LEADERSHIP: TeleCare -- Care for the Elderly Living Alone

 I was at the Senior Center this morning and heard an amazing story. 

Yesterday was a very windy day. D's husband died some years ago so she lives alone in the home they lived in for about 60 years. She is still able to take care of her house and yard, though it takes more time to get it all done than it used to. 

She went out to mow her lawn, got the mower out of the shed, and started mowing. At about 3 pm she ran out of gas. She left her mower and went to the shed to get the gas tank. While she was there, a gust of wind slammed the shed door shut and locked it. D turned on the light and looked around the small shed with no windows and a cement floor. She banged on the door whenever she thought someone might be close enough to hear it, but nobody came. 

The great blessing for D was that she had hope. Why? Because in our community the public school has a TeleCare program. Every morning at about 8 am, elementary students call elderly people living alone to simply ask how they are doing and if they need anything. It is not a long conversation, but it is an important one.

Thanking God that it was not very cold at night lately, D knew about how long she would be there. She swept the floor and did the few odd jobs in the shed she had been putting off. Then she gathered what she could so that she didn’t have to sit on the cold cement floor all night. She found a car creeper, a plastic bag, and an old towel. It would be a long night, but she would be off the cold floor. All she could do now was to wait and pray. It was a great opportunity to have a long chat with the Lord. 

D knew that at 8 am the next morning she would not answer the phone and somebody would come. Sure enough, after a long night of looking at the crack under the door for some light, the young student called and when D didn’t answer they called her sister to let her know. The sister called D’s grandson and he went over, saw the lawnmower sitting where it shouldn't be and, after a few bangs on the door, found her in the shed. Yes, she was cold, but she was also thanking God for TeleCare and the annoyance that came with being home every morning at 8 am to take that call. She would never complain about it again. 

My very small community has a very small school system, but when you're small you can do things that may challenge larger schools. For years the elementary kids in the school have participated in the TeleCare program. It's simply part of the curriculum. What a blessing for the elderly folks in this area who live alone, but in their own homes. TELECARE -- think about it for your church or school. It doesn't take much time to make sure your elderly neighbors are okay. 

EDUCATION: Writing Your Faith Journey

I love the idea of writing a faith journey. Most people seem to want children or teens to do this, but I have to start out with a reminder that young children have trouble with this kind of thing. They 1) don't reflect well, and 2) don't have much to reflect on. Even when you're in confirmation at 14, there's not a lot to reflect on. Consider the life of a regular 14 year old confirmation student up to that point: Baptism, hopefully taken to Sunday School regularly, they probably don't recognize life events that affect their faith, and are just beginning to be able to analyze and synthesize cognitively, If they have people in their lives who have played a role in their faith development, they may not be able to verbalize why. They just haven't the maturity and experience to draw on. That's why I do a different project for middle school students. I have them create a faith journey poster. It's not as daunting a task as a paper, not to mention that they're just learning to write papers in middle school. However, if you want them to write a paper at that stage they need a lot of guidance. I've posted on this before and created some resources to help with this.

One of my other issues is that we have kids do these projects at the young age of 14 and then never push them to think about it again. If you want to have high school students think about their faith, challenge them with the same project, but expect a little more from them.

If you really want to challenge, encourage, and uplift the adults in your congregation, create an adult class where they think about these things and write their faith journies. You can start by talking about the faith journies of some people in the Bible. Moses and Abraham would have some great stories to tell. David had quite a faith journey as did Paul. If you go through the process below with the Biblical examples it'll be easier for them to go through it with theirs so they don't include too much or too little. They can include baptism certificates, wedding licenses, photos of friends or family members, or anything that helps them express their journey. Here are some questions to help them get started and a resource.

