Journal of Sacred Work

Days 181-185 - How Can We Make a Passing Precious?

   Long ago, attending my first funeral, I encountered a surprise. Although the deceased lived a long & successful life the best anyone could say was, "He was a good fellow."

   Not a bad summary, of course, but could not anyone describe how precious this man had been to them?

   The minister recited the usual obituary list of clubs & hobbies & churchgoing (& elicited the only chuckle with an attendance reminder.) That was it. 

   This is not about ego. The dead man could not care. It is about love. When we dismiss a rich life with poor words we steal meaning from ourselves. 

   When we strive to remember what any other life has meant we breathe meaning into "precious" - one of our finest adjectives. That is how family & friends recall my mother - as someone they hold in their hearts as precious. 

   Since everyone seeks meaning, doing a more work to honor the deceased tells us how our own life matters. We define precious by how we celebrate others. 

   Although life's meaning is rarely defined by funeral orations it is surely a time when Love calls us to reflect with respect. If you cannot write, paint a picture honoring the deceased, create a dance, assemble a scrapbook, compose some music & follow the annual Jewish tradition of honoring each who has passed away over the year. Best of all, let the life of the deceased inform your own so that the departed lives on through you. 

 Make the life that has left as precious as the life that remains - yours. 

-Erie Chapman

Photograph by Erie: Mom at 105, (final days.)

Days 179-180 Simply You

 Three,

    simply

             three

deep breaths

                 and magic

  A moment…

                    of turning

round

   Perhaps with a twirl,

       a light step,

                    a laugh

Just this

A simple breath,

brings you back,

Alive             

       Stretch...

releasing the unceasing chatter

as it is, all is

                  simply is

                            Beautiful

Simply

                You

                         Are

                You,

                           Rejoice!

-Liz Sorensen Wessel
Laguna Beach Nature's Simple Beauty photo by ~liz

Days 175-178 - The Atmosphere in the Room

 Our family reunion has been an annual event for as long as Jack Sawyer, the teenaged one, can remember. This weekend, 23 of us gathered at my younger sister's home in Toledo.

   Now a patriarch, I stood back & watched as various dear relatives entered & left the room, how they reacted to each other, how the atmosphere changed a bit with each rearrangement of people, how some responded as my daughter brought forth pictures of ancestors from more than a century ago, & how 22 of the 23 reacted with particular joy as the 23rd appeared.

   When my son put his son Reed down & the 19 month-old began scampering around & laughing every single person found themselves laughing as well - joyful in the presence of...of what? Hope, of course. And innocence as well. 

   As the rest observed learned manners the littlest ran free. People under two-years old have a wide berth to behave as their spirits move them. What happiness he brought to everyone each time he appeared.

   What happens when a caregiver enters a room? Does a patient's energy rise or fall? What occurs in the meeting room when a leader enters? What is the atmosphere in a hospital run by a leader of light versus a boss whose main tool is fear?

-Erie Chapman

Days 173-174 Do Not Lose Heart

"I believe in the sun, even when it rains." ~Anne Frank

There are so many troubling occurrences in the world today, locally, in communities, in our nation and globally.

The universe is filled with polar opposites that ultimately make up a whole; such as day and night, sun and moon, hot and cold, life and death, love and fear. Opposite forces that may be in tension but are not separate from one another,  rather inextricably connected. One cannot exist without the other.

When I feel disheartened by the travesties that occur each day, I am heartened to think of all the unsung heroes who quietly bring light into our world through generous acts of caring.

One such caregiver comes to mind and a family member had this to say, “I appreciated how she would sit bedside with my mother to talk, pray, and hold her hand when she was in pain or not feeling well. The prayers and positive companionship, as well as the excellent care she received, had a positive impact on her spirit as she helped my mom keep a strong connection with God in her last months. She would sing in French in a soft soothing voice so that her home and even the dogs would become calm and peaceful.”

Ordinary human beings with an extraordinary capacity to share their creative gifts  for the benefit of others. These “caregivers of wonder” bring light where there is suffering, kindness amid despair and a listening heart where there is discord.

There are many faith traditions, spiritual paths and names for God but they all lead to One unifying force; Love.  

Do not lose heart.

Liz Sorensen Wessel
Watercolor by ~liz

Days 167-172 - Mission Fraud?

Matthew 21:12 Then Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who were selling and buying... 13 He said to them, “It is written,

‘My house shall be called a house of prayer’;
but you are making it a den of robbers.”

"Rooted in the loving ministry of Jesus as healer, we commit ourselves to serving all persons with special attention to those who are poor and vulnerable." - Ascension Health Mission.

"Last year we made more money than HCA" - reported statement of Ascension Health CEO

  My friend was deeply frustrated. A hospital leader in a faith-based health system he had a right to be. "We're supposed to be advancing mission," he said. "Yet the top executives & board are so focused on money they don't care." 

