Morling Tuesday Chapel: Leadership - The good shepherd, Ezekiel vs John

14 March, 2017

Speaker: Rev Dr Anthony Patterson

Scripture: Ezekiel 33

Ezekiel in the beginning: Prophet and hard man, hardened by God to speak to hardened/obstinate people.

Ezekiel 33: quite different from the start. V31: my people come to you, Ezekiel and sit before you. They hear your words to be entertained but do not put them into practice.

Phase 1: The appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. The reason God was on the move was that He was moving his house/temple. This was because Jerusalem has become sin-city. God is departing from Jerusalem to the exiles, and this was disaster for Jerusalem. Ezekiel was called to ask the people to repent, so that the judgment would be reverted, but the people didn’t, so Jerusalem is attacked by the Babylonian army.

Then oracles of the nations demonstrating sovereignty of God over people.

Phase 2 now: If God’s people did not obey, then judgment come. If God keeps his words of judgment, so will He keep to the words of restoration. This section talks about the gloriousness of God’s return.

Ezekiel 34

First, the leadership comes under criticism.

Corrupt leadership. Government corruption is the most common cause of poverty in sub-Saharan Africa.

The image of the shepherd is used in many places. Guide, protect, comfort, nourish, save sheep, gather the flock together.

Israel’s leaders do the opposite: scattered sheep became food for all the wild animals. This failure is one of the main reasons why Jerusalem had fallen. Using position and power to serve themselves rather than take care of the flock. Their rule became harsh and brutal. They let power go over their heads. Leaders use their privilege to act as mini-gods. They use people to further our own agenda rather than the kingdom of God. It becomes “our own legacy”.

But it is the way we treat the little ones/ the weak, sick, injured etc. that says a lot more about our leadership.

V7: therefore you shepherds, heard the word of the Lord…

V10: I am against the shepherds and will hold them accountable for my flock. I will remove them from tending the flock so that the shepherds can no longer feed themselves. I will rescue my flock from their mouths, and it will no longer be food for them.

V11-15: I myself will search for my sheep and look after them. As a shepherd looks after his scattered flock when he is with them, so will I look after my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkness…. I myself will tend my sheep and have them lie down, declares the Sovereign Lord.

Justice in the OT is more than judgment, it is also putting things right.

V17: I will judge between one sheep and another, and between rams and goats. Flocks not caring for each other either!! Thoughtless people only caring for themselves. Selfishness.

V23-24: God will do so by raising up a righteous king!

Pastor= Latin translation of shepherds.

Peter was asked to “feed my sheep”.

Teaching God’s people, teaching God’s words. Teacher of the word of God.

Peter gives 3 sets of motives:

V1: be shepherds… watching over them, not because you must, but that you are willing.

V2: Not pursing dishonest gains, but eager to serve. Not for our own financial benefits.

V3: Not lording over, but being examples to the flock. No place for heavy handed authority. The example of your life should be what compels others. Life needs to match the lip. Nothing puts people off more than hypocritical leadership.

When the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory.

21 March, 2017

Speaker: Rev Dr Michael Frost

Scripture: John 10:1-18

There are lots of pictures of Jesus with the sheep.

https://www.google.com.au/search?q=jesus%20shepherd&espv=2&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj-r7Lg6-jSAhWCtpQKHSgiBroQ_AUIBigB&biw=1680&bih=944

There’s also the story of the shepherd searching for the one lost lamb.

We are rescued and we are the precious lamb, but that’s not primarily what John 10 is about.

When Jesus said “I am a good shepherd”, he was in a furious argument with the Pharisees.

He is addressing leadership, the Pharisees as wolves in sheep’s clothing! The context is leadership, not lostness.

The Pharisees were just using the woman who just committed adultery as a bait to trip Jesus.

Jesus also just healed a blind man who was born blind and can now see. The Pharisees brought this man and his aged parents before the tribunal, interrogating them about where Jesus’ powers came from, and these people were terrified. It is religious abuse.

Michael tells us a story about two children abused by someone from the Jehovah’s Witness in 1970s. When they told the elder, they were shunned from that community. All their relatives were Jehovah’s Witnesses so they were cut off from the community. This is one of the ways church elders exercise their power to abuse people.

John 9:39-41

Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”

Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?”

Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.

