Spring 2012: Serving the Underserved

Resources for you and your church.

S e r v i n g the Underserved in this issue:

Health care professionals reflect on Matthew 25:40 Laura Stivers on her new book Disrupting Homelessness Camille Cook on Sir James Black

also inside:

Congregational Health Promotors | Honeybee Ministry | Healthy recipes | Ministry Moment

chreader.org | Spring 2012

Church Health Reader

Ministry is not simply what happens when pastors preach and serve the sacraments. Ministry is the work of the whole body of Christ as it seeks to enact the call of the gospel to preach, teach, and heal.

READ MORE INSIDE | page 18 Congregational Health Promoters b y k endra ho t z and ma t t ma t he w s

Church Health Reader Spring 2012 Volume 2, Number 1 chreader.org

Resources for you and your church.

departments 2

features 9

Serving the Underserved Timeline How the Church has served the underserved throughout history

10

Least of These

Health care professionals reflect on Jesus' words from Matthew 25

By Jim Lemons, P. Ann Solari-Twadell, John Winton, Ellen Bermudez, Bob Donovan, and Kara Kilpatrick

14

Why Disrupting Homelessness Matters for the Church

7

18 20

22

Q&A with Laura Stivers

21 24 25

Holy Comfort

28

By John Shorb

16

3 5 6

Gardening as a means to mental health

A Note from the Editor

CH Bulletin

Ministry Moment Ask Deborah Healthy Living Tips

Column

Blue Butterfly Susan Palwick

Programs and Models

Congregational Health Promoters Kendra Hotz and Matt Mathews Ministry for the Bees (and us) Ashley Goff

Tribute

Life-Giving Gifts Camille Cook

Healthy Eating

Fresh Melon Salsa Gouda Macaroni and Cheese Lemon Green Beans

Devotion

Most of These Stacy Smith

By Stacy Smith

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editor’s note www.chreader.org This publication is supported by the generosity of our donors.

Church Health Reader provides resources for you and your church.

Feel free to share any part of this publication and make your congregation a healthier place!

Sarah Ranson Editor Rachel Thompson Online Editor Lizy Heard Art Direction

am happy to introduce Sarah Ranson as the new editor of Church Health Reader. She is a talented person and committed to the work of the church and to bringing the message of health and wellness to all congregations.

I have moved to the position of Manager of Resource Production. In addition to Church Health Reader, we are developing other educational publications such as curricula, guides, and books for use in ministry. For Church Health Reader, we hope to establish more options to access the print magazine, creating easier ways to receive a digital version or to download it onto a tablet device.

In this issue, we are focusing on an issue close to the heart of our ministries at the Church Health Center: serving the underserved.

The Church Health Center began as a clinic for people without health insurance, and we still fulfill this core mission each day, seeing people

who otherwise have very few places to turn.

There have been many exciting changes here at the Church Health Center. Sarah will provide great vision and leadership in this next chapter for Church Health Reader. You can see her work already emerging in this issue.

John Shorb Editor, Church Health Reader 2008-2011

pA S T E D I T O R S John Shorb 2008-2011

contributors

R e v ie w ers Mark Bryson Angela Dixon Jeff Hulett Michael McLain, Ph.D. Rev. Dr. Deborah Patterson Michaelia Sturdivant, R.N. Rev. Renee Dillard Walter Veazey Barbara Wheeler Rev. Amy Wilson

J. Collins Dillard J. Collins Dillard is a native Memphian. After majoring in Graphic Design at the University of Memphis, he pursued advertising design, winning local and national awards. He is the proud father of two amazing daughters—Alexandra and Isabelle—and has been married 24 years to Renee, his first and only love. He is a member at St. John’s United Methodist Church where Renee is a minister. He is honored to spend his days on the campus of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, where he is a conceptual specialist.

E di t orial B oard Ann Langston Sterling McNeal Butch Odom John Shorb Rev. Stacy Smith Sheridan Smotherman

Camille Cook Rev. Camille Cook is currently the pastor of Georgetown Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C. She served at St. Columba’s Church of Scotland from 2007-2010. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Vanderbilt University and her Master of Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary. She also earned a Master of Theology in Applied Theology from Oxford University. Rev. Cook received the Jagow Preaching Prize and the Parish Pulpit Fellowship to study in the United Kingdom.

S ubmissions Contact the editors at chreditor@churchhealthcenter.org if you are interested in writing or have an idea for Church Health Reader.

Church Health Reader is published by the Church Health Center, 1210 Peabody Avenue, Memphis, TN 38104. Church Health Reader is published 4 times per year (Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter) For subscriptions or address changes: Please email Church Health Reader at chreader@churchhealthcenter.org or call 901-261-8833 Cover image by J. Collins Dillard Designed by Lizy Heard Printed in the U.S.A. Member of Associated Church Press

READ MORE ONLINE Menachem Leasy Menachem Leasy, M.D., is a medical resident in family medicine at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City. He received his medical degree from The University of Tennessee Health Science Center and his bachelor’s degree from Rhodes College. He worked at the Church Health Center before attending medical school, and he plans to work in underserved communities in his future clinic practice.

news, tips and advice on health ministry

ministry moment Providing Food for the Body and Soul Caritas Village Located in Memphis, Tenn., Caritas Village is a community coffee shop and cultural center in Binghampton, one of the city’s most diverse and underserved neighborhoods. The Village was founded as a “ministry of presence” in 2006 by Onie Johns, a retired nurse and medical administrator who left her suburban

neighborhood in 2000 to live and work in the Binghampton community. Today, operating out of a converted Masonic Lodge, Caritas Village offers art exhibits, classes, and a free medical clinic. They also serve delicious, natural meals that are affordable to those who can pay, and available to those who cannot.

Caritas Village is a church of sorts— one that feeds both body and soul, and the corner of Harvard and Merton streets certainly feels like a sacred space. It is a unique example of a center that works to build up community through delicious foods and wholesome fellowship, serving the underserved one meal at a time.

Photograph by John Shorb

Do you have a ministry you’d like to tell us about? Send a photo and brief description to chreditor@churchhealthcenter.org.

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CH B U L L E T I N

events

More please....

Exercise

Top Ten Topics for Faith Community Nurses

Grief

41% 41%

Life-Work balance

In a survey on congregational resources, we gave Faith Community Nurses a list of ministry topics and asked this question: on which of these topics would you like to see more resources? Nearly 1000 nurses responded! This information will guide the way for our congregational resource development at the Church Health Center.

National Episcopal Health Ministries 4th Annual Seasons of Health Ministry Theme: Faith, Hope and Health Location: Racine, Wis. Date: May 10-12, 2012

Mental health

43%

Weight Management End-of-Life issues Stress Management Living with disease Caregiving

Health Ministries Association Annual Meeting and Conference Theme: Faith Communities: Claiming a Pivotal Role in Healthcare Location: Nashville, Tenn.

Date: June 3-5, 2012

43%

45%

Christian Community Health Fellowship 2012 Annual Conference Theme: Faith in the Trenches Location: Belmont University, Nashville, Tenn.

Date: May 31-June 2, 2012

47% 47% 51% 52%

Older adult and senior ministry

58%

books

F O R YO U A N D YO U R M IN IST RY

Fingerprints of God: The Search for the Science of Spirituality

by Barbara Bradley Hagerty

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Church Health Reader

Anytime a student says, “This is the best book I’ve ever read,” I take notice. When more than one student says it, I consider it nothing short of a miracle. Such was the case this fall when I assigned this text in my Spirituality and Health class. Hagerty, a journalist who has written for the Christian Science Monitor and is often featured on National Public Radio, weaves together personal reminiscences of her upbringing as a Christian Scientist with investigations into current research on such phenomena as radical conversions, spiritual virtuosity, and out-of-body experiences.

The result is a book featuring both the rigors of scientific inquiry and the intimacy of personal memoir. Hagerty’s willingness to be vulnerable in

exploring deep questions of faith and doubt makes her an attractive guide for readers wanting to acquaint themselves with cutting-edge research into the phenomenon of human spirituality. Though she offers her own concluding reflections on the idea of God in a scientific culture, she never comes across as preachy or evangelistic. For those interested in the connections between body and spirit, as well as the current dialogue between science and faith, this book will not disappoint.

Recommended by Daniel G. Deffenbaugh, Associate Professor of Religion at Hastings College in Hastings, Neb. and author of Learning the Language of Fields.

