But I can't forgive myself

By David Pettett

 

James had had a number of positive conversations with Tom about the Christian life. Before he came to prison Tom had been an active member of his church. James, the prison chaplain, wondered why Tom had never been to a chapel service. Tom said he understood the forgiveness of God. He would speak about the thief on the cross and say he understood how Jesus can forgive anyone, “even a criminal like me.” But he would then add, “But I can’t forgive myself.” Such thinking is often the real barrier to truly understanding the forgiveness that Christ brings.

Sometimes the embarrassment of what we have done remains with us. Our sinful actions can have adversely affected others, and we cannot undo their pain caused by our behaviour. This type of situation is sometimes dealt with in the criminal justice system by a process of restorative justice. Restorative justice brings the perpetrator and the victim together. The victim is given opportunity to say how the crime has hurt them and affected their lives. This is very powerful because most criminals have no concept that their crime actually hurts anyone. When the criminal hears and understands their crime has damaged a fellow human being, their sense of guilt can be palpable. After the victim has spoken, the criminal is given the opportunity to speak. If they are touched by the personal impact of their crime on the other person (and they often are), they are able to give a heartfelt and emotional apology.

 

Restorative justice is a very emotional experience. It can only happen where both parties desire to meet and express their emotions. They come into the process with some understanding that it will be very difficult. But that’s what dealing with sin is. It’s difficult. To know God’s forgiveness, we have to willingly enter a difficult process of coming together to understand the terrible cost of sin. The sinner and the victim, who is Christ, come together to listen and to understand.

 

Forgiveness is sometimes difficult to understand because we tend to think forgiveness means everything is O.K. We think forgiveness means the crime, or the sin, doesn’t matter. But that is not what forgiveness means. In understanding that we are completely forgiven in Christ, we are not to think that what we did in our sinful behaviour is therefore somehow made O.K. Sin is never O.K. Sin is a distrust of God. Human distrust of God is highlighted in the Garden of Eden. Doubt about God’s trustworthiness was put into the minds of Adam and Eve. God said, “Don’t eat this fruit. If you eat it, you will die.” That’s a really easy commandment to follow. Especially when the garden is filled with every other tree, bearing all kinds of fruits. Why, on earth, would you want to eat that one fruit God has told you not to eat, when there is so much rich choice in the rest of the garden? Well, you make the decision to eat that one fruit when doubt is placed in your mind that God is trustworthy. Taking and eating that one fruit is a clear statement of unbelief in God’s trustworthiness.

 

Understanding forgiveness is understanding that God is trustworthy. It is understanding that, while my sinful behaviour has demonstrated a lack of trust in God, God has still come back at me with His love in His Son. I sit with God and hear Him tell me about His pain caused by my sinful behaviour and I am moved to ask for forgiveness. I am still left with the memory of my sin, but Jesus and I have come together in a process of restorative justice. We acknowledge the cost of my sin, and we move forward together. I am so astounded by His love and forgiveness I am resolved to live in a way that honours him and demonstrates my trust in him.

 

Not being able to forgive yourself can often mean a lack of understanding of the nature of guilt. Understanding the biblical concept of guilt can be difficult when we live in a shame culture. In the West we talk a lot about shame. We talk about “naming and shaming” people or corporations who, according to general consensus, have done something wrong and seem to be getting away with it. We also talk about the shame bad behaviour brings upon one’s family.

 

Gail had been discovered to have been involved in an extra-marital affair over many years. She said she felt so ashamed of what she had done. But shame and guilt are two very different things. Shame only does half the job that guilt does. Shame is more about the embarrassment we have caused ourselves and others. Shame is not concerned with the sin but only with the consequences of the sin. Guilt is knowing we have offended a holy God. It is recognising the distrust of God we have expressed by the offence. Guilt also then understands the impact our sin has had on us and others.

 

When I read Psalm 51, I am initially a little disturbed by David’s confession of his sin of adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband Uriah. David says to God, “Against you, you only have I sinned” (Psalm 51:4). I find I am angry at David. Has he minimised the impact of his lust? Does he not understand the shame Bathsheba must have felt, not being able to refuse her king’s sexual advances while her own husband was away at war? Does he not have any compassion for Uriah whom he murdered to cover up his despicable behaviour?