The Romans were “blind” so if they act cruelly towards the Jews it’s understandable. The Pharisees have read the word of Moses, claiming to be shepherds of the people etc. They are not “blind”. So their guilt remains. They are robbers, thieves, and hired hands. When the Romans invade, they do deals with them.

10:20

What the Pharisees say of Jesus: “He is demon-possessed and raving mad. Why listen to him?”

10: 7-10

The sheep are trapped, not lost. They were penned in by the fundamentalist legalism the Pharisees have penned up. Sheep are meant to be roaming around the hill, in pastures green. The Pharisees were thieves climbing over the fences to destroy them.

The good shepherd leads them to freedom:

Jesus is saying, “As a good shepherd, I am leading the people to freedom.” “I am the gate, whoever enters through me will be saved.”

“I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full”. This is not about prosperity and wealth. It’ about freedom from spiritual neurosis, the freedom to be in the presence of God.

10:16

“I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also.” Jesus will fulfill the covenant of Abraham. So that this nation will be a light to the nations, calling sheep from other pens, forming a multicultural human society. We are sheep from the other pens!

10:17-18

The good shepherd gives his life for our freedom.

It’s not just pastoral, or devotional. It’s blood soaked. All the three times he announced himself to be the good shepherd, he said he must lay down his life.

Michael grew up in the 1970s: Entertainment was four channels on TV only, no internet. There was a sheep dog contest show. He heard a story about a sheep dog from that show. A sheep dog was told to sit, and the owner noticed the dog sat but looked increasingly agitated. Then he soon realized the farm hand was backing and the tractor and crushed the dog. The dog stayed there obediently despite knowing it may lose its life because the owner told him to sit. This is an illustration of laying down one’s own life in obedience.

10:4

Sheep know their shepherd’s voice.

The Pharisees did not believe because they are not his sheep.

They resort to violence to demand obedience.

Some of us may be called to be a shepherd. If we have sensed that God is calling us to do the work of the shepherd, take this chapter seriously, two of our roles include:

1.      Leading people to freedom. Freedom from fear, from sin. To be free in Christ.

2.      Teach the sheep to hear and recognize the shepherd’s voice.

1,100 people have filed child sexual assault claims against the Anglican Church in Australia. Don’t think that the general Australian population doesn’t see Christians the same as Jesus sees the Pharisees.

http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2017/03/17/514662/Australia-Anglican-Church-child-sex-abuse-Anne-Hywood

So, one of our tasks is to redeem the reputation of King Jesus and his people.

Personal thoughts and reflections:

Don’t know if it’s the storm theopanies of Ezekiel, but the storm was so big after work today that I felt I was driving under water!

I had just read the Stream in the Dessert daily devotional 26April two days before this. Something really stood out from that: Shining is always costly. Light comes only at the cost of that which produces it. An unlit candle does no shining. Burning must come before shining… Many want the glory without the cross, the shining without the burning, but crucifixion comes before coronation.

Full devotional can be viewed at: http://www.youdevotion.com/streams/april/26

In this day and age, there is not a shortage of sermons on success and prosperity. However, there is not as much talk on servant leadership.

As I start seeing more closely what a pastor's job entails, I find it so important for people who are serving in ministry to develop a high sense of self-awareness, constructive self-reflection and good communication skills. It's just so easy for any of us to fall into the trap of seeking relationships in the congregation for our own fulfilment (eg. a sense of accomplishment, of being idealised, of being a spiritual authority figure, a need for personal intimacy or even for sexual gratification in the cases of extra-marital affairs and sexual abuse.) The pastor is supposed to help the parishioner move from depending solely on her relationship with her pastor for support to identifying her primary source of strength as her faith in God. Some ministers may even become so addicted to the sense of connection that arises from ministering, counselling, and offering spiritual direction that they create an unhealthy interdependent relationship with the parishioner.