   His exasperation stems from the insidious nature of the system's bonus structure. Unless money targets are met no other performance measures matter even though this charity will clear tens of millions in profits. 

   Stunned, I continued. "Do you mean that superb quality outcomes & peak patient satisfaction are irrelevant if you don't meet budget?"

   His response dripped with sarcasm: "No margin no mission."

   This terrible sentence infiltrated faith-based hospitals decades ago. Although it is technically true, health system leaders now seem to think: "Only margin matters." 

   Money has shoved love aside. Nuns & chaplains who once symbolized charity are complicit in "mission fraud" if they do not protest staff cuts made to meet profit goals that sometimes exceed 20% of net revenue. 

   Hospital charities tell tax authorities they are different. How?

   But taxing is not the main problem. Charitable & for-profit systems face the same challenge: Patients seek mission-based healthcare. But money-obsessed hospitals compromise care. 

   Lest I seem sanctimonious I was well-paid as a CEO. But, during my 12 years as President of OhioHealth's 10-hospital, 11,000-employee system, my salary never exceeded ten times a nurse's starting salary. 

   If that still seems high, note this: some healthcare CEOs now earn as much as one hundred times the salary of a first line caregiver. In 2017 Ascension Health CEO Tony Tersigni shredded that multiple. He earned $17.5 million, more than three hundred times one of his first line nurses. 

   People used to envy doctor's hard-earned incomes. Clearly, many charity executives now make way more - in part because their chief focus is bottom line dollars not first line caregivers. While doctors & nurses are caring for patient's health, executives are hyper-focused on financial health, not mission health.  

   Unfortunately, clerics, executives, board members, legislators & investigative newspeople will continue to do nothing.

   Hospitals should be as sacred as any "temple." Sadly, "the money-changers" have taken charge. 

   You may feel helpless. So do I. 

-Rev. Erie Chapman

Note: This piece represents the author's view & not necessarily that of Erie Chapman Foundation

Days 165-166 Like Father, Like Sons!

Note: Guest reflection by Terry Chapman.

It has been said many times that “so goes the father, so goes the son”, and in my lifetime this has held true.  My father passed on to me the steady and non-judgmental love that helped make me a similar person in personality and actions.  But fathering goes much deeper than that, doesn’t it?  A good father teaches his son or daughters by his own examples of caring, by both the little things like a special birthday treat and the large things such as working hard for a promotion to pay for their college degree.  Both types of caring are understood at the primal level, often years later when the man or woman realize how much the father and mother have done to launch them successfully into the slipstream of life—with all its opportunities, challenges, hopes and fulfillment!

My father bought me small skis when I was 10 years old and we skied together down a rather meager slope near our home in suburban Maryland.  But we were together doing something we both enjoyed.  I don’t recall my Dad saying “I love you”, but it was quite clear he did and my brother and I depended on his constancy of affection and he always found time to spend with us.  My father “read” to my deaf brother who could not hear, read or speak, by gesturing what a specific machine did in the Popular Mechanics magazine pictures of the 1950’s. Unending patience was his gift to my younger brother. I helped by watching over him when my parents were away. Like father, like son.

And now, as my sons are married and one has twin daughters, I see them both nurturing and showing those they love, what love truly means: spending time being with someone without thought of a return. I golf with both sons and fish with one son as the drawing above amusingly combines. Shared activities with them over the years reflect the best I have to give.    Fatherly love then gets passed from generation to generation.  A marvelous way to pass on the best you have to give another.  Like father, like sons!

-Terry Chapman

Days 160-164 - City of God, City of Man

Saint Augustine developed the concept: We roam the City of Man with feet treading streets we know & eyes on a City of God we know not. 

   We are the only beings that imagine our soul's next home. Yet, however much we prettify Paradise, Death frightens us. 

   Every life is fraught with longing. It perfuses our existence as blood through our heart.

   Example: Adults pursue plastic surgery to fool peers: "Pick me, I'm young," then try to fool the Grim Reaper by reversing the trick: "Don't pick me, I'm young."

   Death makes some bad choices but physical beauty never stays his scythe.

   Decades back a surgeon friend sought to look older so patients would trust him. At seventy he dyed his hair to look younger for the same reason. 

   In the City of Man we want our surgeon middle aged, our children healthy, our minister wise & our partner pretty. We want to look "great." Our souls? We might work on them when God's city seems imminent. 

   Yet, one is not "now" & the other "later." Eternity occupies both, gradually razing earth while protecting himself. 

   Does anyone think that Heaven's gate is patrolled by beauty experts, bank examiners or border guards checking citizenship?  Our soul knows the right answers. Our body often argues otherwise.   