CH CH BB UU LL LL EE TT II NN

ask deborah A ns wer ing yo ur quest ions on he al th ministr y

BY D E B O R A H P A TT E R S O N

Could you give me some suggestions about starting a dental clinic for people with very little, if any, money and no insurance?

A.

You have identified a grave need in our communities as most people in health care, ministry, and social services today already know. Regular dental care is important to overall health and more than 100 million people in the United States have no dental insurance.

dental care in the US

There are several models in congregations and communities for offering services, and all of them will take quite a bit of time and effort to make happen. Here are six ways that congregations and communities have made dental care available to people in their neighborhoods:

▶▶ An estimated 25 million people live in areas lacking adequate dental services

1. Sometimes dentists affiliated with federally-qualified health centers, dental schools, or other organizations will see patients for low or no fees, but people can’t get there. One solution would be to arrange for transportation from the church to the clinic. This approach was tried by St. Paul United Church of Christ in Belleville, Illinois when Betty Leppard was their Parish Nurse, in affiliation with their afterschool program for kids.

▶▶ Children in low income families receive fewer preventive health care visits than those with higher incomes.

2. Arrange for subsidized or free dental care to drive to the church. The “Tooth Taxi” service was created through a partnership with the Oregon Education Association’s Choice Trust, ODS Health (a health insurance company), and the Dental Foundation of Oregon. The Tooth Taxi spends up to a week at a time in school districts, and it might be possible for congregations to coordinate with their local schools.

Call your school nurse/s to see if there is a similar program in your area.

3. Work with a group such as America’s Dentists Care Foundation to set up a dental fair in your community.

4. “Just Get It Done Dental Care.” When Susan Naylor was the Parish Nurse at Centenary United Methodist Church in downtown St. Louis, she noted the need for dental care among many of the refugees who had recently resettled in the area. Through a lot of phone calls, prayer, begging (and did I say praying?), she managed to locate a used dental chair and other needed equipment, and then started calling for donated dental services to serve those in need.

5. Affiliate with a free health clinic in another congregation. Some congregations, such as the Alliance Church in Salem, Oregon, have started free health clinics, and dental care is part of the service provided. Call the other churches in your area to see who might already be doing something that you might tap into.

6. Build a first-class dental clinic. The Herbert Hoover Boys and Girls Club in St. Louis decided to build a dental clinic for the kids they served in their facility.

Their initiative involved a lot of fundraising and grant-writing, but they were able to build a small (2-chair) state-of-the-art dental clinic that served the children who belonged to the Boys and Girls Club.

While this is one of the hardest programs to provide through congregations because of the special equipment and skills needed, it is also one of the most needed, so please do prayerfully proceed!

As Executive Director of Northwest Parish Nurse Ministries, Rev. Dr. Deborah Patterson works daily with parish nurses, pastors, and health professionals. In this feature, she answers your most pressing or perplexing questions on health ministry.

Send your question for Deborah: chreader@churchhealthcenter.org

▶▶ Uninsured children are half as likely as insured children to receive dental care. ▶▶ Minority elderly receive less dental care because of financial barriers to care. ▶▶ Research suggests that educating families about how to enroll in and access the Medicaid system could facilitate broader access to dental care.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: Agency for Health Care Research and Quality

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CH B U L L E T I N healthy living tips

healthy eating Spring—Think Green!

Look for these green vegetables at your local farmer’s market this spring:

Artichokes

This nutty vegetable brings to the table a high content of fiber, potassium, calcium, and iron. The leaves should form tight, compact layers and the whole artichoke should be firm and feel heavy for its size.

Asparagus

Asparagus is easy to prepare: oven roasted, steamed, or grilled—your choice! It contains high levels of folate and vitamin K. Look for bright green color, smooth skin, and freshly cut ends.

Spinach

Wonderful, green leafy spinach is quick cooking, versatile, and full of iron and calcium. Buy fresh leaves featuring dark green color and crispiness.

Lettuce

Lettuces are at their best in spring and early summer before high heats and long days make them bolt and turn bitter. The most nutritious lettuce varieties are dark green and reddish in color.

Spring Peas

Green peas, snap peas, garden peas—they are all a fabulous feature of spring and early summer eating.

Try them straight off the vine and right out of the pod, steamed or in salads.

healthy mind

Tips for Managing your Anxiety

RELAX AFTER WORK When you have a difficult day at work, instead of focusing on the negative, think of something fun to do when you get home. It can be as simple as getting outside to enjoy the fresh air. Write your plan on a note card that you can leave in a visible place.

FOCUS ON SLEEP Sleep deprivation can affect our emotions.

When we’re tired, our bodies and brains do not function well. Tonight, try to get a good night’s sleep, even if that means leaving something undone before bedtime. You’ll feel better when you wake up!

STOP SMOKING Anxiety is significantly more difficult to manage while smoking regularly, and studies have found that people who quit smoking are less anxious. If you smoke, now is the time to talk with your medical caregiver about safe and effective ways to quit. If you don’t smoke, encourage a friend to kick the habit.

STRETCH AND BREATHE Today, take ten minutes for stretching. Be sure to warm up your muscles slowly, and breathe regularly. Stretch your back, arms, and legs. Go for a slow walk, focusing on your movements and your breath, one step at a time.

LISTEN TO MUSIC Uplifting music can help us deal with anxiety.

Today, think of a song or a type of music you enjoy. Take a moment to listen—or even sing!

Think of music that reminds you of happy times, or somehow lifts your spirit.

BE THANKFUL When you feel overwhelmed or upset, take five minutes to make a list of the things in your life for which you are thankful. This can help you gain some much-needed perspective.

10 Ways to Burn Calories Without Noticing

❶ Park in the farthest parking spot to add a few minutes of walking.

❼ Wear a pedometer: it counts your steps and tracks your progress.

❷ Take the stairs instead of the elevator. ❽ Walk your dog, or if you don’t have a dog, borrow a friend’s! ❸ Get outside and garden! a five minute break from your ❹ While waiting in the doctor’s office or ❾ Take desk job every hour to stretch or ❺ Play with kids: it will use energy and set a good example of active play.

❻ Do your own yard or house work.

Church Health Reader

These tips are excerpted from 40 Days to Better Living, our book series on developing healthy habits.

healthy body

in the airport, stay on your feet.

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KNOW WHEN TO TALK TO YOUR DOCTOR Recognize the symptoms of panic attacks— feelings of terror that arise for no apparent reason, accompanied by chest pains and shortness of breath. If you ever experience such an attack, speak to your doctor. He or she can help you isolate the causes and find an effective treatment.

walk around the room.

❿ Put on some music and cut a rug!

Tips from Church Health Center Wellness

column

b y susan pal w ic k very week when I sign in for my volunteer shift at the hospital, there’s a census sheet waiting for me in the chaplain’s office; the Spiritual Care Department likes to keep track of how many patients we visit. The woman who schedules volunteers sometimes decorates each sheet with a small sticker. One day, quite a while back now, my sheet featured a large sticker: a shiny blue butterfly.

Not thinking anything of it, I dove into the shift. The ER was busy that day, but my census was lower than usual, because I spent about half the shift with one patient.

A nurse had asked me to visit her. She’d fled to the hospital, drunk, for reasons she could no longer remember, but which surely included mortal fear of the man who beat her. She’d begged the nurses not to let him in, begged to know how many locked doors the ER had. Terrified of being alone, she begged me to stay with her. She was covered with welts and bruises.

She had been systematically abused since she was a child; she could only remember one relative who had ever defended her. Past middle age now, she’d been with her current abuser for several decades. He forbade her to have friends, to give out Christmas cards, to go to movies. He demeaned and insulted her.

She told me, “I drink so it won’t hurt as much when he hits me, but I know I have an alcohol problem now.” Sometimes, she told me, he was nice: sometimes he’d buy her strawberries or oranges, if they were cheap enough.

He had promised her that if she ever tried to leave or went to the police, he’d kill her. It quickly became clear to me and to the nurses and doctor that she wouldn’t agree to go to a shelter or press charges. The ER manager told me sadly that because this patient’s injuries weren’t immediately life-threatening (at least in medical terms), we couldn’t call in the

police without her permission.

Chaplains are trained to help patients marshal their own supplies of strength and hope. This woman was terrified, despairing, convinced that she deserved the abuse. But when I asked her, “What makes you happy?” her face lit up.

