Tempus Fugit, Part 2: Elderly

ABSTRACT: The world marvels at youth, and, in many ways, quite rightly - Christ is known to have spent time with children, and encouraged all to follow in their example with regard to the manner of their faith. But it is the fixation on the image of youth that seems so often unhealthy - our media is filled with people who will apparently stop at nothing in an attempt to preserve it, or find it once again. The world does not marvel so at old age. For want of a better example, picture the scene at pretty much any church on a Sunday morning, as proud parents bring their newly-born child to the service for the first time. Folks gather round, desperate for a look, to touch, to hold. Every expression greeted rapturously. Again, not wrong in and of itself, but isn't it amazing to consider the creation of humankind through God's eyes? Made in His own image. Not just the beautiful baby we all strain to see, but the age-ravaged old person who most of us (myself included, by and large) hardly even notice. They are just as beautiful, just as special, and just as sin cursed as the rest of us, in God's eyes. Their need of Him is no greater or less, their worth to him the same. Should we care less about children and young people, marvel less at the wonder of their very being, and desire less fervently that they each come to Christ? No! Should we care more about old people, marvel more at the wonder of their very being, and desire more fervently that they each come to Christ? Yes!

Say what you will about the merits of showing prolonged video footage in Church services (Index plugs notwithstanding, of course!), but I thought the film shown the Sunday morning before last, promoting the shoebox appeal, was affecting. Of course, seeing the children's faces light up as they received their small gifts is pretty much a given when it comes to charitable appeals, but what got to me was seeing the older folks receiving boxes too. It struck me, I think, particularly because it isn't a given at all; and it re-emphasised to me, perhaps paradoxically, some of the concerns I have with regard to how the elderly are viewed and valued in our media, our society and even our churches. Which brings us to the second part of this piece, which I hope may prove thought-provoking, even if not particularly enlightening.

Now, before I meander off down the pontification highway, some grounding. The Bible is perfectly clear on how we are to view and treat our elders (and specifically our parents, for that matter). Some examples:

Leviticus 19:32 - You shall rise before the grey headed and honour the presence of an old man, and fear your God: I am the LORD';

Proverbs 23:22-23 - 'Listen to your father who begot you, and do not despise your mother when she is old. Buy the truth, and do not sell it, also wisdom and instruction and understanding';

and Job 32:6-9 - 'So Elihu, the son of Barachel the Buzite, answered and said: “I am young in years, and you are very old; Therefore I was afraid, and dared not declare my opinion to you. I said, ‘Age should speak, and multitude of years should teach wisdom.’ But there is a spirit in man, and the breath of the Almighty gives him understanding. Great men are not always wise, nor do the aged always understand justice'.

These to name but three.

But do we? Do we, as a rule, value our older folks as we should, acknowledging them of course not to be above fault? The world, or at least our little part of it here in the 21st century first world, doesn't in my opinion. Our society is obsessed with youth, I would argue, to the point where the very status is to be idolised; a perhaps inevitable by-product of secularism. If the concept of eternity is one of no personal significance, then the initial few years of life will obviously be cherished and revered by all, the last few dreaded, feared and to a certain extent at least, conveniently ignored. Have a look at a newspaper - what is considered a true tragedy? Someone dying 'before their time'. Someone dying young. If an accident leaves many dead, the focus will be on the young or on those women with child. If a child is killed, an outcry follows and demands for a legislative response is immediate. Of course, the death of a young person is by it's very nature more shocking than that of someone who has lived to an age approaching that 'expected', and probably far more difficult for close relatives to deal with correspondingly. But why is it more of a tragedy? Is it more of a tragedy?