 

If David had felt ashamed (rather than guilty) of his sin when confronted about it by the prophet Nathan (see the title of Psalm 51 and 2 Samuel 12:1 – 14), I think we would see in his confession some acknowledgement of the pain he has caused Bathsheba and his disgraceful manipulations to achieve Uriah’s murder. But forgiveness does not come through shame. Forgiveness comes from God. Dealing with sin, even sin that has caused others great loss, is acknowledging that guilt lies in my behaviour which has demonstrated a lack of trust in God.

 

David’s prayer of confession in Psalm 51 acknowledges his sin is first and foremost an exhibition of distrust of God. Where God has made it abundantly clear that we are not to commit adultery, David has said, “No, Lord. I trust my sexual desires more than I trust you. Giving in to my lust will give me more immediate pleasure than you will, Lord.” God has also made it very clear that we are not to commit murder, but David has said, “No, Lord. I can’t trust you to make my sin right. I have to cover up my adultery myself by getting rid of the husband.”

 

Put in these terms, you can see how, when finally confronted with his sin, David turns to the Lord for forgiveness. His behaviour has demonstrated an abject failure to trust God. And so, with his adultery and murder in mind, he turns to God, whom he has offended, for forgiveness. In fact, by acknowledging that it is against God only that he has sinned, David has done so much more than just feel shame for his sin against Uriah and Bathsheba. By seeking God’s forgiveness, David has realised the reason God has told us not to commit adultery and murder is because these behaviours adversely affect all those involved. By acknowledging his distrust of God by breaking these two commandments, David also acknowledges the impact his sin has had on his victims.

 

To understand the nature of God’s forgiveness, and therefore to forgive ourselves, is to understand that all sin is distrust of God. Forgiveness is not about dealing with shame. Forgiveness is understanding God is trustworthy. Forgiveness is knowing our guilt has been laid on Christ and dealt with. Forgiveness does not ignore the impact our sin has had on us and on others. Acknowledging our guilt recognises what we have done to others expresses our distrust of God.

 

Understanding forgiveness is a deeply spiritual process. To understand God’s forgiveness Tom sat with God in a prayerful session of restorative justice. He listened. He understood his sin, his crime, had sent Jesus to the cross. He listened to Christ’s impact statement. He read what the Scriptures say about his sin and as he listened, he was confronted by how much his behaviour had caused Christ’s pain and the pain of other human victims. Being so confronted, Tom sought God’s forgiveness, for he realised, it is against him, him only that Tom had demonstrated a lack of trust. Tom had come to understand the difference between shame and guilt and had learned to forgive himself.

Moral Failure in Ministry

by David Pettett

We have recently heard of the resignation of Pastor Brian Houston from Hillsong, the ministry he was the founding pastor of and of which he was recently the Global Pastor. Houston’s resignation follows disclosure of drunkenness and very unclear statements of what went on in a female staff member’s hotel room.

 

The Board of Hillsong issued a statement about the resignation that seemed to minimise moral failure. Some reaction to the Board’s statement has taken the high ground and criticised it for praising Pastor Houston’s long term, fruitful ministry.

 

The pastoral issue here is that neither the Board’s statement nor the reaction to it demonstrate any balance of pastoral care. The Board’s statement was true. Brian Houston has had an extremely fruitful ministry over decades. And it is right to praise God for Houston’s faithful ministry. But by minimising the moral failure, the Board has failed to understand the high standard the Scriptures place on those in ministry. Minimising moral failure is also a moral failure in itself in that it minimises the hurt caused to the victim.

 

Yet those who have taken the high ground are wrong to imply that moral failure obliterates the fruits of years of faithful ministry. God has blessed Brian Houston’s ministry. Thousands of people have been converted to Christ through this ministry. The world is hearing the good news of Jesus because of the dynamic and godly work of Houston. Do not minimise what God has done.