“Oh, lots of things! I love butterflies. I love drawing and music.”

“Butterflies? I have a butterfly on this sheet of paper. I’m going to give it to you.”

She smiled when I tore off that corner of my census sheet and handed it to her.

“Oh, look, it’s blue! Blue is my favorite color.”

I don’t think it was a coincidence that the volunteer coordinator put a blue butterfly on my census sheet that day and I don’t think it was a coincidence that butterflies are symbols of resurrection.

“Can I tell you more things I like?” the patient asked. She told me how much she loved art, how she spent three months on a painting her abuser sold in a garage sale.

She described the painting, and the story it told, in great detail.

She left with the butterfly and also with a list of shelters from our social workers.

“If I bring you some crayons and paper,” I asked her, “will you draw something for me? I’d really like that.”

She cocked her head. “It won’t be very good.” But when I asked again, she agreed.

The drawing is a rough sketch of a woman’s profile. I think maybe it’s a selfportrait, although she didn’t say.

When she finished it, I said, “I’m going to take this home and put it up where I can see it and every time I look at it, I’ll pray for you.”

She left the hospital, against medical advice. She left with the butterfly and also with a list of shelters from our social workers. None of us doubted that she was going back to her abuser.

I left the hospital with the drawing she gave me.

The drawing hangs on my file cabinet now. It reminds me to pray for the woman who made it, who was so talented and articulate and kind despite the torture she’d suffered. It reminds me to pray for hope and transformation for her. It reminds me to pray that she still has the butterfly, or remembers it. I pray for her to carry the butterfly in her heart, even if she’s lost the scrap of paper I gave her, or even if her abuser has taken it away from her. I pray that whenever she sees or thinks of a butterfly now, she’ll remember that people in the hospital wanted her to be happy and reminded her that she could be. I pray for her to feel the butterfly’s wing beats, to come to believe that freedom is possible.

A practicing Episcopalian, Susan Palwick volunteers as an ER Chaplain at a hospital in northern Nevada. She currently teaches as an Associate Professor of English at the University of Nevada, Reno, and is also a Clinical Associate Professor of Medical Education at the University of Nevada School of Medicine, where she specializes in Narrative Medicine. She also maintains a blog, Rickety Contrivances of Doing Good.

Bodily Blessings is a column by Susan Palwick that appears in each issue of Church Health Reader and online monthly at chreader.org.

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Reflecting on the Church’s call to care for all God’s children.

Timeline 325 Christians began early hospitals, or places of “hospitality,” to provide care and comfort to the sick that could not pay for private treatment in their homes. They also welcomed weary travelers and sheltered and fed the poor.

✚✚Council of Nicaea decrees that bishops

are to start hospitals in every city where the Church is established.

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Health Care Professionals Reflect on Jesus’ Words And the king will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.”

—Matthew 25:40

In the following section, those working within health care were asked to consider the words of Matthew 25:40 and then answer: Who are the least of these? How do they impact your ministry?

Jim Lemons

Neonatologist Indianapolis, Indiana t is somewhat intimidating, as a layperson, to try to offer ’wisdom’ on these questions when there are many who have spent their lives studying these issues. But in reflecting back on my journey, I feel that my life has been enriched in so many unanticipated ways by so many people that perhaps there are helpful, though I am sure not unique, lessons woven in the journey.

At first blush, it would seem that we are commanded in Matthew to address injustice wherever it exists, to care for those who are oppressed, impoverished, hungry, homeless, prisoners, prostitutes, gay and lesbian, transgender and all who live on the margin. But as I have grown older, I have found it more and more difficult to determine where the margin is.

Professionally, I have been privileged as a physician, a neonatologist, to take care of critically ill newborn infants. I have thought that these fragile newborn babies with complex birth defects or extreme prematurity are also on the margin, and are among the least and most vulnerable.

Or are the least their mothers or fathers who feel so powerless to protect them, or their grandparents, or their siblings, or their friends, or their pastors? I have been involved in caring for children in Kenya, often dying remotely in poverty—are these among the least? Or is it their mothers with

HIV, or the 13 year-old child orphan who now is the caretaker of her three younger siblings? Or the abusive father dying of AIDS who is without understanding of women as persons, without compassion or love? But I also have learned much from those often seen as the least—from children with special needs, those with autism, with profound neurodevelopmental impairment, those who are deaf or blind, those with severe cerebral palsy. These children often see the world with much greater clarity than those of us who are ’whole’ might see it. Or are the least also those of us who may have poverty of spirit, and poverty of generosity, and poverty of love, but do not realize it?

Are the least those who have the potential to change the world through a gift, but are never able to experience that giving? Are those included in the least of these?

There are many dimensions to poverty, but the inability to love our God, and then to love others as one would wish to be loved may be the greatest poverty of all. So I believe it is important to try to be aware—to recognize when someone or something might be in a place of least— to try to be nonjudgmental, to recognize injustice where it exists, and to speak up or take action—but most of all to learn to love more like our Lord, accepting that we all have special needs, and that love is the only and best answer.

Mid-4th century

Early 5th century

580

✚✚St. Basil of Caesarea builds his “New City”

✚✚Saint Sampson the Hospitable devotes his

✚✚Bishop Masona of Merida orders that

where the poor are given food and the sick nursed. Basil’s example inspires the founding of hospitals throughout the Eastern empire.

life to helping the poor and treating the sick.

With the help of Emperor Justinian he founds a hospital for the poor in Constantinople which becomes the largest free clinic in the Byzantine Empire.

physicians and nurses bring all the city’s sick, “slave or free, Christian or Jew,” to the hospital and provide them with a bed and proper nourishment.

serving the underserved

P. Ann Solari-Twadell

Associate Professor of Nursing, Loyola University Chicago, Illinois n reading the whole chapter of Matthew 25, I was struck with the words in verse thirteen: “So stay awake and be prepared.” These words, too, are pertinent to the question, “Who are the least of these?”

Currently, I am teaching largely undergraduate students in a school of nursing. It is easy from a distance to judge why a student is underperforming, having a bad day or not progressing through the curriculum as anticipated.

However, in taking the time to meet with students and listen to their stories, invariably I am struck with unanticipated sadness, grief and loss. Complex problems are crippling the student’s ability to perform not only academically, but in his or her ability to manage life. This leads to my answer to the question. Anyone who crosses my path may be the “least of these.” If I am not paying attention, “staying awake and being prepared,” it is easy for me to miss the clues of someone who is in need of another. If I can “stay awake and be prepared,” I may have the potential to engage with someone who is “the least of these.” Perhaps I can be the person that allows the other to talk and truly be listened to, or who might have a recommendation that can alter the turmoil experienced by another.

This “call” to tend to “the least of these” requires me to keep myself in the best health possible emotionally,

physically and spiritually. I am “called” to keep my ears and senses working, to pick up when I may be encountering someone who is “the least of these.” They may be welldressed, clean, and personable, but deep within suffering spiritually, emotionally, and maybe even physically.

It is often easy to identify the financially poor, lost and homeless by their dress and demeanor. These, too, require our attention. But there are many more that cross our path that may be more subtle in their need. They may just require a little attention, an opportunity to hear themselves express solutions, and experience that someone else cares. If my sensors are not open, if I am not prepared, I can miss an opportunity to make a difference. I can miss an opportunity to be the ears, hands and heart that remain in the moment to help someone needing a sense of presence. So for me, in order to truly “stay awake and be prepared,” I must remove obstacles and distractions preventing me from being with a person. This is a difficult notion in this day of instant communication, competing demands and expectations from multiple directions. Only through times of quiet and focus do I have the intention to silence the distractions, and tend to what I am “called to do.”

Early 13th century

1633

1751

✚✚After being widowed at age 20, Elizabeth

✚✚In response to the poverty endemic in

✚✚America’s first hospital is founded

of Hungary gives her wealth to the poor and builds hospitals, nursing the sick herself.

France, Daughters of Charity forms to serve the poor and sick. The organization spreads to America in the 19th century and founds hospitals throughout the world. The Sisters contribute to the development of modern nursing.

in Philadelphia by Dr. Thomas Bond and Benjamin Franklin “for the reception and cure of poor sick persons.” www.chreader.org

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serving the underserved

John Winton

Internal Medicine Hospitalist Memphis, Tennessee his particular parable in Matthew 25 is one of my favorites. The story illustrates what a great communicator Jesus was. The story begins in a context that the clerics and scholars of Jesus’ era could identify with, contrasting a King against the “least:” criminals, beggars, and the chronically ill. Yet by verse 40, Jesus alters this social infrastructure—the King and the “least” are actually one in the same.