When an old person dies (under 'normal' circumstances at any rate), it is considered, generally, fair enough. 'They had a good innings'. Maybe 75, 80, 90 years. Fair dos. Very sad for the family, of course, but hey, they had a good life and now they're gone. That's life. Compare this to the reaction of a young person dying. Floral tributes. Newspaper articles. Ever the question asked - why? Suddenly left without answers, the secular society clings to vague ideas of a God and a heaven they do not know or understand (or, generally claim to have any belief in at all), and hence the person is said to be 'with the angels', 'looking down on us', 'in a better place' or something similar. Perhaps surprisingly, given how 'enlightened' we're all supposed to be now, rarely if ever is it said 'ah well, they've ceased to exist in any form now as they have no eternal soul so it doesn't really matter'.

Now, of course we know that loved ones will cling to any shred of comfort they can in a time of grief, as they must. But why is the death of older people (not that old, really - someone who lives to 100 has only lived for 36,500 days (give or take some leap years, the calendar has never been my strong point) which isn't all that long) any different? Why aren't they said to be 'with the angels'? Where have they gone? Death is horrific, and to those without hope or knowledge of what awaits afterwards, it should be a time of great confusion, soul-searching and, in the absence of any assurance, clutching at emotional straws. And to close family members and friends, the death of an older person will probably still be just that, but there can be no doubt that society certainly expects them to get on with things pretty quickly. It seems that, at least to me, our society's acceptable and even ideal outcome of life is for someone to see out their 30,000 days or so, and then die without too much pain (see any current discussion on the 'merits' of euthanasia if you wish a greater insight into this mindset, taken arguably to it's logical conclusion). If they can have they have contributed to society in some way in that time - maybe raised a family, done a worthwhile job, or just been a generally nice person, then so much the better. Wayne spoke about it in this morning's sermon (October 29, if you feel like listening to it online) - everybody's 'nice', pretty much - isn't that enough? Is this God's view of life? Should it be ours?

There are perhaps few areas of Christian life which better demonstrate this preoccupation with youth than evangelism. It seems everyone is determined to try and win the hearts and minds (and souls) of children. Youth clubs at Church. SU groups in schools. Summer camps. Who are evangelistic 'praise nights' primarily aimed at? Again, this has to be qualified - of course we are to 'suffer the little children'. But should we not also have the same fervour in our witness to those older? You may have heard of the 'lost generation', a rather unfortunate term given to those folks in this part of the world who the church apparently 'missed'- the generation before us Indexers. It's a typically hyperbolic distinction, but there is truth in it. For whatever reason, the end of the second world war brought with it an (at least statistical) decline in the Christian church in the UK, which continues today. It's also been said however that our generation (the Christians in it anyway) has, perhaps resultantly, emerged with a fervour and passion for our faith which harks back to old times, and manifests itself largely in our witness to others. Is this true? Is it true in our case? Well, if it is, (and even if it's not) then we must surely be seeking to reach this 'lost' generation. God knows His number, God knows His names - we don't. We cannot hide our lights under the collective bushels of our respective peergroups, we must not just live for Christ in our CU's and with our friends and at Index. God has placed folks around us our own age, yes, (thankfully), but the world is bigger than that and so too is the body of Christ.

We are blessed in many ways at Carrubbers. One of those is that we have an abundance of students and young people. There are many Churches lacking in the energy, drive, optimism and passion which young people (allegedly, I can't speak for myself here) bring. We don't have so many older folks though; resultant, hopefully, in us not taking them for granted, as I have seen done in my past Church lives. In so many places of worship, it seems, the older members of congregations (who do generally make up the majority of their number) are ridden over roughshod by those younger, particularly if the minister himself has an 'agenda for change' and sees the 'traditionalists' as obstacles to it, with little if any thought given as to how they can best be served. Old people are living in the past, they're afraid of change, they stifle God's work and make church an unwelcoming place, it's argued - well maybe sometimes they do but I think more often than not we'd be better off listening to what they have to say before we sweep up the carpet from under their feet. Why do many of them dress differently for church? Why do many of them prefer certain forms of praise over others? Why do so many make the effort to attend prayer meetings? Is it all just vacuous tradition? I don't think we can take them for granted - ideally, I think we at Carrubbers would have more of them - but those that are part of the fellowship are, to put it horribly crassly, a resource that we must tap for all it's worth. We, and especially those of us living apart from our families, need the input of older people in our lives, need their wisdom, need their experience, need their discernment. There's nothing new under the sun, and there's very few problems and difficulties which we face that haven't been faced by others before.

