Chaplain's Corner

This Spring I spent some time involved in some pretty “big-picture” meetings where issues related to spiritual health care were at the top of the agenda.  These were encouraging meetings and I am cautiously optimistic that in a few years, spiritual health care will have risen even higher in the consciousness of our Provincial Health system.  One of those meetings was held at St. Benedict’s Monastery north of Winnipeg.  On a rather cold March day, about 50 people from wide and diverse associations, met and were led by five able facilitators in envisioning what spiritual heath care needs to be in our Provinces health system.  One of the most encouraging things about these meetings was that they were initiated and organized from within Manitoba Health.

As we met, the work that we did together focused on developing 1) a vision for spiritual health care in Manitoba, 2) the purpose of spiritual health care in our provincial health system, 3) The guiding principles of a spiritual health care system and 4) the goals of a spiritual health care system.  The day of meetings ended with optimism as the results of the days discussions were then taken back to Manitoba Health were staff members will use them to develop a Strategic Plan for Spiritual care at Manitoba Health.

Being at these meetings and others like them has required some growth in my own mind and soul.  At first the growth was something I resisted for it felt like I was compromising my own beliefs, my own faith, and my own spirituality to even participate.  This feeling that compromise is being required is a substantial obstacle for many, including myself.  But I have learned that it is possible and also profitable for people of many various and diverse spiritualities, belief systems and convictions to get together, to work together, towards a common goal which does not require any of us to compromise our own position.

I would like to share a few of the things I have been learning over the last 10 years since I have been working in spiritual health care in the Manitoba health care system.

First – I have been learning to open my mind and heart to others whose beliefs are different than my own.  Have you ever noticed that little bit of fear that arises in your heart when you are confronted with beliefs that are different than your own?  Many times when we begin to feel that fear our instinctive reaction is to defend ourselves against the other person and the different beliefs that the other holds.  This defensiveness is rarely necessary and it is usually responsible for building walls between people that rob them of the richness that comes when we understand and interact with people who are different and who believe differently than we do.

Over the last ten years I have been listening, learning, respecting these differences and I have discovered that to do so doesn’t result in my having to compromise my own beliefs at all.  In fact, what has happened in my heart is that as I have opened myself to others and their diverse beliefs, my own convictions have grown stronger, but not as a defense against theirs, but because as I “test” my beliefs against those held by others, they stand up and become stronger.  Beliefs held in a vacuum untested by interaction with different beliefs actually grow weaker for the “why” behind those beliefs is not examined.

Second – I have been learning that people who believe differently than I do are not “bad” people.  One of the lies that fuels prejudice is that people that are different than I am, who look different, dress different, and believe differently than I do are “bad” people.  I use the word “bad” and I put it in quotation marks because the word needs definition.  When I say they are “not bad people” what I mean is that many times they are kind and considerate and respectful people that have a genuine concern for the well-being of other people.  This is a very important thing to realize for we are all too quick, especially those of us who have come to embrace conservative theologies, to “demonize” those who do not agree with us.  When we do this we create an artificial “us” verses “them” dichotomy which makes it almost impossible to work together.  This may work OK in a congregation or conference of churches, but it doesn’t work at all in the broader context of society.

Third – I have learned that my inability to interact, respect and appreciate those who are different ultimately limits the impact I am able to have on my world.  Part of my faith calls me to have an impact on my world, an impact guided by the truths and principles of the Scriptures, an impact motivated by Christ-like love and an impact that respects the God-ordained dignity that each person possesses.  As I observe the life of Jesus as recorded in the Gospels, I do not see a fearful man who shut himself off from everyone different.  Instead I see a man who was so willing to interact with different people with different beliefs and different cultures and different religions that he was severely criticized by the leadership of the Jewish Traditions of his day for mingling with and befriending outsiders.

Jesus never once compromised the truth.  He never once violated the eternal principles of God’s Word, but he did boldly love those others had rejected and openly interacted with people who did not embrace his personal spirituality and faith.

Things are beginning to happen in the inner chambers of Manitoba Health, things that indicate that there is a growing awareness on the part of our Health care bureaucrats that spiritual health is an essential aspect of health.   This awareness provides an opportunity for some really  important opportunities to be seized that may bring recognition and funding to making spiritual health an equal partner with other aspects of health in our Province.

Lest you think this is happening elsewhere – it is not!  In Canada, Manitoba is in the lead, and other provinces are watching to see how spiritual health will be embraced by Manitoba’s Provincial Health Care system.  So, for reasons I am not fully aware, I am now working within this system and doing so in the hopes that God’s concern for the spiritual health of people will be advanced as a result of these initiatives.

Open your heart, open your mind, and open your life to the people around you.  Regardless of how different, open your heart and you will be surprised just how much you will receive and how much you will be able to give and how we will all be a better community as a result.