Health care professionals learn to treat each patient “as if she or he were our own family member.” I often remind myself that the purpose of treating, say, a homeless alcoholic “as if he is my own brother” is not to pat myself on the back for my charitable sensibilities. Rather, it is because he is my brother. Insomuch as Jesus occupies every single person, my patient and myself are two parts of a common whole, just as two arms are parts of the same body. Hence, I regard my obligation to take care of my patients with the same natural instinct that I have to take care of myself.

This stems not so much from the golden rule of treating others as I would want to be treated, as from the supreme awareness of the connection we share.

Today we find ourselves on the front end of what could very well be an exciting new era in American health care. For decades, the financial framework under which health care has operated has created an increasingly disparate patient population, all stemming from the illusion that patients should be treated according to which box they fit in—Medicare, Medicaid, privately insured, or uninsured. What we are finally realizing, finally talking about, is that the way that we treat the uninsured “least of these” affects the treatment of even the “kings” with private insurance. American health care reform, for all the discord it has incurred, is an attempt to address these disparities. There is much work to do, but the conversation is flourishing, and the seed has been planted.

18th century

19th century

Early 20th century

✚✚In both his sermons and book, Primitive

✚✚The American hospital system develops

✚✚Affected by Jesus’ teachings, Albert

Physic, John Wesley emphasizes inward and outward health—nurturing our souls and bodies. He visits the sick in their homes and sets up a free church-based public dispensary.

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Church Health Reader

through the stewardship of Christian denominations.

Schweitzer pursues a life of service through the Christian labor of healing. A medical missionary, he establishes a hospital in Lambarene, Gabon that grows to over 70 buildings, 350 beds, and a leper village of 200.

serving the underserved

Ellen Bermudez

Outreach Program Director, Threefold Ministries Los Medranos, Nicaragua he majority of Nicaraguans live on less than two dollars a day. This majority struggles to provide anything more for their families than the staple diet of rice, beans, cheese, and tortillas. Furthermore, keeping healthy is a constant battle when living in houses built from scrap materials that do not keep out dust, rain, or unwanted creatures.

My husband and I live and work in a small, typical community in Nicaragua alongside people who fit into the category of what one would think of to be “the least of these.” In our community, Los Medranos, we work to increase access to health care and enhance knowledge to prevent illnesses. Through these initiatives we have been welcomed into the lives of many community members who live in direct relation to another Scripture—Matthew 6:25‑34. They do not worry about what they will eat, drink, or wear tomorrow because, “each day has enough trouble of its own.”

As we grow closer to members in our community, we learn of the daily struggles that young mothers have living in a machismo culture. We learn from our elderly patients what it was like to live through two wars and natural disasters. In doing this, what we really learn is that “the least of these” are certainly also “the strongest of these.” I do not believe that they need our pity or a hand-out. I do believe that they deserve access to health care when problems arise. I believe that they deserve to have their dignity preserved rather than to suffer because they cannot afford the treatment that they need.

Juan is 87 years old and was diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer when an oncologist visiting from the States reviewed his exam results. There is no oncologist in any of the surrounding towns of our community, so Juan was consistently hospitalized in the nearest town’s public hospital with no conclusive evidence of his condition. Juan has worked in the countryside of Nicaragua all of his life and provided for six children. It did not seem fair that after a life filled with hard work I would find him lying on the ground outside his home after awful spells of vomiting. Through generous contributions, we were able to purchase Juan medication that has restored his dignity. Several months later, I sat with Juan outside his home as he cut coconuts with a machete, told me stories, and offered coconut milk and flesh to anyone passing by. It is through knowing and caring for people like Juan, who are seemingly in the category of “the least of these,” that I am taught what it means to be strong and faithful, and to live life one day at a time.

Mid 20th century

2009

✚✚Mother Teresa ministers to the sick

✚✚World Council of Churches urges all

and dying. She founds hospices and homes for people with HIV/AIDS, leprosy, and tuberculosis.

member countries participating in the World Health Assembly to ensure that health care is free at the point of access for all, with a focus on equitable access for the poor.

What will you do?

www.chreader.org

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serving the underserved

Why Disrupting Homelessness Matters for the Church Q&A with Laura Stivers b y john shorb aura Stivers, professor of Ethics at Dominican University of California, recently investigated the issue of homelessness from a Christian perspective. The result was her new book Disrupting Homelessness: Alternative Christian Approaches (Fortress Press, 2011). She shared her thoughts on how churches and individual Christians might approach homelessness on a systematic level based on biblical understandings of hospitality and justice.

While Jesus exhibited compassion on an individual level, he also challenged oppressive structures and practices.

John Shorb: What do you see as a biblical approach to homelessness in the Old Testament?

Laura Stivers: “Hospitality as justice” is a foundation of all morality in biblical times.

Having been freed by God from slavery, the people of Israel understood that a covenant with God included caring for all within their midst by sharing their bread with the hungry and bringing the homeless poor into their houses (Isa. 58:7). The prophets were continually reminding the Israelites of their history as an oppressed people under slavery and calling them to meet the needs of the least powerful—“the widow, the orphan, and the poor.”

How do you see this radical hospitality in the New Testament?

At the Last Supper, and throughout his ministry, Jesus opened the banquet for all to be seated at the table in relationship with God and one another. Jesus envisioned abundant life for all, where humans are not only physically housed, but are truly at home within caring, inclusive, and sustainable communities. Paul sought to make such a vision of a koinonia community a reality in the early church. Translations for koinonia include fellowship, contribution, sharing, and participation. The early church aimed to embody these values by caring for all its members, distributing goods according to need, and worshiping and praying together (Acts 2:42-47).

Why is addressing this issue the work of the Church?

The problem of homelessness is not simply about people who find themselves without a place to sleep. The problem of homelessness is a reflection of our collective identity as a people and a society.

Jesus challenged those who tried to limit the seats at the banquet table and offer crumbs rather than abundant loaves. Hospitality as charity does not afford the recipients full human dignity in

Bob Donovan, M.D., is a Marianist brother in the Society of Mary. He has been a family physician with the Cincinnati Health Care for the Homeless Program for 23 years. Currently, he serves as the President of the National Health Care for the Homeless Council. Dr. Donovan reflects on Matthew 25:40 and his work. hen most of us start in ministry, it is with the idea of serving those in need. It certainly was my idea when I started working with the Cincinnati Health Care for the Homeless Program in 1988. Homeless folks suffer from over twice the incidence of chronic and acute medical illness as those who are housed, and their average life expectancy is under 50 years of age. In our program, as in most, over 88% are uninsured.

So it is easy to see the value in providing medical care to this group of people.

However, the most important service I have likely provided 14

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over the years is “presence.” I feel this is one of the most important aspects in healing, especially in circumstances like this. In listening to the stories of our clients, I’ve lost much of my stereotyping of people experiencing homelessness, who are quite a diverse group, and discovered some of the horrors that these people have had to live with much of their lives, as well as some of their hopes and joys. Stories of loss of work, inability to get treatment for their illnesses, insufficient low cost housing, physical, psychological and sexual abuse, addiction, long term untreated mental illnesses leading to loss of housing are by far

serving the underserved

ways that enable them to participate fully in community and in campgrounds, out of their cars, in motels, or in the homes fellowship. The bountiful goods at the banquet table are not of family or friends. In the book, I give examples of ways in earned, but are gifts from God, meant to be sustainably shared by which congregations have educated themselves and gotten to all, not hoarded (Lev. 25:18-19, 23-24). Love of neighbor entails know people who are homeless. Many of these congregations, both being a neighbor to others and allowing in addition to addressing immediate needs of the T IPS FOR others to be a neighbor to us. As Christians we homeless, also organize with other congregations and YOUR are called to be disciples of Christ by creating just non-profits in their community to promote more just CHURCH and compassionate communities where all are systems. physically housed and spiritually “at home.” ▶Join local coalitions You titled your book Disrupting Homelessness. What of churches working For a church that is not addressing homelessness, do you mean by disrupting? together to end how could congregants approach working with homelessness.