   As I bathe in this inlet on Eternity's sea & remember time wasted on new clothes instead of my old soul. As the shower steam clears & the mirror reveals my half-shaved face I see dimly: Truth, the home of wrinkled skin & revealed secrets; Compassion, nursing our starving at her breasts; Love, the hand that frees the artist’s fingers & liberates arias from the poet's heart; these three swim us close enough to brush the ruffled hem of Beauty & hear the silence that holds everything.

  And only Death, drawing near, permits us to whiff the fragrance that perfumes the City of God.

-Rev. Erie Chapman 

NOTE: Radical Loving Care has just been released as an audio book (as well as paperback & Kindle). Download your copy & listen in your car (or let it put you to sleep at home:-). All proceeds benefit the non-profit Erie Chapman Foundation. Thank you!

Days 158-159 A Thought For Today

“The breezes at dawn have secrets to tell you
Don't go back to sleep! -Rumi

 

Researchers have discovered that about 50,000 thoughts pass through our mind each day. Many of those thoughts rise up from an internal voice of criticism. I've heard it said that our thoughts create our reality or our outer world is a reflection of our inner reality.  Yikes! 

A reversal of thought is the basis of all spiritual awakening-"change your thoughts and you change your life." If this is true, then perhaps the answer to world problems begins with changing my worldview? I am learning that world peace begins with inner peace. As I pay attention to my inner thoughts I recognize that I have many moments of negative self talk.  Noticing helps as I cultivate a relationship of loving kindness within. Seeding positive affirmations can create openings to new ways of experiencing life in communion with others. 

This morning while in the dentist chair I was practicing offering positive thoughts for my dentist as well as myself and affirmed how well I was doing. I found it reassuring.

Suffering arises when we feel separate from one another, yet we long for a sense of belonging. 

A thought for us to reflect on today... 

"Which snowflake is the most magnificent? Is it possible that they are all magnificent—and that, celebrating their magnificence together they create an awesome display? Then they melt into each other, and into the Oneness. Yet they never go away. They never disappear. They never cease to be. Simply, they change form. And not just once, but several times: from solid to liquid, from liquid to vapor, from the seen to the unseen, to rise again, and then again to return in new displays of breathtaking beauty and wonder. This is Life, nourishing Life." -Neale Donald Walsch

Sending thoughts of gratitude to you...

Liz Sorensen Wessel
Watercolor by ~liz

Days 153-157 - Are We Awake?

 In 2016 an acquaintance asked me how I was "killing time" in my so-called "retirement." 

   "Why would I want to "kill" the only thing I have?" I answered. 

    I am increasingly aware of my "Watcher's" warning finger. "Are you living fully or anesthetizing yourself?" he challenges.

   Most tune out their watcher. Who wants to be prodded when everyone is "so stressed?"

   In between "anxieties" we witness the subway rider's boredom, the tired eyes of the grocery clerk checking the clock, the divorced executive half-watching the ball game as he drains his fourth beer in the fifth inning.

   His belly is fat. His t.v. screen is as flat as is his life. A once-hopeful youth he now counts the years to retirement. 

   Want to awaken this burned-out executive? Diagnose him with cancer. Will his traumatized eyes see how the fog of indifference robbed him?

   Speed steal chunks of us. We think busy work awakens us. But half of our calendars are populated with predators that bite off precious hours.

   Where is hope?

   Long ago essayist George MacDonald (1824-1905) warned, "We must wake our souls unnumbered times a day." 

   The key word is "souls." Our soul can tell us how to spend our time.

   Above the din our soul whispers, "Live love. Rushing every moment tramples the richness of each." 

  Defining "Now" as a moment will always frustrate those who seek to cage it. That is why Blake invited us to "kiss joy as it flies." 

   Best of all, Thomas Traherne (1636-1674) wrote, "This moment exhibits infinite space, but there is a space also wherein all moments are infinitely exhibited...Love is the true means by which the world is enjoyed."

   Love hands me what the camera saw in a millisecond so that I can paint a new dream over days of work . Years of hard training & slow looking enable my eyes to give such gifts to my soul every day. I never go to sleep without picking one as a night companion.  

   Once again we see. Love is the air to breathe.

   Close your eyes & meditate. Let your within tell you how to live without.

   Sorry. I will not be joining you. To avoid rudeness, I have to run to a party filled with noise.

   My "watcher" will be disappointed. But as I endure jabbering my heart will choose a photograph; a companion through the night before Dawn relights my eyes.

-Erie Chapman

Photopainting - "Awakening Angels" by Erie - 2019

Days 151-152 Thankful Thoughts

"Appreciation is the highest form of prayer, for it acknowledges the presence of good wherever you shine the light of your thankful thoughts." - Alan Cohen

There is so much to be thankful for...

What is the prayer of your heart?

 

Shared by Liz Sorensen Wessel
Artwork by ~liz