And we should not have any misgivings about approaching our older brothers and sisters either. The student lunches are a good idea, and can be fruitful times, but they shouldn't be stand alone events; the only time we interact with some of the church families. The gift of relatively long human life brings with it, in my opinion, an accompanying responsibility - a responsibility to lend their experience, wisdom and discernment to those younger both in life and in the faith. The Bible demands it, and we would be foolish not to insist upon it. Maybe you haven't been at Carrubbers long, maybe you've been coming for years: who do you know to speak to? Are their older people who are investing in your life, and vice versa? We've got three pastors, you've got pastoral and home group leaders maybe, you've got (good grief) an Index core team - there's some people who have to respond favourably for a start, and maybe they can point you in other directions. I'm not necessarily speaking of elderly people here, just people who've more life experience than us who can encourage, challenge, and teach us. In the final part of this post, by the way, I'll look at what perhaps some of our responses to these issues might be.

In the meantime, keep an eye on folks, learn from their example, don't get trapped in that aforementioned inward-looking bubble of your own peers - as the children are encouraged to do in Sunday school, and as we are warned at each dedication service the babies will do, so we should too. Many of you will have known Peggy, who faithfully attended pretty much every service and Tuesday prayer meeting until her death this past year - what an encouragement she was, in life and in death! It always struck me just how much of an interest she took in the church, and particularly it's younger folk - seemed we were as much of a blessing to her, interestingly. How wonderful to think of where she is now, the home she long looked forward to. That mindset, an acute awareness of our own mortality, and dependence upon God for each breath, is perhaps a blessing which comes with age - all the more reason to spend time learning from those older if it is - but it should not be exclusively theirs.

The world marvels at youth, and, in many ways, quite rightly - Christ is known to have spent time with children, and encouraged all to follow in their example with regard to the manner of their faith. But it is the fixation on the image of youth that seems so often unhealthy - our media is filled with people who will apparently stop at nothing in an attempt to preserve it, or find it once again. The world does not marvel so at old age. For want of a better example, picture the scene at pretty much any church on a Sunday morning, as proud parents bring their newly-born child to the service for the first time. Folks gather round, desperate for a look, to touch, to hold. Every expression greeted rapturously. Again, not wrong in of itself, but isn't it amazing to consider the creation of humankind through God's eyes? Made in His own image. Not just the beautiful baby we all strain to see, but the age-ravaged old person who most of us (myself included, by and large) hardly even notice. They are just as beautiful, just as special, and just as sin cursed as the rest of us, in God's eyes. Their need of Him is no greater or less, their worth to him the same. Should we care less about children and young people, marvel less at the wonder of their very being, and desire less fervently that they each come to Christ? No! Should we care more about old people, marvel more at the wonder of their very being, and desire more fervently that they each come to Christ? Yes! go to main page

It takes a steady hand to hold a full cup...

Over the past weeks I have been considering many things; I believe experiencing change in your life brings about musings and wonderings of a different kind. One of my most prevalent meditations has been on the fragility of the human being. Pastor Wayne has often sighted the fact that if God took His hand off us for one second, we would cease to exist; Why then at times does it feel like I am going it alone? Why when I am seeking the Lord do i continue to feel a lack of His presence and with it His power, comfort and peace? I don’t know if you can relate to these statements but here are my recent thoughts…

My considerations have been borne from recent personal loss and I am sure I am not alone in saying that the process of grief is potentially one of the most isolating agonies a person can face. The delightful fact of these musings are that even though at times I may feel like I am going it alone or that God, to quote C.S Lewis “has closed the door and double bolted it on the inside.” The Good Shepherd does not leave me, he promises this many times. I have found comfort and calm assurance in the fact that God is unchanging. God does not panic when we do; Gods hand is steady and sure.

