Pregnant, yet deep within I knew I couldn’t give this baby life. The decision was made to abort and back then, over 30 years ago, I was unaware of how this experience would influence my spiritual development. Now in my 60’s I can see how it contributed to the meaning and purpose of my life, […]
Unmixed attention: the lifeblood of professional spiritual care
The conversation had rippled and sparkled. My doctor friend and I juggled theological ideas as they tumbled out and into the space between us. But as he got up to leave my heart sank. ‘Oh no’, I thought, ‘after all that he’s going to say he’ll pray for me.’ I’m ultra sensitive, you could say […]
Hooking up with Theo, again
Did you ever have a first love that you couldn’t leave behind? Whatever new friends you made, you just wanted that connection so much, even though it was hard to figure out what it was all about, exactly? Theo and I are like that. We formally got together in January of 2000. I’d travelled 1200 […]
Divine dance partners: theology, compassion and interconnectedness in health
Reading Divine Dance: the Trinity and Your Transformation reconnected me with the insightful 20th century Trinity of The Matrix movie when she announced to the chosen, but reluctant Neo that ‘it’s the question driving us’. Like, everyone, he faced the choice of awakening to reality or believing other’s certainties. Reality, says author Richard Rohr, is […]
Compassionate healthcare is not the easy option
Compassion is a hot topic. A quick Google search throws up over 87 million references. Healthcare providers are increasingly promoting it as central to care. Yet, until recently, it has been ‘one of the most referenced yet poorly understood elements of quality care’, says Shane Sinclair and his Canadian team in Compassion in Health Care: […]
Reflection on Spirituality Demystified: Understanding Spirituality in Rational Terms
I didn’t expect to find myself humming the old hymn Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise at the launch of Spirituality Demystified: Understanding Spirituality in Rational Terms. But, as I listened to Rohana Ulluwishewa talk about our inner and outer realities as conscious energy, the words and music embedded in me seemed to reach up from […]
Hospital Chaplains too Christian for Nones?
She sat beside the bed, tears brimming. ‘Mum’s dying.’ ‘Yes.’ We sat in silence for a bit. ‘I’ve lost my faith.’ ‘Uh huh.’ ‘When my friend died.’ ‘Mm.’ We held hands and Mum’s too, wondering in our own ways, about God and faith and people dying and what the universe meant, if anything. As we […]
Shared vulnerability: the key to soulful & just end of life choices
I used to love the story of Little Red Riding Hood. There was something deliciously appealing about getting dressed up in an elegant red cape and sauntering off into the world alone. Grandma turning into the wolf didn’t bother me, perhaps because I was so absorbed in the elegance of my outfit. But there’s no […]
Stories crucial to midwifing death
Midwifing death is as important to the dying process as pain relief. For me, it’s walking slowly beside another person as they disengage from their dwindling life force and listening intently to the stories of their life. Stories can tumble out in a great sigh of relief or drift out in fragments. Sometimes there are […]
Hospital chaplaincy beyond religious control?
Sometimes truth is so hard to stomach that even though it stares you in the face and shouts itself hoarse trying to be heard we remain oblivious to its presence. This may be because the emerging truth demands much of us. The truth I have to face is that the Christian religion I represent has […]