Disruption refers to our Christian calling to confront, people who are homeless? just as Jesus did, that which denies human well-being ▶Advocate for state The main message of the book is that we need to and national policies and community. The concept of disruption is especially build a social movement to address poverty and by joining national useful for a study on homelessness because so many of inequality; that is, address the root causes for ecumenical and our Christian responses, while hospitable in intent, do why there are increasing numbers of people who interfaith organizations not challenge institutional inequality and oppression.

While Jesus exhibited compassion on an individual are homeless or inadequately housed. A second that work with churches on local social level, he also challenged oppressive structures and message of the book is that if individuals and justice issues and antipractices. For example, he defied cultural and religious congregations are going to be involved in the also poverty initiatives. purity rules that defined who was clean and unclean much-needed charitable approaches, congregants by associating with lepers, tax collectors, and women, ought to become educated on the ways they might ▶Educate all of whom were considered impure. Jesus confronted unwittingly be making inaccurate assumptions parishioners and the exploitative behavior of the moneychangers about people who are homeless and even treating community leaders about homelessness in front of the Temple, a system that religious and them in disempowering ways. and poverty. political authorities systemically supported. These Intentional action that What would you recommend first in this work? examples have in common a picture of Jesus who promotes practices promoted compassion for the downtrodden by A first step in working with people who are for the well-being and disrupting the structural and ideological systems that homeless is to learn what it is like for people who dignity of those who create and justify poverty and oppression. The end are homeless and/or in danger of homelessness. are more marginalized This can only be done by getting to know the make for energized and goal is not disruption for disruption’s sake, but for communities that foster spiritual wholeness. homeless and listening to their stories. While we truth-seeking church traditionally associate the homeless with people communities.

John Shorb is the manager of Resource Production at on the street who are “chronically homeless,” the Church Health Center in Memphis, Tenn. majority are simply the working poor who cannot make ends meet and episodically end up living

the norm. Besides these horrors, the typical response they receive James Keenan, a professor of ethics at Boston College, defines on the streets is disdain or simply to be ignored. Given all this, it mercy as “the willingness to enter into the chaos of another.” is quite easy to imagine that these folks are some of “the least” I have come to see that when we are providing optimal care in whom Jesus was talking about in this sermon. our program, that is exactly what happens. Mercy becomes the I often wonder, however, if those who treat the homeless with two-way street where my primary purpose may be service, but in disdain are not, in fact, “the least” thinking that they have heard reality if I am paying attention, I too am served.

Jesus’ Word, but have missed If I let myself be penetrated the point completely. Over these Mercy becomes the two-way street where my by these realities, then I am years I have been surprised I can navigate all primary purpose may be service, but in reality if transformed. that, while I have provided an the obvious, more superficial I am paying attention, I too am served. important service of medical care differences between me and and presence, I have been served “them” and come to know how we by the people who have come to me. I believe this is something are all the same. In God, we are truly one. of the sacred genius of Jesus in asking us to care for “the least.” www.chreader.org

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serving the underserved

Holy Comfort Gardening as a means to mental health b y s t acy smi t h

ike many in her neighborhood, Teresa relies on Holy Comforter Episcopal Church. Yet today, Teresa doesn’t feel like church.

She tells Father Mike Tanner, the vicar at Holy Comforter, “Father Mike, I have schizophrenia.”

He responds, “What is schizophrenia? You tell me.” She says, “Schizophrenia is hearing voices.

It is a mental illness. It hurts.” When he invites her into worship, Teresa says loudly, “Leave me alone. I don’t want to go. Goodbye.” She repeats her “goodbyes” several times, always with an air of great finality.

Since the mid-nineties, about 70% of the worshippers at this mission church in southeast Atlanta are people who live with a diagnosis of a mental illness. They come from group homes for worship and community. When reductions in public funding eliminated many programs for people with mental illness, the parish responded by opening its doors to this underserved population. Today, it provides meals, support, and enrichment activities, such as art and gardening, to almost 100 participants.

Father Mike explains that when the Olympics came to Atlanta, those in the mental health community knew that it would be a stressful time for people with mental illness. They founded Friendship Centers to provide social communities for a population that is mostly isolated, both by their illness itself and by people who stigmatize them. Explaining their philosophy, Father Mike says, “Recovery is not about a cure. Recovery is learning to make the 16

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most of yourself and your situation. What we aim to do is introduce people to the notion of recovery, and to give them activities that offer them a sense of self and capability.”

Many of the volunteers find healing by working in the garden. Paul was homeless and suffered from untreated schizophrenia when he came to the Holy Comforter gardens in 2009. He is now one of seven paid gardeners who coordinate a large team of volunteers.

“Gardening showed me a lot of patience,” he says. This Sunday, he is cleaning up after a community sale of vegetables, flowers, herbs, shrubs, plants, and their very own hot purple pepper “Holy Smoke.”

The garden is a source of healing and recovery for this at-risk population. “Anything you do with people who have low self esteem, who have no sense of accomplishment, who have been beat down by health and the system, anything they can do meaningfully with their hands and then see the fruit of it, is an aid to self-esteem,” Father Mike explains. “And the keeping of a discipline is one of the most important features of recovery. Gardening is a boost for their sense of what they can do. It creates an opportunity for community, and it’s very therapeutic.”

Soon, it is time for another Wednesday service, and Teresa again resists coming into church. Tonight her mantra is “Shut up.” She repeats it loudly all the way up the sidewalk and after entering the church. A few minutes later, a church member tells Father Mike, “Teresa is saying, ’I hate Father Mike’ and won’t stop.”

Just before the service, he slips into the pew next to Teresa and softly says, “Teresa, I hear that you hate me.” She turns and quickly says, “I love you, Father Mike.” Those nearby hear her and smile as he replies, “I love you, too, Teresa.”

Rev. Stacy Smith is Manager of Faith Community Outreach at the Church Health Center and Parish Associate at Idlewild Presbyterian Church in Memphis, Tenn. She is the co-author of Bless Her Heart: Life as a Young Clergy Woman and author of several pieces for Church Health Reader.

Holy Comforter Episcopal Church in Atlanta, Ga.

Father Mike’s suggestions for how to welcome people with mental illness in your church: • Acknowledge the presence of mental illness in the Church.

Statistically, 20% of the population will at some time in their life experience a mental distress situation.

• Start providing activities. Set up support groups for church members, or contact NAMI, the National Alliance for Mental Illness, and ask them to present at your church.

• Reach out to your neighborhood. Look for group homes in the community, and let them know that your church is a welcoming church for people with mental illness.

• Be prepared—if you start welcoming people, they will show up!

serving the underserved

Kara Kilpatrick

Church Health Scholar, Church Health Center Memphis, Tennessee aleigh Springs Mall is located on the north side of Memphis. At one time, it was a flourishing bustle of buying and spending, but now all the flagship stores are closed, and a Chuck E. Cheese is the only establishment still in business. During a period of drastic city flooding, this mall became the epicenter of relief for flood victims—providing shelter, food, and clothing for those displaced from their homes. A mall can symbolize prosperity, a middle-class philosophy of life, a place filled with all that a person may need or want, or an entity that can meet needs because of its abundance. What is great about Raleigh Springs is that it became most useful when it was devoid of its middle-class trappings.

When it was shutdown, rundown even, it was open to those who had been shut out of their homes, even run out of their lives. When it was full with merchants, would it have been used as a shelter or a food distribution center? Maybe the merchants would have come together to donate goods, to give to those more needy, but when you don’t have a home, what you need is a roof and shelter from the rain. By being emptied of “having,” the mall could be useful in a way that was perhaps more meaningful. By offering its emptiness to those who also found themselves emptied of their normal lives, the mall became full in a way its architects most likely never intended.

Maybe Matthew has a similar idea in mind. It is not that we “know” we are doing good for the “least of these,” but that we live like “the havenots” and “the haves” are really one-in-the-same; that the “haves” may have dry land, roofs, and walls, but their emptiness, or we may even say poverty, is only of a different kind than the “have-nots.” We recognize that we are all in need and that we need one another, and so, we seek ways to provide and be community to each other, so all may be full.

So I do not work with the least of these—I work with people who fill my empty spaces with their gifts and graces even as I hope to fill theirs with the gifts and graces given to me. We are all rich. We are all poor. May we have the grace to live into both.