 

Houston is not the first man to leave a fruitful ministry under a cloud and sadly, he will not be the last. What is needed is a much deeper understanding of the pressures our pastors are under. They need constant upholding and pastoral care. There has been a failure in this case to care for a pastor who faced tremendous pressure and a very heavy workload. Some one should have seen Houston’s issues with alcohol long before it became a problem and drawn alongside in pastoral care to care for their pastor.

 

When a pastor fails, our response should not be to minimise what has led to the failure nor to take the high ground and minimise years of faithful ministry. Both must be acknowledged. What also must be acknowledged when there is failure in ministry is failure to care for our pastors.

The apostle Paul encourages us to see that those elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honour, especially those who labour in preaching and teaching. Their ministry is hard. They need pastoral care. Surveys have consistently shown that half our clergy leave ministry. The reasons are varied, but the statistics show pastors are not being cared for. Some churches are seeking to address the issue by encouraging ministers to have regular pastoral supervision. While this will not be the magic bullet that will solve the issue, it goes some way towards caring for our pastors.

 

More needs to be done. We need to understand that pastors suffer the same human needs, distresses and difficulties all of us face. We need to make sure we are providing pastoral care to our pastors to help prevent burnout and moral failure. Where clergy leave ministry for moral failure, this is not only an inditement on the person for their sin but it is also an inditement on the whole church for a lack of support and fellowship in the body which builds itself up in love.

Chaplaincy Informs Christian Ministry

by David Pettett

I remember the occasion at the National Chaplaincy Conference in Australia when the keynote speaker began, “Chaplaincy informs Christian ministry.” To some cheers and not a little surprised and relieved agreement he continued, “Pastoral care lies at the core of Christian ministry.”

The term Pastoral Care has come to mean many different things. In its modern context it usually refers to bringing a listening ear to a person in crisis and seeks to find spiritual meaning. The idea that pastoral care is an all-of-life-encompassing ministry which focuses on the cure of souls has been allowed to slip from the core of Christian ministry. Pastoral care has been outsourced to the professionals in psychology and counselling.

There is a great deal we can learn from psychology and other human sciences about the nature of humanity and ways to help people who struggle in life. We can incorporate many of those insights into our pastoral practice. But pastoral care is first and foremost a spiritual discipline and remains firmly in the realm of Christian ministry. Pastoral care is the work which focuses on the salvation and sanctification of Christ’s flock. Secular counselling and psychology say very little about forgiveness and even less about sin and about humanity being created in the image of God. These disciplines therefore have very little to say to the most fundamental issues of human flourishing. Having said that, it is sometimes right to refer a member of our congregation to a counsellor but outsourcing pastoral care to a counsellor is a fundamental mistake and a misunderstanding of the nature of Christian ministry.

I have a narrow definition of Christian ministry. It is something the saints do, and its purpose is to build the body of Christ (see Ephesians 4:12ff). I also have a narrow definition of the body of Christ. It is the local congregation. We often hear that “our church” is part of the body of Christ, meaning, our local congregation is a part of the church universal, or it is part of the sum total of all Christians throughout the world. I think, however, the New Testament leads us to understand that the local congregation is the complete body of Christ in that, a local church has within it every aspect of the body of Christ. Each local church is not part of the body but, rather, is the body of Christ. Therefore, when the apostle Paul tells pastor teachers their role is to “equip the saints for the work of ministry … for the building of the body of Christ”, he is telling them that their ministry of pastoral care equips the local congregation to grow in Christ and to be effective in the world.

Because the purpose of what the pastor teacher does is to equip the saints to build the body of Christ, pastoral care goes beyond what some people call mercy ministries. These are usually thought to be things like providing food for the hungry, clothing, housing, counselling etc. Mercy ministries are a very small part of pastoral care which focuses on equipping the saints so that the body of Christ is built into unity and maturity. Pastoral care is much more of a whole person ministry than the limits of providing for a person’s material needs. I am not saying these are wrong things to do. I think they are essential things for Christians to be engaged in. They reflect God’s love and compassion. I would love to see more congregations involved in these types of ministries. But here, I am trying to define my terms in the light of what the New Testament says about Christian ministry and pastoral care. I am trying to do this because I think we have not been rigorous enough in our definitions and pastoral care has been hijacked by secular ideas and definitions. Inevitably these secular ideas lead us away from doing Christian ministry and Christian pastoral care in ways the New Testament tells us we should be doing them.

