SACH
Soundings
No 14 June 2003
Page
4
The Invitation
It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living.
I want to know what you ache for
and if you dare to dream
of meeting your heart’s longing.
It doesn’t interest me how old you are.
I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool
for love
for your dream
for the adventure of being alive.
It doesn’t interest me
what planets are squaring your moon...
I want to know if you have touched
the centre of your own sorrow
if you have been opened by life’s betrayals
or have become shrivelled and closed
from fear of further pain.
I want to know if you can sit with pain
mine or your own
without moving to hide it
or fade it
or fix it.
I want to know if you can be with joy
mine or your own
if you can dance with wildness
and let the ecstasy fill you
to the tips of your fingers and toes
without cautioning us to
be careful
be realistic
remember the limitations of being human.
It doesn’t interest me if the story you are telling me
is true.
I want to know if you can
disappoint another
to be true to yourself.
If you can bear the accusation of betrayal
and not betray your own soul.
If you can be faithless
and therefore trustworthy.
I want to know if you can see Beauty
even when it is not pretty
every day.
And if you can source your own life
from its presence.
I want to know if you can live with failure
yours and mine
and still stand at the edge of the lake
and shout to the silver of the full moon,
“Yes.”
It doesn’t interest me
to know where you live
or how much money you have.
I want to know if you can get up
after the night of grief and despair
weary and bruised to the bone
and do what needs to be done
to feed the children.
It doesn’t interest me who you know
or how you came to be here.
I want to know if you will stand
in the centre of the fire
with me
and not shrink back.
It doesn’t interest me
where or what or with whom
you have studied.
I want to know what sustains you
from the inside
when all else falls away.
I want to know if you can be alone
with yourself
and if you truly like the company you keep
in the empty moments.
© Oriah Mountain Dreamer
from the book The Invitation
www.oriahmountaindreamer.com
Provided by Fergus McLachlan
Chaplain at Inverclyde Royal Hospital, Greencok
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Scratchings from the Training and Development Officer
The last months have seen some potential
developments and new things on the agenda – the good, the bad and the
beautifully challenged.
Several things have been good. The day conference at Stirling in May was
well evaluated by the 42 chaplains present. Dr David Reilly the medical
director of the Glasgow Homoeopathic Hospital was a revelation and an
inspiration to many who were there.
An approach to Quality Improvement Scotland
(formerly Clinical Standards Board for Scotland) was welcomed. It has been
suggested to us that following a “scoping study” of chaplaincy in
Scotland, there might be a seminar which would decide whether to go ahead
with the process to write and adopt Clinical Standards for Spiritual Care/
Chaplaincy in Scotland. The whole process would probably take around three
years and would involve a fair bit of work. Much support would be provided
by QIS.
Educationally there has been another
half unit in CPE completed in Glasgow with hopes to do something similar
this autumn in Edinburgh with Val Duff and Bob Devenny as tutors. I was
one of the students and found it very valuable and enjoyable. Towards the
end of June I am meeting with representatives from the four divinity
faculties to look at possibilities and ways of working towards a Scottish
qualification in chaplaincy. Ideally this would combine experiential with
theory, give options and modules and enable people to do some distance
learning and choose the levels they wish to attain. We will be examining
the possibilities.
A new umbrella group, which takes the place
of the “Spirituality in the NHS Steering Group” will hold its first
exploratory meeting on 12th June in St Andrews House. This group - the
“Spiritual Care Development Committee”
is very inter-faith as well as ecumenical and hopefully will
provide a forum where faith communities and other interested groups can
discuss matters of spiritual care with the Department of Health.
The “bad” is probably the difficulties with
Data Protection. The guidelines have
been judged to describe too much of an opt out process (para 21 in
particular – the guidelines), whereas patient information should only go
to chaplains with informed consent. This is really a damage limitation
exercise for chaplaincy and it is proving difficult to find a mutually
acceptable form of words.
Beauty is in the mind as they say, of the beholder. Each day is an
opportunity to enjoy, behold and share it – and as the star of the film
almost quoted at the beginning might say “Make my day”.
Chris Levison
Healthcare Chaplaincy
Training and Development Unit
Queen's Park House
Victoria Infirmary
Langside Road
Glasgow G42 9TT
Telephone: 0141 201 5392
Fax: 0141 201 5614
Mobile: 07768 023385
E-mail:
chris.levison@chaplains.co.uk
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