K e e p th e Con v e rsation G oing at Your C hurch

READ MORE ONLINE

"Every person should be entitled to the same kind of care whether they do or do not have the means to pay for it. For me, this is the very essence of Matthew 25:40” —Menachem Leasy, Family Practice Resident, New York, New York

God of the least, who loves the smallest, shelters the homeless, feeds the hungry, and honors the low, abide in us and Your least of these, that we may live in Your care and comfort Your world.

Amen.

A dd your v oic e

"When asked, who are the least of these? I think my answer must be: all of us. We are all subject to the limitations of our physical bodies."

—Sarah Stoneking, Medical Student, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

What are your thoughts on Matthew 25? If you would like to reflect on this passage, submit your writing to chreditor@ churchhealthcenter.org www.chreader.org

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Congregational Health Promoters The Church at Work in the World by k endra ho t z and ma t t ma t he w s

Congregational Health Promotor classes meet at the Wellness Campus of Church Health Center weekly for eight weeks.

h good,” the woman ahead of me in line said when she spied the tables at the front of the room laden with healthy and delicious foods “they’re going to feed us.” About 20 people gathered in a big meeting room at the Wellness campus of the Church Health Center. By 6 p.m. sharp, everyone had signed in, collected a big three-ring binder, made a name tag, and found a seat at one of the tables. Most of us came straight from work—tired, hungry, and eager to learn. We had signed up for a class offered by the Church Health Center’s Faith Community Outreach, and we were there to become certified as Congregational Health Promoters. We agreed to meet for two hours every Tuesday evening for eight weeks. Every week speakers from the community came to share information with us and answer our questions. We heard from representatives from the Red Cross, the American Cancer Society, from registered dieticians, and from just about every other community organization related to health that we could imagine. Classes covered nutrition, diabetes, hypertension, how to take medications correctly, pre-natal and baby care, women’s health issues, sexually transmitted diseases, mental health, and how to start a health ministry. We learned, laughed, questioned, and ate together, and by the end of our eight-week sojourn there were 20 Christians newly equipped to bring change to their congregations.

—field observation notes A careful reading of the creation stories in Genesis reveals that human beings are not souls encumbered with bodies. We are bodies. Our spiritual identity and our physical identity cannot be separated. They are interwoven with one another. We are dust made alive by the breath of God. Because the church is not called to minister to souls or to bodies, but to whole persons, the Church Health Center offers an eight-week class so that members of local congregations can come and be trained in some basic areas of health care. At the end of the eight-week program, participants are certified as Congregational Health Promoters. They are empowered to return to their congregations with information about nutrition and diabetes, ready to teach the symptoms of a stroke, and eager to help members of their congregations connect with health care resources in the community. Too often in the Christian tradition we have drawn a clear but false distinction between body and soul and assigned to the church the ministry of souls and to medicine the ministry of the body. But the Bible demands that the church care about the body and that medicine care about more than the body. The Congregational Health Promoters help to bridge that gap.

Through the CHP program, the church will become intentional 18

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in creating ministries that encourage the redemption of the whole person. Sometimes these ministries will clearly be related to the bodies of congregation members: there will be exercise classes, nutrition education, the potluck will include fresh produce, there will be counseling available for those suffering addictions. Other times congregations will address health concerns in the broader community: the building will be open for twelve-step program meetings; the congregation will sponsor free health clinics and forums on community planning; there will be blood drives and educational events. Broadening the ministry of the church so that it addresses whole persons will thus involve cultivating not merely personal faith and private morality, but also a strong sense of citizenship and civic responsibility capable of shaping the kinds of neighborhoods we live in and the kinds of communities we become.

When CHPs return to their congregations, they are equipped with information and skills to begin new ministries, connected with a vast network of community resources to assist them in their work, and energized about the work that God is doing to renew humanity—body and soul. CHPs establish bulletin boards in their churches where they post newsletters, posters,

programs & models

and pamphlets about health. They organize health fairs where do that differently, in a way that fits with its distinctive character. members of their congregations can have their cholesterol and The Church Health Center does not provide CHPs with a cookie blood glucose levels tested, and where volunteer health care cutter approach to healing ministries. The program equips the CHPs with information and resources, and providers will take their blood pressure and connects them to a vast network of others who talk with members about their medications. care about health and healing. But staff at the Some, like Cora Sue from Koinonia Church in Congregational Church Health Center also invites the CHPs Tennessee, establish walking ministries; others Health Promoters: to become partners in spreading the gospel of organize volunteers to relieve caregivers for healing, and that requires them to use their Alzheimer’s patients. The CHPs reach into their • Train to connect people intelligence and imagination to find ways to congregations, and out into the neighborhoods with health resources in their put those resources to work. Each promoter in which those congregations are situated, and communities is embedded in a distinctive congregational ask, “Where is God working to bring hope and • Share health education setting, and each must seek out ways to promote healing now?” They often start small, with just materials and information health that are fitting to that context. Mary a bulletin board and a health fair, but once they about upcoming health Chase-Ziolek, author of Health, Healing, and get engrossed, “here comes the story!” related classes and events Wholeness: Engaging Congregations in Ministries Nicole Gates is one of a number of perfectly of Health explains, “If healing ministries are ordinary Christians who has done extraordinary • Help congregations to fully develop their potential to positively things with the training she received from the identify the relationship influence the health of individuals, they need Church Health Center. Nicole currently serves between disease prevention to develop in a manner consistent with the as the coordinator for the Shelby County Infant and maintenance with diet culture of the congregations in which they are Mortality Campaign. After her CHP training, and exercise housed.” Cora Sue’s walking ministry makes where she learned about the appalling rate of • Ensure awareness of perfect sense for her congregation, but may fall infant mortality among the poor of Memphis, the importance of taking flat in your own. A healing ministry must grow she joined forces with other women to start medications correctly organically from the values of a congregation if an infant mortality taskforce and a “Baby it is to take root and grow from a small seed into Safety Center.” That work led her to the county • Educate members about taskforce where she has received a national AIDS and sexually transmitted a mighty bush.

Congregational Health Promoter classes award for her work. Johnnie Hatten, a CHP diseases offer us a vision of what is possible as God’s who worked with Nicole on the infant mortality • Listen to congregation reign grows in our midst. This biblical vision taskforce, now works with incarcerated teen of shalom, the apocalyptic hopes for a world girls. She encourages them to develop healthy members to understand their remade, inspires the students in CHP classes to self-love, habits that will promote good health, church’s needs envision redemption for their bodies and souls; and to seek out health care rather than submit • Give young mothers it prompts them to count their steps, plant to fatalism. information about their seeds, celebrate new births, and dream Nicole, Johnnie, and Cora Sue are just immunizations and normal of transformation for their congregations. three of the hundreds of women and men who child development That same vision promises them that the seeds have received CHP training. They are ordinary To find out more information about this growing in their midst will someday mature Christians from ordinary congregations who are program visit: into a majestic tree. Their faith has given them doing the work of God. Their very ordinariness www.churchhealthcenter.org/ eyes to see new growth in their neighborhoods, points us to an important theological truth. congregationalhealthpromoters and they challenge us to ask, “Where is God at Ministry is not simply what happens when work in my community?” pastors preach and serve the sacraments.

Ministry is the work of the whole body of Christ as it seeks to enact the call of the gospel to preach, teach, and heal. The CHPs Kendra G. Hotz, Ph.D., of Rhodes College and Matt Mathews, Ph.D., insist that healing ministries are just that, ministries. They are of Memphis Theological Seminary serve as theologians-in-residence at the Church Health Center. This reflection is an excerpt from their part and parcel of the work of the church.

While every congregation participates in the preaching, forthcoming book, to be published by Eerdmans Publishing Company teaching, and healing work of the gospel, each congregation will in Fall 2012.

www.chreader.org

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In the garden behind Church of the Pilgrims in Washington D.C., Rev. Ashley Goff and Beekeeper Jeff Miller remove one of the beehive’s frames.

Ministry for the Bees (and us) How one church worked with a local beekeeper to bring honeybees to its garden b y ashley goff

y June of 2011, forty-thousand honeybees urban gardens of Dupont Circle and Georgetown called Church of the Pilgrims’ (PCUSA) is another way Pilgrims can give back.”

