A Message from Reverend Courtney.

Weekly Pastoral Message for 29th September 2024

Dear St. Peter’s Community and Friends,

Sometimes it seems as if when we strive to focus on the essentials, we lose sight of the humanity of the people involved. Rather than focusing on the person, their fears, hopes, concerns, and emotional and spiritual well-being, society has changed to target on the goal or objective. It is as if we have pared people’s lives down to the very basics of health, wellness, job, family responsibilities, and don’t have time to spend on the other important things which turn an objective into a fully developed human being.

This year, I have accompanied several people undergoing medical procedures. On my way home from the hospital today, I reflected on what an impersonal and arduous process this has become. We sign people up for surgery, expecting them to spend the barest minimum of time at the hospital or surgery center. We expect them to download their own preparation and aftercare instructions and monitor their own wounds. Then the surgery center demands that a responsible adult be available to take the patient home post-surgery and threatens legal consequences should the person try to leave on their own. Gone are the days where there were intake appointments, discussions with staff, and aftercare instructions provided by the medical center and reviewed with the patient with time for questions. There are no longer arrangements available for an overnight bed or transportation for those people without family or community connections.

This was brought home to me when someone visited the parish office before a routine procedure asking me if I could help them download and read the preparation instructions and then call the surgery nurse to go through the expectations and take notes. The person felt lost in a system which has become too impersonal and mechanical. For an elderly person or someone without a computer and printer, or the skills to use it, these expectations add to their burden when they are already feeling stressed or unwell. Many people in this situation do not have a family member to ask and are hesitant to ask an acquaintance or neighbor for assistance, so they come to the church, knowing we will do our best.

As Christians this is an opportunity to live into our baptismal promises. To lend a helping hand, and a listening ear. It is a sign to slow down and take the time to recognize someone’s humanity and then to comfort, care for, and nurture them through their moments of uncertainty and fear. When social processes become coldly impersonal, we can soften the edges, and provide the warm human touch that has been lost in the name of efficiency and cost-cutting. We can, by our nurturing actions, respect the dignity of every human being by loving our neighbors as ourselves, and proclaiming by word and example the Good News of God in Christ.

Here at St. Peter’s, I regularly hear of parishioners helping one another out with rides to appointments, spare rooms for recovery, and deliveries of food or medicine. As a community we are coming together to graciously live into our humanity and our baptismal promises and fill the roles abdicated by the proponents of impersonal, dehumanizing efficiency. I hope you know that help is only a phone call or a conversation away, should you need it.

          Rev. Courtney+