As the term pastoral care has shifted in meaning in the modern world the understanding of the word spiritual has also changed meaning. Spiritual has come to mean something that gives a person meaning in life. If you have an experience you believe touches your inner being, your soul, in the modern context this is spoken of as a spiritual experience. This definition of spiritual is a far cry from a Christian understanding of the word. Jesus explained to the Samaritan woman at the well that God seeks people who worship him in spirit and in truth (John 4:24). In context, the Spirit Jesus talks about is the Holy Spirit himself. We cannot truly worship God without the movement of the Holy Spirit within us. We cannot say, “Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit (see 1 Corinthians 12:3) and if we do not have the Spirit we do not belong to Christ (Romans 8:9). Christian pastoral care therefore cannot seriously leave a person in need believing that they have spiritual understanding or growth if they do not have the Holy Spirit. Leaving pastoral care in the hands of a psychologist or counsellor who doesn’t have a clear theological understanding of the role of the Holy Spirit in a person’s life is, for the Christian pastor, to abdicate their office and obligation to be the person who has responsibility for the cure of souls.

Our modern world sees pastoral care as something you do for people who are in crisis. Our theological colleges and seminaries do not help. They offer courses in pastoral care where students are asked to:

 Outline a scenario in which a person is seeking pastoral care support in response to:

- Unemployment and work-related stress

- Long term illness e.g., cancer 

- Alcoholism or drug dependence

- Domestic violence or abuse

Some of our theological colleges are teaching that pastoral care is for people who are in a crisis situation in which they need help. People who are sick need pastoral care. People who are having difficulties in a relationship need pastoral care. People with mental illness need pastoral care. People who are dying need pastoral care. However, this is a very truncated view of pastoral care. Christian pastoral care is so much more, so much richer, so much all-of-life-equipping. Christian pastoral care helps a person to know Jesus and to live a full life under His lordship. In the 4^th century Gregory of Nazianzus said pastoral care is, "to provide the soul with wings, to rescue it from the world and give it to God, and to watch over that which is in His image". Pastoral care is about rescuing a person from the world and giving them to God. It is not about helping a person cope with the world. It is about helping a person who is not of this world to live in it with a focus on God.

If it is true, as the keynote speaker at the chaplaincy conference said, that Chaplaincy informs Christian ministry, those involved with leading Christian churches as the pastor teacher are not listening. Our theological colleges and seminaries are not listening. Pastoral care is limited to times of crisis and often given to professionals who don’t have an understanding of the cure of souls. It is time for pastor teachers to bring pastoral care back into their role of equipping the saints for their work of ministry.

Scripture and Chaplaincy

by David Pettett

Chaplaincy seeks to bring the comfort and encouragement of the Lord to those in hard places. It seeks, “to give the soul wings and rescue it from the world and give it to God”, to use Gregory of Nazianzus beautiful expression. 

“Rescuing the soul from the world” is a recognition that chaplaincy’s focus is not on helping people to live better lives in this world, but to live in this world in the presence of God, whatever our circumstances. Our cancer may continue its ugly long and destructive journey in our body over many years. Chaplaincy does not teach that positive thinking will bring healing or that a right diet and meditation will cause the cancer to disappear. Chaplaincy helps us to know God’s presence in our distress and, while our body decays, we rest in His unchangelessness.

 

We have such confidence because God Himself has told us it is so. God has spoken to us. God has revealed Himself to us. We have confidence that He is with us because this is His promise. I know this to be true because I have a book which tells me it is true. This book is no ordinary book. It is God’s words to us, breathed out by God inspiring ordinary people to write down His words. We call this book the Bible. We use the word Scriptures to describe it. We believe that, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16 ESV)

 

Christian chaplaincy has nothing to say to a hurting world if it does not bring these words of God to the people it encounters. Psychology and the human sciences inform us well of some of the nature of the human struggle and we profitably learn from it. Good counselling will be of great benefit to hurting people and chaplains are well advised to learn to be good counsellors. But if psychology and counselling are the extent of the comfort we offer people we fail as chaplains. Chaplaincy gives the soul wings.