Boundaries in ministry: overcoming the dark side of leadership:

http://dryvonnewang.blogspot.com/2017/04/boundaries-in-ministry.html

Pastoral Care Motifs

I will discuss a number of motifs or metaphors for pastoral care outlined in the subject “Foundations of Pastoral Care” at Morling College which resonated with me, such as ‘the shepherd’, a ‘prophet’, a ‘fool or clown’, and ‘the wounded healer’.[1]

Sheep and shepherds are mentioned about 180 and 80 times (respectively) in the Bible.[2] I think the reason why this motif is used so prevalently in pastoral care is because at the same time as being so scriptural, it is true of many Christian’s personal testimonies. “We all, like Sheep have going astray; we each have turned to our own way” (Isaiah 53:6; Psalm 44:22; Romans 8:26; Peter 2:25). This verse emphasises the propensity of Israel to stray. And so do us all when we did not know Jesus. There is reference to the servant ruler in (53:7) “like a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before her shearer is dumb.” At times the Bible seems to suggest that the ruler of Israel is their shepherd (Numbers 27:16-17). Jesus associates himself with the shepherd. He tells the story of the lost sheep (Luke 15:4-7, Matthew 18: 12-24), which illustrates the gracious love that seeks the one who has wandered away, a love that goes out of its way and takes the trouble to bring back even the most wayward of sinners.[3]

The author of 1Peter expands on the shepherd motif more than any other Epistle writer does. He asserts that the Jesus is the shepherd and guardian of our souls (1Peter 5:1-5). His greatness is profoundly linked with his preparedness to give his life for his sheep (1 Peter 2:25). The Lord’s capacity to guard his people in the face of difficulty and persecution is part of his distinctive greatness. Those in pastor leadership in local congregations are to imitate their Lord in the way they care for God’s flock.[4] Tidball[5] discuss care that is ‘tough but tender’. I believe the shepherd is the best motif to demonstrate pastoral care. As a carer we need to have a strong burden for lost souls, and long lasting patience to care for people who are not particularly pleasant or lovable, to persevere even when society attacks our values, and to have the wisdom to exercise biblical informed discernment and set appropriate boundaries so that we constantly reflect on what is the underlying motivation or fuel that is driving us, and do not burn out or place ourselves in situations where it is easy to fall into temptations.

Brueggemann[6] suggests that there is a misunderstanding about the prophetic dimension of Israel’s faith. The conservatives tend to make too much of the predictive element, as though the prophets are forecasting, while the liberals tend to understand the prophets primarily in terms of social action and righteous indignation. Both have an element of truth: on one hand, the prophets do care about the future, and they do believe that in the future, God will bring the historical process to obedience. On the other hand, the prophets do care intensely about the moral shape of society. As prophets understand it, society consists in an organisation of social power. This may refer variously to land, money, hardware, technology. The organisation of social power is derived from and dependent on the management, control and articulation of social symbols that, in our day, may be understood as access to the media. The organisation of social power and the administration of social symbols are intimately linked together. The two together constitute a social system that orders, defines, values and legitimates all life. It inclines to be effective at delivery of a “good life” for those who participate in and support the system. Such support is given through a variety of modes: political conformity, economic solidarity, ritual commonality, etc.[7] ‘The system’ works well for all those who accept its definitions of reality, and “is the solution” for all social needs and hopes.

However, the prophet’s task is to act as a destabilising presence, so that the system is not equated with reality.[8] Driven as they were by the call of God they saw that it was necessary for their peers to understand that no social system is absolute, all societies need to be critique. The critique is best done by persons who are informed about the divine intention for human faith and life.[9] Indeed, in my own experience, the contemporary society is full of competition and is performance/achievement orientated. However, this is not the way of the Kingdom, whereby Jesus is the authority over the Kingdom as the Messiah, and the in breaking of God’s reign means dramatic reversal of oppressive situations and unfortunate conditions as per the Beatitudes, which radically challenge conventional thinking concerning how unjust conditions should be viewed and remedied[10], so as to inaugurate social structures that promote the prophetic vision of justice and restore the shalom of God's people fundamentally expresses God's kingship.[11]

Grenz[12] states that Jesus demonstrates ideal humanity. Jesus’ teaching on the church and the community of believers is prophetic (Matthew 16:13ff, Matthew 18:15-20; John 14-16; 20: 19-23), because he spoke of his own Spirit who would invade and make concrete the transformation of disciples' lives and relationships. Indeed, pastoral carers should be anxious to see their peers actively concerned for humility, justice, and hospitality to strangers and mercy as values that are upheld and promoted within contemporary society.[13] After all, we can see from the example of the parable of the wicked tenants that Jesus has handed the kingdom of God to ‘a new nation’, ethnos, which is a term Peter later uses in the context of the ‘stone’ passage to refer to the church (1Peter 2:9).^[14] And our role as the regenerated people in the kingdom of God means our lives produce the fruit of righteousness (Matthew 5:20) and good works (Colossians 1:5-10), the fruit of the Spirit produced transformation of character (Galatians 5:21-24), and the fruit of new generations of disciples (Matthew 28:18-20) that will bear witness to the reality of the kingdom on earth. So, looking at the life and teaching of Jesus on the Kingdom, I agree with Brueggemann’s comment that to suggest that there is a dichotomy of prophetic and pastoral is a misunderstanding of both. In fact, instead of bringing the Kingdom out into the community, I have observed some churches fall into the trap of bringing ‘the system’ into the church and worshipping it as ‘the successful way’ of running a church!