To create our apiary, Pilgrims partnered urban garden home, pollinating our urban garden and the 1,700 acres of our neighboring with DC Honeybees, a local non-profit which forest oasis Rock Creek Park. It was in February is dedicated to the propagation and health of of 2011 that one of our members, Erin local urban honeybee colonies. DC Honeybees believes that with Littlestar, a sustainable agriculture advocate, The hives show how Pilgrims is the density and floral diversity in suggested honeybee hives at Pilgrims to stretching itself to make sure that an urban area like members experience Christian D.C., natural, urban enhance and deepen our commitment to a community outside of their usual beekeeping can repopulate honeybees Christian faith which comfort zones. lost to colony honors the Earth. collapse disorder, Why bees? Won’t they sting, swarm, and create general havoc and pollinate urban greenery and gardens.

Situated in our urban garden on the church in Pilgrims’ backyard? Just the opposite.

Our buzzing, fat, furry companions keep to grounds, the honeybees in our three hives let themselves as they are busy gathering nectar our garden flourish, providing a healthy yield and building up their hives by creating beeswax, of tomatoes, eggplants, and cucumbers for honey, and honeycomb. Pilgrims Elder for Open Table, our Sunday community lunch for Outreach, Matt Webster, shares that “bees are the homeless and hungry. When we blessed a way Pilgrims invests in the local ecosystem of our honeybee hives on Palm Sunday, we D.C. Pollinating our garden, Rock Creek, and the proclaimed that John the Baptist, the one who 20

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Ho ney He al t h • Honey is an all-natural sweetener without any added ingredients.

•Honey is a rich source of carbohydrates and a good source of energy. It provides 17 grams per tablespoon, which makes it ideal for your working muscles since carbohydrates are the primary fuel the body uses for energy.

•Try honey as a cough suppressant. For relief of the irritating symptoms of a sore throat, take a spoonful of honey to soothe and coat your throat.

For added vitamin C, try mixing in orange, grapefruit, or lemon juice.

•Be aware, of course, that honey should not be fed to infants less than one year of age. Honey is a safe and wholesome food for older children and adults.

programs & models

baptized followers of The Way and Jesus, the one covered with honey, the food his ancestors ate to symbolize God’s liberation and presence, reminds us that in our baptism we are to make way for the One who will come. In our baptism, we are responsible for the creation of space for those our culture would rather do without. With our hive, our garden, with Open Table, we create a Way for healing and justice to be present with more to come.

Not everyone at Pilgrims was on board with the idea of honeybees. Elder Michael Oswalt remembers “not everyone thought that colonizing the church’s back garden with stinging insects made theological or even practical sense. But everyone saw that a portion of the congregation sees it as a new and exciting way to feel God’s presence and message. The hives show how Pilgrims is stretching itself to make sure that members experience Christian community outside of their usual comfort zones. And that’s what’s important.”

By this fall, our honeybees felt like part of the community. So much so, we wanted them to be part of the sacrament of baptism in September. The lectionary texts of Ordinary Time walked us through stories of Genesis and Exodus, providing us with a theological context for the use of honey. In the ancient church, the first meal the newly baptized received was a taste of milk and honey. We incorporated both elements into our baptism liturgy as we dabbed the mouth of 9-month-old Isla McCarthy Ryan with milk and DC Honeybee honey and blessed her with these words: with the living waters, Isla, may the justice and mercy of God flow from you like the sweetness of milk and honey.

Like baptism, our beehives are a strong statement of community; building our church community, through shared work in the garden where we work alongside the bees, and the broader planetary community. Our hives are a powerful and tangible way that we at Pilgrims are connected to the earth, to nature and to the place we live and the living beings we live among. As Erin remarked once about our hives, “a honeybee hive is an incredible metaphor for the Church. We both create something so luminous, so sweet, so nourishing that the outside world can hardly deny its appeal. Our bees create honey. Our job as Church is to create love.”

The beehive, decorated by the children of Church of the Pilgrims, stands in the garden of Church of the Pilgrims.

Ho n ey Rec ip e Fresh Melon Salsa Makes 3 cups 3 cups diced melon 6 tablespoons lime juice ¼ cup honey ¼ cup red bell pepper, diced 1½ tablespoons cilantro, finely chopped 1 tablespoon seeded jalapeño pepper, minced ½ teaspoon salt Combine all ingredients in large bowl; mix well. Refrigerate overnight to allow flavors to blend. Serve over grilled fish or chicken.

Information compiled from the National Honey Board appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture: www.honey.com

Rev. Ashley Goff is the Minister for Spiritual Formation at Church of the Pilgrims in Washington, D.C. Photos courtesy of Marti Mefford. See more of her work at www.martimefford.com. www.chreader.org

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Tribute

Life-Giving Gifts

Reflecting back on the life of Nobel Prize for Medicine recipient Sir James Black b y camille coo k hen I first met Sir James Black I knew him only as the man with the zany ties and the jolly smile. He was a charming man in his eighties with a lovely wife, Lady Rona Black.

I met the Blacks while ministering at St. Columba’s Church of Scotland in London. This Scottish couple, like many others in the church, had come south of the border to England to pursue their professional careers in London.

Sir James, Jim from Lochgelly as he liked to be called, won the Noble Prize for Medicine in 1988 for his discovery of beta-blockers. He was hailed as one of the greatest Scottish scientists of the 20th century and the list of his honors and awards is weighty and lengthy. During the week, Sir James could be found speaking with Nelson Mandela or seated next to Margaret Thatcher or having tea with Her Majesty the Queen, but Jim’s feet never left the ground. At our church, you would find Jim sitting with the homeless at lunch and asking about their lives. You would find him passing out mints to the old ladies before the sermon. Or comparing ties with other members of the congregation.

Jim was born and raised in the Church of Scotland and his faith was of deep significance to him. Jim wanted to understand his faith, he wanted to know what the church was going to do to help make the world a better place, and he wanted to know what Sir James Black demonstrates an experiment in a school science classroom in 1990. he was supposed to be doing as a Christian. Jim found faith to be compatible with his calling as a scientist, and a blood transfusion pumped into his body, I offered him the it provoked him to improve the lives of others. The invention of body and blood of Christ. In Celtic Christianity, there is a way life-saving medication was his gift to humanity. He never took to describe a place where the space is somehow holy, where the money for his discoveries, but chose to spend his life encouraging realm of the divine seems somehow closer to the earth; they call others in the fields of science and medicine. this a thin place. Sir James, the inventor of life-saving medicines, Jim’s passionate and joyful spirit was not crippled by his accepted the life-giving gifts of bread and wine. Jim Black was a body’s battle with cancer. When the doctors would banish him great medicine man, but one who knew and honored the Great to bed, he would begin to plot his escape from the hospital: how Physician. to take train rides, attend concerts, give lectures, and even sneak Rev. Camille Cook is currently the pastor of Georgetown Presbyterian back up to Scotland. Jim always had ideas for how to squeeze a bit Church in Washington, D.C. She served at St. Columba’s Church of Scotland more joy and a bit more adventure out of any situation. And with from 2007-2010. his cheeky grin and convincing wink, Jim usually got his way. He was not going to spend his final years missing out on anything.

Jim told me how blessed he had been in his life. He had great thankfulness and joy within him, and it provided warmth and For your Church strength to others.

In the final months of his life, Jim found himself in King’s Spread the word about healthy living in your church.

Hospital where his own center for research, The James Black Photocopy the flyer on the opposite page to promote Foundation, resided down the hall. On one of my visits I brought heart heath within your congregation. Go to communion, and we celebrated the sacrament together. As www.chreader.org to download a pdf of this flyer in

healthy flyers

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Church Health Reader

♥

color or black and white.

Heart disease is a leading cause of death for both men and women.

Leading causes:

▶▶Inactivity ▶▶Obesity ▶▶High Blood Pressure ▶▶Smoking ▶▶High Cholesterol ▶▶Diabetes

What can you do to improve your heart health?

Eat Healthy!

▶▶Buy lean, skinless meats and poultry ▶▶Use fat-free and low-fat dairy products ▶▶Limit your alcohol intake ▶▶Prepare foods without added salt ▶▶Avoid foods high in sugar or dietary cholesterol ▶▶Eat whole grain breads and pasta

Get Fit!

▶▶Find an active way to relax: It’s tempting to want to sit and relax. Instead, go for a bike ride or join a recreational sports team. ▶▶Go for a walk: Find a local area where you can go and walk for a few miles. Spend time outdoors, and enjoy what nature has to offer while you get fit! ▶▶Make it a family event: Help your children build healthy habits. Take a ball or Frisbee and visit a nearby park. Build memories while improving your heart!