 

We can only give the soul wings if we understand what God says about life in the Scriptures. Having a deep knowledge of the Scriptures and a pastorally sensitive love to speak the words of Scripture to a broken and hurting person, is the stuff of chaplaincy. A faithful Christian chaplain will have a confidence that every word of Scripture is God breathed and profitable for making a person complete.

 

I believe the Bible is the word of God. It is His inerrant word to us. I am not a fundamentalist in the sense that I believe in a six-day creation of literal 24 hours each. How could I believe that when the sun, by which we mark the hours of the day, was not created until the fourth day? But I do believe the Scriptures teach us who God is, what He has done for us and who He wants us to be. All Scripture is breathed out by God. However, there are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction (2 Peter 3:16. ESV). This is where the role of the chaplain comes in. We have the task of so speaking the Scriptures that they give the soul wings.

 

Our God acts in history, yet it is not history as such that we teach. What is important is what God says about those historical events where He acted. In the 1^st century A.D., the Roman government crucified thousands of people in the area of Palestine. At some points the roads were lined with men dying in agony, hanging on Roman crosses. It is not the mere historical fact of Jesus’ crucifixion that tells us that this one death among thousands brings salvation to the world. It is what God says about this one crucifixion which assures us that herein lies reconciliation between God and humanity. God’s words about the death of Jesus of Nazareth give so much more to life than just our observation of the event of his death.

 

Bringing God’s words to hurting people brings so much more meaning than the human sciences. Christian chaplaincy is about feeling confident that God speaks in the Scriptures and that what He says gives the soul wings.

Pastoral Care and History

This post is by David Pettett. David has been in Christian ministry for over 40 years. He has been a Navy, hospital and prison chaplain. He has managed prison and hospital chaplains and continues to teach pastoral care. He works as a Pastoral Supervisor and a Moderator of tertiary level courses in pastoral and church focused ministries.

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To understand the competing world views a chaplain in a secular organisation faces, you have to understand a bit of history. But before we go there, there are two terms that need defining. The first is “world view”.

At its simplest, a world view is the way you look at, understand, respond to or interpret the world around you. As such, it will determine what you consider important and what is not important.

The second term to understand is the word “secular”. Many Christians use this word to mean “non-Christian”, but that is not the way I am using the word here. By “secular” I mean “non-religious”. A “secular institution” is an organisation, whether it be government or non-government, that deals with non-religious things or issues. By definition, most governments are secular. That is, they do not have a position on religion other than to, perhaps, guarantee freedom of religious practice. So, in the way I am using “secular organisation” here I am referring to an organisation like a hospital or a school, whether it be a public, government run, or a private hospital or school, it is a secular organisation in that it does not exist to promote any religious agenda.

In the hope that I haven’t raised more questions than I’ve answered, let me move on to understanding a bit of history. The Enlightenment of the late 18^th and early 19^th centuries encouraged people to think more independently and not to accept dogma, especially Church dogma, as unchallengeable truth. In the Christian world, this idea gave rise to the Evangelical movement, giving a much more personalised understanding of faith and relationship to God. No-longer did an individual Christian have to unthinkingly follow church dogma but was now set free to explore wherever their minds and observations took them. This approach allowed Charles Darwin, for example, to develop his theories. It also allowed Sigmund Freud, in a later generation, to develop his understanding of human psychology.

This understanding of history is particularly important when it comes to the development of modern pastoral care practices. The insights into the human condition gained by Freud and those who followed him have been taken up in a big way by those who developed Clinical Pastoral Care. These insights and their application to pastoral care have brought great benefit to the quality of pastoral care being offered in the late twentieth and early twenty first centuries.

But there is a problem. Historically pastoral care belongs in the realm of theology and a biblical understanding of the human condition. Modern pastoral care practice in the main has fallen for an unbiblical approach, forgetting the nature of sin that inhabits every human being, and encouraging those being cared for to find what gives them meaning and purpose in life rather than to develop an obedient relationship with their Creator.

I am not suggesting that people should be harangued about sinful behaviour. Nor am I suggesting they should be lectured about obedience. What I am pleading for is for Christian pastoral carers to have a more biblical world view and to bring the insights that God has revealed about the human condition back into pastoral care.

