Categories: uncategorized
Date: 14 August 2005 06:27:10
Another wonderful afternoon.
We looked at a transcript of a real-life encounter between a priest and someone she was talking to in a nursing home. This caused a lot of discussion as the Orthodox didn't realise Anglicans had women priests! We -- me and our sub-deacon who is leading the programme -- explained a bit about Anglicanism, and the differences in dioceses, high/low, worship practices, etc. That took a bit of time! ;-)
On the topic of the "Verbatim" [the term for the transcript], we considered what conclusions we could draw from it, what we thought was done well, what we thought wasn't done well or wasn't clear to us, and so on. It was very informative and very useful in terms of the issues raised. I was pleasantly surprised to hear that showing emotion from our side isn't necessarily bad: as a very emotional person I'd have great trouble hiding my feelings.
As well, we looked at handling issues that we don't feel we can yet cope with [e.g. someone wanting to talk about a murder they committed: apparently that may happen!], and how to either delay the revealing of more until we are ready or how to get a senior person involved. Talking about it as an example, I thought it would be fine and I could cope, but considering seriously a time when someone was to say that to me, I think I may need -- in the best case -- some time to consider how I would deal internally with such a revelation. It was interesting for me to hear that you can, and should, say, "No. Sorry. I can't handle this at the moment. Do you mind if I have a week to think upon it?" if you feel you are not ready. We can't allow our souls and minds to be overly affected by another person.
I was also struck by part of one of the prayers used to open the session. It comes from the Iona Community:
God of power, keep us silent
so that we may listen respectfully
to another person's pain
without trying to fade or fix it,
for you are present wih each of us.
We have a break next week due to church event, but I am eagerly awaiting Week III.