Sometimes people see Christians as ‘the fool’, because we do not conform to the worldly view of ‘success’. In fact, Tideball[15] points out that Paul often uses the image of ‘fool’ to depict himself, for example: receive me just as you would a fool (2 Corinthians 11:16), a ‘fool for Christ’s sake’ (1 Corinthians 4:10), and later in 2 Corinthians 101-13 Paul is actually delighted about being serving the Lord and thereby being designated a ‘fool’. Rather than calculating success based on numbers (eg. the amount of money, the score, the number of people, the number of diplomas/certificates etc.), the Christian life is relational. The author of Galatians stresses that Christian life is relational and community based in a Christ centred fellowship where there is active mutual care of members. Caring for others is incompatible with a bloated self-importance[16]: the heart of pastoral care is not ‘shop-keeping’ but ‘shepherding’. In fact, God sometimes place people in our lives who frustrates us so much that we feel we are throwing our energies into a black hole and nothing is happening. Therefore I sometimes try to remind myself that spiritual growth itself is a slow process for everyone including myself[17], so I should also be more patient with others. After all, pastoral care is not about my personal gains or my personal sense of achievement. As Christians, we are all in the process of learning about the ‘unconditional love’ of Christ, which is often seen as foolish in society.

On the motif of the pastor as ‘the wounded healer’, Nouwen[18] describes that we live in a society in which loneliness has become one of the most painful human wounds. When it comes to pastoral care, no minister can offer help for others without a constant and vital acknowledgement of his or her own experiences.[19] In my own life I find this to be true. It is hard for me to understand the pain of others unless I have been through the same pains, and it is not convincing for me to tell others what to do when I have not experienced the same things as they did. However, Nouwen also warns against the tendency to misuse the concept of the wounded healer by defending a form of spiritual exhibitionism. For example, when the minister makes remarks such as “don’t worry because I suffer from the same depression, confusion and anxiety as you do”, it helps no one.[20] Instead of wearing their wounds as badges, ministers should realise that they suffer from the same predicaments of life as those whom they seek to serve.[21] How does healing take place? Many words, such as care and compassion, understanding and forgiveness, fellowship and community, have been used for the healing task of the Christian minister. Nouwen sums these up into the word ‘hospitality’.[22] Messer[23] states that compassion is out of style in many parts of the world today when the predominant attitude often seems to be “what is in for me?” Bleeding heart is a term applied to any person who thinks the government should care for “the least of these” in society.

Nouwen[24] describes that ministry is a very confronting service. It does not allow people to live with illusions of immortality and wholeness. It keeps reminding others that they are mortal and broken, but also that with the recognition of this condition, liberation starts. To be a wounded healer, one must affirm and accept one’s own life story. Along with the happiness of life come heartaches; with triumphs and success come temptations and scars.[25] No minister can save anyone. He or she can only offer him or herself as a guide to fearful people. This creates a unity based on the shared confession of our basic brokenness and on a shared hope.[26] Suffering makes some strong but others callous, bitter, insensitive, and defeated. In contrast, the wounded healer accepts life’s struggles and suffering, “making friends with pain,” and draws from the well of life’s triumphs and tragedies the healing waters that flow from the divine spring within each of us.[27]

I agree that wholeness and perfection is an illusion in this fallen world. In fact, I find it harder to turn to God when everything is smooth sailing. I cry out to God for help when I realise my limitations and vulnerability. For example, the sudden passing away of my father in 2013 made me revaluate my relationship with my father and realise the shallowness of it. It made me realise our communications tended to be task-orientated. This event made me slow my pace down and treasure my interpersonal relationships more. This event shifted my life direction as I wanted to avoid making the same mistake again. My focus started shifting onto building relationships, especially the relationship with my mother, which subsequently led to her faith in Christ and baptism. Although I have learned a lot from this life event, my relational skills have constant room for improvements. I have no magic solution for anything, but I believe I can empathetically walk alongside people who experienced similar events and share about how I coped with it.