The Inner Life of the Chaplain - Reflections from Ephesians

Rev Lindsay Johnstone, former chaplain at a major teaching hospital in Sydney, Australia

The focus of these thoughts is not on outward practices of spiritual and pastoral care, but on what may occur within the inner spirit of a person involved in such ministry. This is not about what we are saying or doing with patients or clients. It Is about what may be going on inside of us, whether on ministry location, at home, or wherever. It is about connectedness and intimacy with God, with a conviction that this will impact one’s involvement in chaplaincy.

Where are we actually in the present, now that we know Christ, that is different to or additional to where we were when we were without God in the world? Do we think of ourselves, despite the future nature of the Parousia, as in some way sharing already within the ascended state that Christ shares, in intimacy with him?

Ephesians presents doctrine and exhortation in, and arising from, an expression of worship. The epistle is itself an act of worship. Throughout, Paul addresses the Ephesians in praise to God, making melody in his heart, and encouraging them to mutual submission out of reverence for Christ.[i]

1   The Epistle commences with Paul, a prisoner for Christ leading the saints and faithful, in an ascription of praise to God the Father who has already blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places (Ephesians 1:3)[ii].  Whilst suffering much in the unjust fallen world, he could see himself positioned near Christ in Heaven! He was chained to a guard and under house arrest,[iii] not knowing whether Nero Caesar would acquit or behead him. The letter’s initial celebration is that we are already in a sense ascended in union with Christ. All that the epistle says seems intended to be seen from that perspective.

The Message[iv] paraphrase of 2:6 reads, “Then he picked us up and set us down in the highest heaven in company with Jesus”. It is the Ascended Church that deals with Satanic opposition whilst we are still living in the fallen world- “…that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places…” (3: 8-10)

2   The faithful are prayed for in two prayers (1:15-23 and 3:14-21) to experience intimate love and empowerment for which words are inadequate. They would experience such a knowing of his heart and his mind that there would be an overflow of wisdom, knowledge, discernment, expectation, empowerment and love. This would lead to impactful loving of people and of knowing relevant aspects of God’s mind for them. With increasing intimate knowledge of Christ, there would come increased wisdom and revelation (1:18), especially understandable as we are in the heavenly places.

Believers are encouraged and empowered to do truth in love, to live a life-style of truth and truthfulness in love (4:15). The Church is in relationship to Christ as a bride is to a husband (5:23ff). If the church is the bride of Christ, why does it often look like that the groom is living upstairs, but the bride is living in the basement?

3   The readers are urged to be repeatedly and continuously filled with the Holy Spirit (5:18ff), resulting in praise and humility. The parallel exhortation in Colossians 3:16 is to let the word of Christ dwell in us richly. The word of the Word is enlivened by the Spirit of the Word. It is the Holy Spirit who makes possible not only our reception of the manifold grace of God (1:11-14), but also present enjoyment of intimacy with Christ as the groom, and with our adoptive loving Father.

4   There is an expectation within Ephesians that in our spiritually ascended state we experience the ongoing progress of the outworking of God’s Plan. Jesus is continuing to manifest the resurrecting and ascending power of God in the ongoing process of bringing all things towards the ultimate destiny associated with “the fullness of the times” (1:10, 22). There has been no cessation of the exercise of his works of power.[v] Incorporation into the ongoing plan of God, outlined in loving terms, overflows into the prayer that God’s people will experience such union with Christ that they shall bask in the security of hope, apprehending the power that He is working within them.

Christ, the chef suprême à l`Église as one French translation[vi] offers, is continuing to bring to fullness the church body which belongs to Him (1:22). As Head and Chef, He is both leading and nourishing His people.

Practically, the epistle’s teaching on our ascended-ness may potentiate pastoral practice in three ways:

1   An increased confidence that the Lord will be present in patients or other clients, and in our communications with them, whether or not spiritual conversation is occurring;

2   We may have a heightened sensitivity to pick up and respond to cues of spiritual and pastoral significance in conversations. We may experience God giving us specific discernment and wisdom of people with whom we are ministering, either for private prayer, or perhaps to prompt some of our conversation;

3   In situations where work-place protocols, treatment procedures or even lack of privacy may seem to limit what may be done openly, there is a reassurance that God is not bound.