Even if you haven’t experienced perspective-changing circumstances in your life I would encourage you to consider making Gods promises real in your life; God will be proved in your diligence and the process will strengthen your faith. Better than that is the fact that your relationship with the Lord will grow. And even when Heaven feels like its silent; its not. Don’t trust in your feelings alone, claim scripture and hold it to your heart and you will find that even the most basic understanding will bring assurance and peace from the Lord.

“And because you are sons, God has sent forth the spirit of His son into your hearts, crying Abba Father.” (Galatians 4:6)

Something to chew on...

Greetings. Apologies for the dearth of posts the last week. If you missed us Sunday night, I think we'd all agree that Papa John's was particularly good.

We discussed a bit on Christ's final words to his disciples immediately before his betrayal and crucifixion, which can be found in John 13-17. We noted and discussed the extensive explanations Christ gave, in this his last hour, on the relationships between the Father, Son, and Spirit. It is a triune God that we worship and Christ wanted his disciples to understand this showing its supreme importance as it filled his discourse just prior to his death. Take some time this week reading, thinking upon, and meditating on these 5 chapters and be amazed at the God we worship, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Does God exist?

Here is a post that links to both a written and an audio version of an exellent debate between a leading apologist and atheist, who have both not passed into eternity. Everyone should either read or listen to this. We can get cds of it to you if for some reason you can't get to it.

Philosophy, Spirituality and Chai Tea

To follow on from DC's encouragement i would also like to reccommend the writings of Francis Schaeffer to those who want to look deeper into apologetics and modern culture. Im not sure if his books are still in print as he is fairly old school (died in 1984, year after i was born!!) but they are widely available as second hand editions if nothing else. He and his wife founded L'abri, a retreat in Switzerland which is now found across the world with the vision to share and defend biblical Christianity (www.labri.org). His writing is pretty profound and certainly gives plenty of food for thought. I am currently working my way through his complete works (like a snail swimming across the atlantic) and have found them incredibly relevant and challenging.
"The God who is there" (any philosophy types) and "True spirituality" (being a christian in the real world) are two of his best books and are, in my opinion, absolutely necessary reading for all christians. I am sure that the books reccommended by Eric John would overlap and probably build on this stuff but still thought it would be good to mention these. If you want to borrow them then do come and chat and i can possibly pass them on to you, scribbled notes and all!

The second half of this spraff is an encouragement to get stuck in with street evangelism. In my first year i got dragged along to Edinburgh uni's street evangelism on a Friday night (10pm in Buccleugh free church) and was massively impressed by the way the christians there could give real, sensitive, rational arguments to the various passers by and share something of the gospel through the conversations. I went a few more times but it was only really a year later that i started to feel confident enough in my knowledge of the gospel to start conversations. Going along and listening is probably just as much of a challenge as speaking. To hear all the things that people believe [and say they believe], and to listen, discuss, petition, ask, and witness is an incredibly informing and, at times, difficult experience but it is a fantastic way to grow in your knowledge and trust in Christ! October 20th is the carrubbers effort [i think]...so definately get stuck in! (dont know about carrubbers but Edinburgh uni give out free hot chocolate and chai tea)

You ask me how I know He lives...

Great stuff Sunday night, wasn't it? In case you missed it, Carrubbers' very own Eric John Scott was discussing how we can know that God exists, from within the somewhat unlikely context of the generally God-denying philosophical worldview and some of its most prominent champions. Challenging, stretching (both major pluses in my book) and ultimately very encouraging, it was one of those nights where you just wished all your non-Christian friends could have been present. Maybe they would have come, if they'd been asked? Maybe yours would have? Something to think about perhaps.

Anyway, there was lots of food for thought, but as Eric said it was merely the appetizer. Here are the apologetic entrees he recommended:

Why I Still Believe by Joe Boot

Can Man Live Without God, Jesus Among Other Gods, and Deliver Us From Evil by Rawi Zacharias

Unquestionably, this is topical - with Richard Dawkins' latest effort currently topping the Amazon best-seller lists, we surely need to be equipped and ready to stand for truth in our time.