When you create habits for a Healthy Heart you also help with:

▶▶Weight loss and preventing weight gain ▶▶Endurance and vitality ▶▶Improving blood sugar control in diabetes ▶▶Relieving anxiety, depression and stress

Go to Church Health Reader for more suggestions on healthy living: www.chreader.org

healthy eating

FOR YOU AND YOUR CHURCH

ake these dishes at home or at church— no one will miss the meat. This Gouda Macaroni and Cheese minimizes the fat while spinach and whole-wheat ingredients boost the flavor and the nutritional value. Balance out this dish with Lemon Green Beans and feel free to add different herbs as the seasons change. Mediterranean Roasted Tomatoes and Broccoli also make a healthy complement. Add some wild grain rice and you have an easy, healthy meal for you or your church!

Recipe: Gouda Macaroni and Cheese Prep Time: 10 minutes; Total Time: 35 minutes Serving Size: a little less than ¾ cup Nutrition Facts (per serving): Calories: 200; Total Fat: 5 g; Sodium: 212 mg; Carbohydrate: 27 g; Fiber: 2 g; Protein: 10 g Directions: 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place bread in a food processor, and pulse 10 times or until coarse crumbs measure ½ cup. Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add green onions and garlic; cook 1 minute.

2. Add flour; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Gradually add milk, salt, pepper, onion powder and garlic powder, stirring constantly with a whisk until blended. Bring to a boil; cook until thick (about 2 minutes). Add cheeses; stir until melted.

Add spinach and macaroni to cheese sauce, stirring until well blended. Spoon mixture into a 2-quart baking dish coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle with breadcrumbs. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes or until bubbly.

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Church Health Reader

Ingredients for you: (8 servings) 1 slice whole-wheat bread 1 tablespoon light butter ¼ cup thinly sliced green onions 2 garlic cloves, minced 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour 2 cups fat-free milk ½ teaspoon salt ¼ teaspoon black pepper ½ teaspoon onion powder ½ teaspoon garlic powder ½ cup (2 ounces) shredded smoked Gouda cheese ⅓ cup (about 1½ ounces) grated reduced-fat Parmesan cheese 5 cups coarsely chopped fresh spinach 4 cups hot, cooked, wholewheat elbow macaroni (about 2 cups uncooked) Cooking spray

Ingredients for your church: (100 servings) 12 slices whole-wheat bread 12 tablespoons light butter 3 cups thinly sliced green onions ½ cup garlic cloves, minced 1½ cups all-purpose flour 24 cups fat-free milk 2 tablespoons salt 1 tablespoon black pepper 2 tablespoons onion powder 2 tablespoons garlic powder 6 cups shredded smoked Gouda cheese 4 cups grated reduced-fat Parmesan cheese 50 cups coarsely chopped fresh spinach 40 cups hot, cooked, wholewheat elbow macaroni (about 2 cups uncooked) Cooking spray

hE ALTHY e ATING

Recipe: Lemon Green Beans Prep Time: 10 minutes; Total Time: 20 minutes; Serving Size: ½ cup Nutrition Facts (per serving): Calories: 53; Total Fat: 4 g; Saturated Fat: 1 g; Sodium: 152 mg; Carbohydrate: 4 g; Fiber: 2 g; Protein: 1 Directions: 1. Melt butter, olive oil and garlic together on low heat for about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and allow garlic to sit in butter mixture for about five minutes.

2. While waiting for butter and garlic, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Once boiling, add washed and trimmed green beans.

Boil until slightly tender, about 5 minutes.

3. Drain beans and quickly rinse under cold water for only a few seconds (this helps to stops the cooking process and keeps them nice and green!)

4. Remove garlic from butter mixture and toss green beans in the garlic-infused butter.

5. Add lemon zest, oregano, parsley, salt and pepper. Toss to coat.

Ingredients for you: (4 servings) 1 tablespoon light unsalted butter ½ tablespoon olive oil 1 garlic clove, halved 2 cups green beans, washed and trimmed 1 teaspoon lemon zest ½ teaspoon oregano ½ teaspoon dried parsley ¼ teaspoon salt ½ teaspoon black pepper

Ingredients for your church: (100 servings) 3 sticks light unsalted butter ¾ cup olive oil ¼ cup garlic, crushed 50 cups green beans, washed and trimmed ½ cup lemon zest 4 tablespoons oregano 4 tablespoons dried parsley 4 tablespoons salt 4 tablespoons black pepper

Developed by Church Health Center Wellness Education.

Photos by Lizy Heard.

MORE ONLINE | find these recipes and many more on www.chreader.org Stuffed Apples

Mediterranean Roasted Broccoli and Tomatoes

www.chreader.org

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1 - DEBORAH; 2 - HOMELESS; 3 - GIVING; 4 - TOOTH; 5 - BEES 6 - GARDEN; 7 - SAFETY; 8 - CHURCH; 9 - SAMPSON; 10 - BLUE 11 - LEMON; 12 - PIVOTAL; 13 - HOSPITALITY; 14 - HOLY; 15 - HEALTH

Devotion

Most of These What are we more afraid of—that we will be goats instead of sheep, or that we may be the least of these? b y s t acy smi t h All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, “Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.”… Then he will say to those at his left hand, “You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.”—Matthew 25:32-36, 41-43 ll of us can think of people in the world who, by some set of circumstances, have an enormous amount of wealth.

We can probably also think of people we know, or parts of the world we may have seen, where poverty is rampant and unparalleled. Yet most of us exist somewhere in between. We aren’t the most, and we certainly are not the least.

But anyone who has spent time with people who are homeless knows that a great number of the homeless are educated, have been employed, have a college degree, have at one point in time owned their own homes, and have become homeless through a series of perfectly conceivable, “middle-class” situations—the prolonged illness of a family member followed by the loss of a job, or a bitter divorce followed by a expensive lawsuit, or poor choices in a home mortgage followed by a recurrence of substance abuse. These are all situations that when combined with certain social and economic factors, could leave an individual with too few financial resources to care for their basic needs. And this is called poverty.

Jesus commands us to care for the least of these, but in our world, the least is not always someone else. When we look to this passage from Matthew, we must remember that poverty affects all of us. We may believe that we are either the sheep or the goats, and whether we will end up on the right hand or the left hand is determined by the decisions we make. But we are vulnerable, finite creatures and susceptible to forces beyond our control. As hard as it may seem, none of us are immune to poverty, and it is possible that one day we will find ourselves trading places with someone we have considered the “least.”

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Church Health Reader

When it comes to heath care, what are we more afraid of— that we will be the goats instead of the sheep, or that we may be the least of these? Often, it is our health—and paying for our health care—that reminds us of our vulnerability. In our country, the costs of quality health care can force a family from financial abundance to financial ruin. Much of our health care policy is driven by the selfish notion that we have the power to be benevolent when it suits us, and economically cautious when it doesn’t—we can decide whether to be goats or sheep. Instead, we should make decisions based on what we would want for ourselves if we were in the same position: if we were the least.

If we were fired from our job, how would we pay for the doctor?

If we found ourselves in the hospital, how would we hope to be treated? If our child gets the flu, would we want to take a day off work without the fear of losing our job?

Rather than striving to be a sheep rather than a goat, we should remember that every one of us may someday be the least.

And then we must ask: who will clothe us? Welcome us? Visit us?

Feed us? Treating others the way we would want to be treated if we were in the same situation—and establishing social structures to ensure that happens—is not selfish. It’s the Golden Rule.

Rev. Stacy Smith is Manager of Faith Community Outreach at the Church Health Center and Parish Associate at Idlewild Presbyterian Church in Memphis, Tenn.

The kingdom of God is for everything and everybody. You can obviously see we are back to the first question: did God create people to be healthy?

Of course he did. And wherever our physical well being is threatened, God wants us to set things right again.

Tony Campolo

MORE ONLINE | read more at www.chreader.org Excerpted from Preaching the Whole Gospel: Q&A with Tony Campolo

By Rachel Thompson

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Church Health Reader is an offering of the Church Health Center.

The Church Health Center seeks to reclaim the Church’s biblical commitment to care for our bodies and our spirits. Our ministries provide health care for the working uninsured and promote healthy bodies and spirits for all.

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Summer 2012: Exercise & Movement

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