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[i] See 5:18-21.

[ii] Cf 3:20-21

[iii] Acts 28:16,20.

[iv] Eugene H. Petersen, The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language (NavPress, Colorado Springs, USA, 2002)

[v] The Greek of 1:22-23 indicates the dynamic of present continuous action leading towards the ultimate completion of the Plan.

[vi] Louis Segond version (1910)

Warning the Sick

by David Pettett

When visiting the sick, the 1662 Church of England Book of Common Prayer Order for the Visitation of the Sick, directs the minister to say, “whatsoever your sickness is, know you certainly that it is God’s visitation.” The instruction continues with two possible causes of the person’s sickness, one being to try the patience of the sick for an example to others and the other that the sickness may have been, “sent unto you to correct and amend in you whatsoever doth offend the eyes of your heavenly Father”.

In 1798 Charles Simeon of Cambridge wrote a sermon outline, subsequently published in his 21 volume Horea Homiletica­ (outline 421). In summary, Simeon’s outline calls upon the people to repent and make a covenant with God because the calamities that have come upon them are indicative of God’s wrath against them. Without repentance, they cannot hope to escape. With repentance, there is nothing to fear.

These examples from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries show a belief that sickness and other ‘calamities’ may be a warning from God. They serve as a warning that the sick person should examine their lives to see if there is some sin from which they should repent. A biblical justification for this theological understanding of sickness may come from Luke 13:4-5 where Jesus suggests that natural disasters act as warnings to others that they should repent. Neither Jesus’ words, nor the words of the seventeenth and eighteenth century authors, suggest the calamity or sickness has come as a punishment for sin. They serve as a warning and encouragement to a person to examine their own life to see if there is any sin they must repent of.

This approach to pastoral care has a clear understanding that a person will face God as their judge. Sickness and disaster are opportunities, sent by God, to examine one’s life, recognising that in the human condition we are finally answerable to God.

In his book, Pastoral Care Emergencies[1], David Switzwer suggests there are nine needs of the dying. They are: Expressing feelings, overcoming loneliness, finding meaning in the present, believing that life has been meaningful, having consistency between one’s own perception of self and other people’s perception of our self, having control, continuing to feel useful, expressing spiritual needs and, finally, finding the ability to let go.

Building on the work of Howard Clinebell[2], Highfield and Cason declare that there are four spiritual needs shared amongst all humanity. They are the need for: meaning and purpose, to give love, to receive love and the need for hope and creativity.[3]

These twentieth century authors approach pastoral care entirely from the perspective of the patient. They focus on what perceived needs the patient may have and attempt to direct the patient to some point of acceptance or integration of these needs. This approach is entirely person centred. There is no orientation towards God.

From a Christian perspective of pastoral care, these twentieth century approaches are inadequate. If the human condition is that we are sinners in need of God’s forgiveness, before we face Him as our judge, Christian pastoral care must encourage those who are sick to take the opportunity of their sickness to examine their lives and to repent of any sin they might become aware of. The sickness is seen as a gracious visitation of God to prepare us for the final judgement we will all face.

In speaking of spiritual needs, Christian pastoral care must consider the biblical understanding of the human condition. As human beings, we are people created in the image of God but that image has been adversely affected by sin. As such we are answerable to God. We will face judgement. Christian pastoral care therefore encourages the sick to take stock of their lives and to take the opportunity presented by God to repent of sin.

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[1] David K Switzer: Pastoral Care Emergencies. Paulist Press. 1989

[2] Howard Clinebell: Basic Types of Pastoral Counselling. Abingdom Press. 1966. Clinebell suggests there are four basic spiritual needs: 1. to find meaning in life. 2. to have a sense of the transcendent. 3. to have healthy relationships with God, others and with nature. 4. to experience inner awareness, creativity and freedom.

[3] M F Highfield and C Cason. “Spiritual Needs of Patients: Are they Recognised?” Cancer Nurs. 1983 Jun;6(3):187-92.