Messer[28] believes it is the earthquakes that shake our existence which force us to take a new outlook of life. At such times we may realise how much we need a supportive community of the compassionate. Ideally, this is Christ’s community, the church. Unfortunately sometimes this very body has been the least compassionate. Too often the story of the church has been rejection of those who have ‘fallen’ in the eyes of the community. Grace is not an abstract theological doctrine, but where we know what it means to be alienated and then forgiven. Effective ministry means to enter the lament of the prophet Jeremiah, “for the wound… of my people is my heart wounded”.[29] As Martin Luther King Jr. once said: “whom you would change, you must first love”.[30] In response to this statement, I find it very important to constantly remind myself not to fall into a ‘works-based narrative’ where love and forgiveness are viewed as commodities that are exchanged for performance.[31] After all, wounded healers are ministers who reach out to the broken people Jesus came to save.[32]

Summary:

Shepherd

l   There’s a propensity for people to go astray like sheep, so the shepherd needs to have gracious love for lost souls.

l   A preparedness to give his/her life for the sheep, guarding people in the face of persecution.

Prophet

l   A destabilising presence, driven by the call of God, they saw the necessity for their peers to understand that no social system is absolute and all societies need to be critique.

l   Jesus, who is prophetic, spoke of his own Spirit who would invade and make concrete the transformation of disciples' lives and relationships.

Fool

l   Do not conform to the worldly view of success.

l   Shepherds rather than shopkeepers, focusing on relationships rather than numbers.

The wounded healer

l   Constant and vital acknowledgement of his/her own experiences, in order to act as guides for others only, as no minister can save anyone.

l   A “bleeding heart” for the least fortunate in society.

l   Grace: to know what it means to be alienated and then forgiven. “Whom you would change, you must first love”.

The long view

It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view.

The fullness of the kingdom is not only beyond our single efforts; it is even beyond our narrow vision.

We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God's work.

Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of saying that the Kingdom always lies beyond us.

No statement says all that could be said.

No prayer fully expresses our faith.

No confession brings perfection.

No pastoral visit brings wholeness.

No program accomplishes the Church's mission.

No set of goals and objectives includes everything.

This is what we are about.

We plant the seeds that one day will grow.

We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.

We lay foundations that will need further development.

We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities.

We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.

This enables us to do something, and to do it very well.

It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord's grace to enter and do the rest.

We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.

We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs.

We are prophets of a future not our own.

AMEN

by Bishop Ken Untener of Saginaw, 1979

Bibliography:

Bruce, F. The Epistle of Paul to the Galatians. Exeter: Paternoster, 1982.

Brueggemann, Walter. “The Prophet as a Destabilizing Presence.” In The Pastor as Prophet, edited by Earl E. Shelp and Ronald Sunderland, 49-77. New York: Pilgrim Press, 1985.

Cole, Jr A.H. “What Makes Care Pastoral?”. Pastoral Psychology 59, no. 6 (2010): 711-23.

Gerkin, Charles V. “Earlier Chapters in an Old Story.” In An Introduction to Pastoral Care, 23-51. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1997.

Grenz, Stanley J. “Our Nature as Persons Destined for Community.” In Theology for the Community of God, 151-80. Grand Rapids, Mich.: W.B. Eerdmans, 2000.

Laniak, Timothy S. “Shepherds in the Ancient World.” In Shepherds after My Own Heart: Pastoral Traditions and Leadership in the Bible. New Studies in Biblical Theology, 42-57. Downers Grove, Ill.: Apollos; InterVarsity Press, 2006.

Messer, Donald E. “Wounded Healers in a Community of the Compassionate.” In Contemporary Images of Christian Ministry, 81-96. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1989.

Moodle. “PC603 – Pastoral Skills and Methods: Pre-reading from PC602.” Accessed July 24, 2015. http://morlingcollege.trainingvc.com.au/mod/resource/view.php?id=54735.

Nouwen, Henri J. M. “Introduction.” In The Wounded Healer; Ministry in Contemporary Society, 81-96. Garden City, N.Y.,: Doubleday, 1972.