That Old Chestnut: Singleness

Mikey's sermon got a lot of folks talking this past Sunday, I know. Got me talking, too (although to be fair very few things don't). And a lot of you were talking about what he had to say about singleness. Well, rather than offer my two billion cents, I thought I'd point you towards an article which deals with it in a way I personally find very helpful. Maybe you will too.

Resolved, to live to die.

Mention was made in Sunday's sermon to some of the resolutions of Jonathan Edwards, the man who prayed that God would stamp eternity upon his eyeballs.

Here are his resolutions.

Here is a great biography of Edwards and here is probably the best biography.

Tempus Fugit, Part 1: Hospitals

Although not dealing with exactly the same issues, I'd urge you, if you haven't already, to listen to our own good Reverend's sermon from this past Sunday (October 1) via the Carrubbers website before you go any further. And if, like me, it is still fresh in the memory, has it impacted upon you at all, or has today just been like any other day? Did you think when listening to it that it should? If you're reading this, there is still time (although I suppose by the time you've finished there might not be). Oh, and before you all dash off to track down Eric John to see if he wouldn't mind taking up a little plagiarism case, rest assured that the vast majority of this was written before Sunday.

I've spent quite a bit of time in hospitals recently, and it's got me thinking. About hospitals. They really are fascinating places. From the outside, they just look like other big buildings - the old ones look like big old schools, and the newer ones look like big new schools, or financial headquarters. When you go past them, you probably don't think too much about them, unless you have a personal connection with someone inside or who has been inside. But think about what's going on in there. People breathing their last. People breathing their first. People crying with sorrow, and others with joy. People fighting for their lives, and others doing their best to save them. Every state of human life can be found in a hospital.

I think that's why the world does its best to shield us from them. Alright, you can watch ER or Holby City or something and see some of the drama that unfolds, but that's with all the detachment, both emotional and psychological, implicit in the medium of television. That's safe. Otherwise, hospitals are big, isolated people-repair factories found quietly sitting more and more on the outskirts of big cities. Most of the time, people don't see them. The rest of the time, they don't want to. They're scary, surreal places, at least for many. And how about you? How do you feel about going to visit someone you know in hospital - a relative, a friend, someone who you've heard mentioned in Church? Does the prospect appeal to you? We'll come back to that in a bit.

Wherever you've been, whatever you've been doing, to step into a hospital (the same applies to care homes you could argue) is to step into another world, except it isn't. It's the same world, only a part of it that is normally kept hidden from view. If someone collapses on Princes Street, an ambulance will come, paramedics will put a blanket over the person, put them in the back of said van and whisk them off to somewhere where they can hopefully be treated, far from the eyes of the rest of the crowd. At once stunned and solemn, they will soon forget about what they've seen and carry on with their business, as is to be desired and indeed expected. That’s just what we do, and us tough Brits are lauded as particularly adept at it.

Hospitals are so impacting I think because they reveal the human condition as it really is - vulnerable, unpredictable, mortal. At the mercy of forces outwith the realms of our control. From the moment you are put in the back of that ambulance, the world no longer seeks to conceal from you your own mortality; rather, you are immediately exposed to your own vulnerability and moreover man's complete inability to sustain itself indefinitely. Health professionals instantaneously take the place of and indeed supersede every other authority figure in one's life, and they funnily enough have no desire to conceal the aforementioned reality from you, only to put you at some sort of ease as you seek to mentally process it. This is the life they know. Almost uniquely in our existence, this applies equally to everyone regardless of race, gender, social status, financial clout or even condition of health. The chances are, all of us will one day end up in a hospital or hospice, unless we die first. Do we think about that? Should we think about that? Does the world want us to think about that? Does the Bible want us to think about that?

At this point, I must defer to the afore-heralded sermon of the Rev, which focused primarily upon Ephesisans 5:15-16:
'See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil'.

