It wasn’t until our first session of the Pastoral Counseling Training Program that I realized how spiritually depleted I have been feeling over the past few months/years perhaps. During the precious 2 hour introductions from the class participants, I became very aware of the need I had for spiritual food. When I walked away from our first session I felt as though I had just left a divine banquet. My soul felt spiritually fed and my cup truly runneth over.
The feast began with ‘appetizers’ which consisted of priceless nuggets of love, faith and wisdom shared by students and teachers alike as we introduced ourselves and explained what brought us to this training. The main theme that was set at the very first session; that there is no distinction between teacher and student, as we are all equally both. Some of my favorite nuggets were as follows:
“my tears mingle with yours”
“Singleness of purpose is to deliver my gift with Grace”
“love covers a mountain of sins”
“walk with people in love’
“Be the hands and feet of Christ”
“If I am not in service , I am in self”
“so many ways to show the love of Jesus”
“ushering them to safety”
“we do not want to hinder people from walking into their destiny”
“The four things that create balance in our lives is work, play, intimacy, and spirituality.”
“All of us have sinned by the Grace of His Glory in an effort to bring people to the cross””
“Preach the gospel at all times: use words whenever possible”
“why God has asked me here”
“I know why I sit here today”
“I am a miracle because I shouldn’t be here today…it is only by the Grace of God that I AM here today”
“Hallelujah! We have all been anointed to be here today!”
“Go to the temple of the people in this room”
As I wrote in my previous blog posting, the ‘main course of this divine banquet’ was the story I told in last weeks’ posting about the courageous man who was a drug dealer and spent 10 years of his life in prison before becoming a pastor. I invite you to revisit my previous posting to refresh your memory of this soulful story of one man’s journey and I apologize for any repetition from the last posting to this one.
For dessert, we received the story of a faculty member who had just returned from a two month stay in a remote village in the center of Africa with the Peace Corps. Because images are easier to recall than thoughts, we closed with the image of his first evening sitting on the dirt floor of the mud hut with the grass roof. Before eating the supper of flour and water, a native came around to each person with a basin and a pitcher of water. Warm water. The image of his hands cupped together, receiving this warm water to wash his hands not only made him feel welcomed and safe: he experienced an overwhelming experience of the hospitality and grace that is so lacking in our culture. It put him in touch with the awareness that he has a soul!
I left this divine banquet not only feeling spiritually fed, but also full of gratitude, grace, and humbleness. What a Blessing indeed!
The Miracle of Hospice 