Psychology: "Study of the soul".
I have always thought that the primary job of a Minister or Christian leader to study and strengthen the souls of other believers. In 1970 I was introduced to the ministries of healing. I grew up in a community were the need for healing was obvious and daily. People suffered from every form of illness and disease known to humanity. It was a farming community so accidents were common. Pain was everywhere.
The little churches in Ina, Illinois were filled with people ,who were compassionate, caring, generous and ready to help those in need. My parents had a special ministry to grieving families so we were often seen at the Johnson Funeral Home for a viewing and fellowship. My mother was a great singer and she often sang at funerals. Although the "P" word was never used, it was there that I absorbed the ideas about psychology that are still important to me.
In those day soul care was standing by a casket and listening to a grieving widow or parent pour out her heartache and loss. It was there I learned that the finer points of caring and healing were weeping with those who weep and laughing with those good memories of the departed.
I also learned that we can do nothing to change the situation. The person is dead or dying and we are powerless to reduce the loss. However, a hug and a quiet spirit can soothe the troubled soul of the living.
In graduate school I learned the research that confirmed what I saw happen at funeral homes and memorial services. My parents were Master Counselors. Mom had finished high school and dad the third grade. Their knowledge of the theories of psychology and psychiatry were nil, their skills, however, would have put Freud, Skinner and Rogers to shame.
My parents had common sense knowledge about people, loss, grief and how to minister to those with a hopeless situation. They also knew when to withdraw from support if it looked like we were enabling negative behavior. The Spirit of God along with the lessons of life and loss had taught them about the need for soul healing with love and a hot meal.
See our bookstore online for a more technical look at caring.
1 comment:
Thanks Gary I have been graced with that heart of compassion, and love the way the Lord uses a listening compassionate heart to allow the grieved, the hurting, the angry, the confused, the downtrodden to vent, to share, to release and even speak out their own solutions to dilemmas as they speak. Thanks for this insightful posting.
Jeff
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