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Spiritual
Food for
Caregivers
Spiritual Ministry Feeding the mature spirit honors the aging process as sacred and meaningful. Caregivers have the opportunity to encourage and observe the maturation of spiritual development.
Let Your Heart Take Courage This article suggests the need for family and clergy to offer a ritual or ceremony to mark the passage into nursing homes. These ceremonies offer a process to say goodbye, move forward, deal with the anger, loss and abandonment that can occur, and help families to honor their lives together. This ministry offers clergy an opportunity to perform religious ceremony on a more personal level than standard services in nursing homes.
Letting Go. Written by Rabbi Kozberg, Director of Religious Life, Wexner Heritage Village, Columbus, Ohio and a convener at the 2008 Aging in America NCOA-ASA conference in Washington, D.C. This beautiful article addresses both the spiritual trust found in an Alzheimer's patient, and how it relates to Jewish heritage and faith.
Why Pray? This article, written by Pastor Mark Batterson, of the National Community Church in Washington, D.C., explains the how's and why's of prayer.
Care for Caregivers Do not forget to nurture yourself.
Still A Child of God It's heartbreaking to watch age or dementia claim a loved one's mind, body, and spirit. But it's a mistake to think that disease destroys a Christian's desire or ability to worship. Older adults can still encounter God through well-designed worship services.
The Church and Its Elderly Members Increased longevity may be due to better health, but as we age health inevitably breaks down and we become increasingly dependent. This presents huge challenges for both the older dependent person and the responsible caregiver. To meet these challenges we must be shaped by a loving understanding of the elderly and a humility that eagerly accepts and embraces them.
Church in Nursing Homes: Developing a Worship Ministry We never outlive our need to grow spiritually and to be a part of a worship community. Yet all too often residents of nursing homes do not experience meaningful worship. So how can we “church“ in nursing homes more effectively? |
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The Sacred Aging Project
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To anticipate the challenges of an aging American population, and effectively respond to them, the Union's Department of Jewish Family Concerns has created its program on Sacred Aging. A six part congregation-based program, Sacred Aging looks at the impact of the changing demographics of our community and seeks to enlist congregations in developing and implementing meaningful and creative programs and services for our membership, as well as providing resources for clergy and lay leadership. Sacred Aging Program Highlights
Sacred Aging will include six components, each with corresponding programs and support materials designed to meet the needs of an aging population. The components and the needs that are addressed include:
- Responding to the longevity revolution: A guide for congregational leadership
- The congregation as a caring community: Providing support for caregivers
- Creating new rituals for our extended lifespan
- Helping members make sacred decisions: The impact of medical technology
- Life as a sacred journey: Legacy programs that celebrate the "spiritual capital" of older adults
- Seeking meaning and purpose in life's third stage: Developing educational models that relate to the revolution in longevity.
We thank Rabbi Richard Address for his contributions both at Sacred Aging and at Caregiving Ministries.
Rabbi Richard F. Address was ordained at HUC-JIR (Cincinnati) in 1972, and received his Doctor of Divinity from HUC-JIR in 1997. In May 1998 he received his certificate in Pastoral Counseling from the PostGraduate Center for Mental Health (NYC) and in May 1999 graduated from HUC-JIR (NYC) with his Doctor of Ministry.
Rabbi Address has served the Union of American Hebrew Congregations in a variety of capacities. Following congregation work in California, he joined the UAHC staff in August 1978 as the director of the UAHC Pennsylvania Council and Federation of Reform Synagogues of Greater Philadelphia. He continued as senior regional director of the Council through December of 2000. While serving as regional director, he was named, in July 1997 as director of the new UAHC Department of Jewish Family Concerns. This department, which sees as its mission the creation of “caring congregations”; brings together the work of a variety of programs in areas such as aging, substance abuse, self-destructive behavior, special needs, AIDS, gay and lesbian inclusion and the impact of emerging medical technology on the lives of our members.
“With Eyes Undimmed….The New Jewish Older Adult” describes the
shifting aging demographics and makes suggestions for responses within the
congregation.
JOURNAL OF JEWISH COMMUNAL SERVICE: SACRED AGING OVERVIEW defines the goals, components and process.
A Synagogue Respose to the Spiritual Revolution in Aging Aging Americans are demanding that their congregations, communities and clergy respond to their issues of aging with creativity, sensitivity and sophistication. This article describes how the American Jewish community is being forced to confront the reality and implications of the longevity revolution.
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Reprinted with permission from the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship
Calvin College
1855 Knollcrest Circle SE
Grand Rapids, MI 49546-4402
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