• What are your faith milestones? These might be somebody in your family getting sick or dying, a time when you were going through personal struggles, loss of job, divorce, drug addiction/recovery, etc. For some people they may just be a stage of life such as going from elementary school to middle school or from high school to college. There may have been particular experiences in college or after that changed the way you think, feel, or perceive faith or religion.
• Is there anything in your family history that may have affected your faith journey? For example, my mother’s family did not go to church and after my grandmother died, the lady who married my grandpa was Lutheran and insisted the girls be baptized and go to church.
• Do you have any certificates that play an important role in your faith journey? These might include baptism or confirmation certificates or experiences, wedding licenses or funeral remembrances. How did they affect your faith?
• What people in your life have had an impact on your faith?  This could be a pastor, youth leader, parent, family friend, or even a childhood friend. It may also be somebody who affected your life negatively. Who was this person and how did s/he affect your faith?
• What books or other readings have had an impact on your faith? What did they say that made you consider your faith differently?
• What stories/accounts from the Bible have inspired you the most and why?
• What Bible character has a story most like my own? How are they similar?
• Have you gone through any challenging times or celebrations that may have brought you closer to or drove you away from Christ?
• What parts of your faith journey are evident in your life today?
• Where has the journey taken you so far? Describe your faith as it is today.
• What one word or phrase describes your faith journey and why? Looking at all these things in your life. Is there a pattern?
• What Bible verse best desribes your faith and why? You may want to look at a topical Bible or concordance for help.

EDUCATION: Mere Christianity by C.S. LEWIS

In my opinion there are few people who have brought more clarity to Christianity through the written word than anybody else. One is C.S. Lewis. In my opinion everyone above 8th grade should read and discuss Mere Christianity. I think that it should be read, discussed, and everybody should be encouraged to underline profound quotes, write their own thoughts in it and add scripture references to it. There are many study guides available online at the following places:  Lewis Foundation, C.S. Lewis Institute, Calvin College (college level thinking) and Cokesbury. You might want to check them out and adapt them as necessary to your age group.

Try using it in one of these ways:

• Give it away to the congregation as a gift (you can buy a copy for under $5 and in some places under $3) and then do a sermon series and Bible study on it. 
• Intergenerational Bible Study - What a great opportunity to help transition high school students or young adults into adult Bible study!
• High School Confirmation - As I believe we should confirm our faith throughout adulthood and not just in the 8th grade, this book would be a fantastic study for high school students with a faith confirming project that can be shared as a youth-led worship service with the rest of the congregation.

This is one of the few books that will help people (young and older) put words to what they understand of their faith which will help them when they talk about it with friends. And what a wonderful conversation starter, "I'm reading this great book..."  

HS YOUTH: Intergenerational Activity

More than ever kids need to spend time with older people in the congregation. What can you do about it? How about creating an event where the kids serve lunch to the older generation? Here are some ideas of what to do:

• Have some music from the 30's, 40's, and 50's playing.
• Take special care in choosing some trivia questions on the table that may bring back some memories. 
• Have seats for the kids to join them at the tables for dinner or at least for dessert.  
• Come up with some interview questions for the kids to ask to help create discussion.

Some questions might include:

1. Did you grow up in the country or in the city?
2. What kinds of games did you play?
3. What kinds of things would you do with your best friend?
4. How did you spend your free time as a teenager?
5. What are some of your greatest memories of high school?
6. What are some of the greatest inventions that you have seen over the years?
7. What did you think of everything that happened in the 60's?
8. What was your favorite job?
9. What was your favorite game to play as a kid?
10. Do you remember when you got your first TV? What did you like to watch?
11. What was your favorite vacation? Where would you like to have gone that you didn't?
12. Did you like to dance? What kind of dances did you do?
13. Where would you go and what would you do on a date?
14. What kind of chores did you have to do? 
15. If you could share any piece of wisdom with high school kids today, what would it be?

WOMEN: Easter Bonnet Parade!

As a theme for an Easter Tea or lunch, a mother/daughter tea, or even on its own, try an Easter Bonnet Parade!  It used to be a great tradition for people to dress up for Easter and hats were definitely IN.  So, have a tea or a lunch and as part of the entertainment either have a Easter bonnet fashion show or a creation competition.  If you Google pictures of Easter bonnets you'll get some fantastic ideas.  What a super fun tradition!

The Rules

• Only straw hats allowed.
• They must be decorated by the participant (no professionals please).
• Craft materials that can be used are paper or fabric ribbon, fabric, wire, glue, silk flowers, plastic eggs, Easter grass, etc.

Variations

• Let the girls create their bonnets and show them in a fashion show.  Everyone gets a prize!
• Make a bonnet for you and one to share with a new friend at a retirement home.
• Everyone wears their bonnets on Easter Sunday.
• Make them at home to wear and share at your special Easter Tea.
• Have the tea or a luncheon at a retirement home.  The ladies will LOVE it!
• Make bonnets with the residents and everybody wears them for high tea.