Greetings,
Annie wrote: "I used to
ask my nursing students to write a story about a time they will never forget,
when they came to a totally new understanding of something they felt they
understood before. This to me is peran.
Jesus invited his
disciples to come to a totally new understanding of the life they thought they
understood. I see him saying "Ah!, there is much more. Follow me. Come and
see. "
Annie's comments update the
invite of Jesus to journey with him to the "other side" before
encountering a Storm on the Sea of Galilee. Entering into a relationship with
Christ involves a Storm experience, a descent, a wounding, where the old self
will never be the same.
Later in the Gospel of Mark
we find the word understanding appearing in the Greek. Susnesis. (Mark 6:52) It appears as not understanding. Even
though they ask the question, Who is this?, they are not understanding the
clues being given. They are continuing a journey to the "other side" with
resistance. Mark names the resistance as “hardness of heart, NKJV/minds were
closed, REB.” (Mark 6:52)
The invite "Come and
see" (John 1:39) are the exact words in the Gospel of John. Here the main
word will be (forms of the Greek word lambano) receive instead of understand in
answer to the question "Who is this?" John uses receive (a
gift) instead of understand (which can be seen as our accomplishment in connecting the dots).
Receive implies it is not our doing except to receive. The two words are both
nuances in the same unfolding journey.
Shalom,
Marlin
Aha! With this comment and my
response I see the blog as an emerging possibility. I was a distance learning
facilitator with the Wayne Oates Institution from 2003 through 2009 with a
seminar entitled "The Healing Power of Stories." The listening model
was the art of story metaphor listening. The blog may offer an emerging
possibility to exercise the same skills in a new format, conveying insights about everyday conversation for health care.
To be continued,
Marlin Whitmer,
Retired Hospital Chaplain.
Founder of the Befrienders in
1966, story listeners in a hospital setting, with potential for health care out
in the community.
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