

Days 159-163 - Streams of Light - The 10th Anniversary of The Journal

"Streams of light." I borrowed the phrase from an artist friend who spoke it in the context of how our spirits enter this world - riding on streams of God's love.

It is how the Journal was born on June 7, 2006 - as an effort to send streams of light into the hard, joyous & often heartbreaking world of caregivers - to offer comfort & encouragement to them as they open their hearts every day to people in need.

The Journal has been visited over 200,000 times since that first post. There have been 348,334 page views. Nearly 9000 comments have been posted. This is column number 1,770. These numbers reflect thousands of light-seekers who also want peace.

The very first comment was posted by none other than Liz Wessel who wrote eloquently about the Journal's history this past weekend. In 2010 Liz joined me in writing her own column on the weekends. Her great compositions & stunning mandalas & watercolors have graced the lives of every weekend reader since. She is a true angel. 

The first essay I wrote offered the most peaceful images I could find at the time. It is William Turner's 1843 watercolor masterpiece, "The Lake of Zug - Early Morning." Here is the accompanying prose poem: 

Turner’s Lake

Outside my office window three tree branches dance above bunches of nervous cars driven by blank-faces waiting for red to go green, for tires to turn, for the radio to play the next song.

I close my eyes, open my heart’s door. It’s time to visit the Alpine lake Turner watercolored in 1843’s summer, to watch how the elbow of the blue mountain blocks the sun’s effort to define itself, to notice the fine haze draping the lake below.

In the left distance, two men boat. In the right foreground, children rock-scramble. In the lower left, two inch-high women thigh-deep the lake, wash clothes they aren’t wearing, sun their skin.

Maybe today, in a nearby hospice, a caregiver will take her patient’s hand, listen to his pictures, pour out a blue lake, arrange some rocks around it & spread out the sun for him as he lies dying beside her. 

Turner's mountain peaks will pierce the sky, his painted children will play on the paper they have occupied for 173 years

& the two men will sway in a wooden boat that will never reach the shore.

 

May you experience streams of light as these words & this image pass before you.

-Erie Chapman

 

Days 157-158 Living Love

Note: Today’s reflection, celebrating the Journals upcoming 10 year anniversary was written by Liz Sorensen Wessel.

The day was June 7, 2006 when his inspiration breathed life on to the first page of The Journal of Sacred Work. Visionary healthcare leader and an extraordinary human being, Erie Chapman created a unique forum for caregivers, offering rest and renewal, as well as the opportunity to explore Life’s deeper truths.

Amidst these pages caregivers from around the globe have discovered an opening into the heart of the Beloved. Erie has shared wisdom through storytelling, teachings on Radical Loving Care {RLC}, gifts of the spirit, and Beauty in image and poetic verse to awaken one’s passion and purpose. This Journal has been the gateway to sharing in a way that I personally never thought possible. Through written word, artistic medium, revelation in experiences, and in sharing our inner most longings we have forged an irreplaceable bond through caring.

Together we have journeyed across a “road less traveled” delved beneath the surface to explore the unfathomable, in our living and in our dying and especially in our loving. We have been encouraged to see in new ways beyond the narrow confines of our biases, judgments and worldly habitual, fear-based thinking. We have opened ourselves in vulnerability, owned our truth and in our nakedness found redemption, with our character flaws; acceptance and in our brokenness; unconditional love. Through the simple act of showing up, we reverence life, one another and the sacredness of all that is.

Mostly we have given shape to our hopes and dreams within a welcoming hospitality of community. Each reflection offered up, is received and affirmed with love. This Journal’s unfolding reveals and manifests the expansive nature of love.  Just as light travels long distances and thousands of years across the universe, loving thoughts continue to ripple out in ways we cannot fully imagine. We are grateful to Journal readers for flaming the embers that have kept this Journal alive.  Circling through the archives, one discovers there are so many precious pearls to mine. 

It is no secret that Erie holds caregivers in the highest esteem for he views caregiving as sacred work. He believes that the qualities of our encounters have the power to heal. Erie has described sacred encounters, “When need has been heard and answered with love” as more than superficial politeness or platitudes that can diminish a person’s dignity but rather, Radical Loving Care. Throughout his distinguished career in healthcare, Erie’s revolutionary work has been transforming the hearts, minds and the culture of caregiving throughout the country.  His tireless efforts and dedication to this work as well as his personal sharing through this blog is profoundly loving. Erie’s rare passion burns so brightly it is apparent that it has claimed his heart. Although retired, his mission has continued in exponential ways.

As we celebrate the 10 year anniversary of the Journal, I wish to express my gratitude to Erie and to all of you, dear friends for the many grace filled blessings we share through openings in Love.

Liz Sorensen Wessel

 

 

Above photos by Erie Chapman