The concept of numbering our days, furthermore, can be and was specifically linked back to Psalm 90:12:
'So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom'.

The world may seek to promote the lemming lifestyle of blissful ignorance towards mortality, but that clearly is not the desire of God for us. How often when raising, or seeking to raise a topic of some eternal significance, or any which raises the issue of our impending death, will someone tell you to 'lighten up' or stop being so 'depressing'? They don't want to hear it! And this potentially goes for us as Christians too. I'll come back to it hopefully in a later post, but don't you find that people don't want to think about illness, or death, or even getting old? Isn't that strange, given that death is an inevitability, the one thing we know awaits us in the future? But then the world, even with all the progress, advancement, and enlightenment that has emerged in its history, has no answer for it. How can you know what happens when you die? Amidst the confusion, sadness and sense of loss which so often surrounds it, many reach out to the God they have ignored throughout their lives, realizing at last that He is who they have needed all along. This is a sad fact, but it is a fact nonetheless. And God can, and has used it for His glory.

I asked the question earlier on of how you feel about visiting someone in hospital. It's an overly generalized and simplistic question I know - of course, it depends upon your relationship with the person, what their condition is, the extent to which their presence there is surprising, and probably dozens of other factors. These considerations are probably most important even in the decision of whether to go at all. There may well be a great deal of trepidation on your part, after all, what are you going to find? What will they look like? What are you going to say? Something that used to trouble me whenever I faced the prospect of visiting an elderly relative (now deceased) who spent several years in a rural hospital, was the gnawing sense of guilt at my lack of real, consistent concern. It was sad to see her lying almost lifeless on a bed all those times, of course, and as you sat you felt rightly compelled to pray earnestly, knowing it to be the only hope for her, and your only available method of assistance. But then I would leave her, get in the car and drive home, and as the miles wore on gradually that sadness and concern would be left behind, at least in part. The prayers, at first so fervent, would over the following days fade into habitual blandness, often only boosted in impetus by our own Sunday morning prayer meeting, which I remain (and please take this not as a cheap plug) both committed to, and, in far greater measure, thankful for.

I firmly believe that God would rather we repent than regret in all things, but if there is one thing that I wish I had done differently over the years in which I was able to visit my great aunt Elsie, it would be that I had taken the opportunity to be a great witness for Christ in the hospital, and this I believe should be our primary focus whenever we face the prospect of hospital visitation, or think about hospitals and issues of illness and ill health more generally. Is it often an uneasy, unpleasant proposition? Undoubtedly yes, at least for me, but perhaps with this mindset it can be an exciting one, too. I'm hoping to look at some of the issues surrounding the opportunities available to us as we spend time with older folks in particular in a later post, but suffice to say in a world so often caught up in its own busyness, where as a more facund man than I once observed, we are largely seeking to, and succeeding in, Amusing Oursleves to Death, surely what better place than that so removed from the absurd routines of everyday life, the hospital, and further what better personal circumstance, ill health, to share the love of Christ and the hope that He brings with anyone and everyone?

So, what should I have done? I should have spoken more with the staff, thanked them for their efforts, and encouraged them in their profoundly difficult work situation. I should have told them that as I was praying for Elsie, I was also praying for them too, and that moreover the God with whom I have a personal relationship with, through His Son Jesus Christ, (as potentially can they), will I know hear and answer those prayers. And I should have been able to say that in all honesty – an unfulfilled promise of prayer is an awful sin and one which I know myself to have committed before. I should have shown love and concern for all the patients in the ward, and their visitors - not being insensitive or intrusive, but at the same time not walking by on the other side of the road as it were either. A difficult balancing act? Yes - some people may desire nothing more than a chat, a promise of prayer, even just an ear, some may be desperate to know how they can find peace, and know God, while others may just want to be left alone (I speak from recent experience – never bother an old lady eating yoghurt) - so I should have been praying for wisdom in pursuing it.