Russell, Michael, “An integration of Biblical anthropology and neuropsychology and its implications for Christian education and discipleship”, College Station, Texas (unpublished), 2002.

Smith, James Bryan. The Good and Beautiful God. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 2010.

Stairs, Jean. “A Comparative Summary.” In Listening for the Soul: Pastoral Care and Spiritual Direction, 189. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2000.

Tidball, Derek. “The Writings of John.” In Skilful Shepherds: An Introduction to Pastoral Theology, 78-98. Leicester: IVP, 1986.

Tidball, Derek. Builders and Fools. Leicester: IVP, 1999.

Wang, Ying-fan Yvonne. Dr Yvonne Wang’s Blabberings. Last modified July 28, 2015. http://dryvonnewang.blogspot.com.au.

Wilkins, Michael J. Matthew: The NIV application commentary. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2004.

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[1]“PC603 – Pastoral Skills and Methods: Pre-reading from PC602,” Moodle, accessed July 24, 2015. http://morlingcollege.trainingvc.com.au/mod/resource/view.php?id=54735.

[2]“PC603 – Pastoral Skills and Methods: Pre-reading from PC602.”

[3]“PC603 – Pastoral Skills and Methods: Pre-reading from PC602.”

[4]“PC603 – Pastoral Skills and Methods: Pre-reading from PC602.”

[5]Derek Tidball, Builders and Fools, (Leicester: IVP, 1999), 138-143. A good listener, to have clear boundaries to do with respect for persons, straightforward honesty and grace. Tough pastoral care comes into place when the carer exercises biblical informed discernment.

[6]Walter Brueggemann. “The Prophet as a Destabilizing Presence,” In The Pastor as Prophet, ed. Earl E. Shelp and Ronald Sunderland, (New York: Pilgrim Press, 1985), 49.

[7]Brueggemann. “The Prophet”, 50.

[8]Brueggemann. “The Prophet”, 51.

[9]“PC603 – Pastoral Skills and Methods: Pre-reading from PC602.”

[10]Chouinard, “The kingdom of God,” 238.

[11]Chouinard, “The kingdom of God,” 236.

[12]Stanley J. Grenz, Theology for the Community of God, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans 2000), 282. Jesus is the revelation of humanness as intended by God. He was and is what each of us is designed to be and what God intends, even destines us to become.

[13]“PC603 – Pastoral Skills and Methods: Pre-reading from PC602.” The spirit would empower the believing community to focus its worship on Jesus. The Spirit would enable the church to be a community of belief that would be a bridgehead into the new transformed world that would ultimately come into being at the return of Jesus. (Mark 13, Matthew 23).

[14]Wilkins, Matthew, 699.

[15] Derek H. Tidball, Builders and Fools, (Leicester: InterVarsity 1999), 71-86.

[16]F. Bruce, The Epistle of Paul to the Galatians, (Exeter: Paternoster, 1982), 153. In this injunction there is no suggestion of paternalism but of proactive care that is genuine and gentle.

[17]Paul Goodliff, Pastoral Care in a Confused Climate. (London: Darton, Longman and Todd 1995), 10. Pastoral care is the ‘healing, sustaining, guiding, personal/societal formation and reconciling of persons and their relationships to family and community by representative Christian persons (ordained or lay), and by their faith communities’.

[18]Henri J. M. Nouwen, “Introduction,” in The Wounded Healer; Ministry in Contemporary Society, (Garden City, N.Y.,: Doubleday, 1972), 83.

[19]Nouwen, “Introduction,” 88. 

[20]Nouwen, “Introduction,” 88. 

[21]Messer, “Wounded Healers,” 88.

[22]Nouwen, “Introduction,” 88-89.  

[23]Donald E. Messer, “Wounded Healers in a Community of the Compassionate.” In Contemporary Images of Christian Ministry, (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1989), 83.

[24]Nouwen, “Introduction,” 93.

[25]Messer, “Wounded Healers,” 87.

[26]Nouwen, “Introduction,” 93.

[27]Messer, “Wounded Healers,” 89.

[28]Messer, “Wounded Healers,” 89-90.

[29]Messer, “Wounded Healers,” 91.

[30]Messer, “Wounded Healers,” 92-93.

[31]James Bryan Smith, The Good and Beautiful God, (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 2010): 77.

[32]Messer, “Wounded Healers,” 92-93.