There is considerable Biblical basis for this argument, I believe. The initial point of this post which I at least attempted to make was that on entering a hospital, a person in essence 'checks out' of the everyday world. Now, it is true that with medical advancement - in this part of the world at least - has to a large extent come an end to the total ostracisation of the sick as was so prevalent in the days of Christ - the leper is no longer cast out of the town, at least not in the same way (interestingly, the Encyclopedia Britannica attributes as the catalyst for this shift in approach the conversion of Constantine to Christianity in AD 331 – I’m sure Cameron Rose could explain that further). But as Christ spent so much time in His day amongst the sick, should not we today? And why was that so anyway, you may wonder (I have), especially given the eternal perspective which obviously Christ possessed in the greatest abundance? I believe the reason was that just said - as people are stripped of their health, and the complacency seemingly intrinsic, so the worldly bubble of assumption and lifestyle in which to some extent they, and we, exist is at once burst. In desperation, they of old turned to Christ and those who bore testimony of Him - the leper, the blind, the cripple, and the relatives thereof. The world no longer had the answers to their questions, could no longer meet their most pressing needs. The world, to put it bluntly, didn’t want to know. Of course, we know that in reality the world hasn't the answer for any of the questions, but it can take extremity of circumstance, in this case with regard health, although many others too (fiscal being another prime example) for that awareness to manifest, and often did, even in the days of Christ. Say it that this no longer be the case?

It can be, and is I am sure, a wonderful thing that our hospitals have Christians within them, be it in the role of patients, visitors, or staff, as long as when there we allow God to work out His purposes through us, and are obedient to His call. There are a whole load of medical practitioners, both in practice and in the process of training for (I guess they aren't practitioners then), lurking about around Index, as you probably know.
They look pretty much like everyone else so they can be a little hard to spot - it would obviously help if they always wore white, light cotton coats or at least stethoscopes around their necks, but most of the time they don't. And they would I'm certain be able to elucidate upon the sociological and psychological, to say nothing of the spiritual, impact of hospitals and those within them far more learnedly than I. At the same time, by turns, they also perhaps of all of us are exposed most directly to the challenges and opportunities presented by, and implicit within, their workplaces.

In today’s western, pronouncedly secular society, it is simply not possible for Christian doctors, nurses et al, however zealous, to move from patient to patient, visitor to visitor sharing the Gospel and offering the hope and forgiveness, and the peace that passes understanding, which they know God offers to them. Nonetheless, anyone who has spent any time in a hospital knows just what impact someone can have, either positive or negative, depending on how they go about their work - a smile, a cheerful disposition, taking time to address the concerns of those in and around the bed, and simply asking how one is doing can mean so much to patient and visitor alike. And of course to those of us with other careers and lifestyles, going about our daily business, the reality is the same as is the challenge. It is surely of the utmost importance that the conduct of Christians working in healthcare, as everywhere, is marked by compassion, care, thoughtfulness and love - spiritual gifts evident even to those who cannot identify them as such. Over the times recently where I have been a visitor in hospital, I have been greatly blessed by the ministry, for that it surely is, of many Christians who are evidently treating their patients as potential brothers and sisters, people made in God's own image, and not just as clients as the relatively recent 'healthcare as business' model could and perhaps does encourage. Although I must plead ignorance with regard to all the pressures and demands of the modern healthcare working environment, I recognize that it may not always be easy, or even considered good practice, to work in this manner. But in diligence, and working as unto the Lord, I am sure that all would and will be blessed in it.

These are, for better or worse, simply some of my own thoughts, and as such are entirely contestable. Feel more than free to post any comments, or speak with me further about anything you've read. I am sure many folks around Index will have far greater insight into these issues than I. As I stated earlier, my intention is to post a second part of this in a short time, focusing more on the identity issues surrounding age, and in particular the elderly, and what I perceive to be an unhealthy not to say unbiblical idolization of youth. I hope the juxtaposition of these pieces with my more silly posts is not overly off-putting, but rather is of even a little benefit to the blog - again, you are welcome to comment. go to main page