pastoral care in historical perspective - Bishopdale Theological ...

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The fOil' Pastoral Functions r~aveme nt as an ~\·~nt fre ighted wit h danger and considers bereaving an important occasion for a sustain ing ministry e\·en though it may elicit prominently the pastoral fun ction of reconciling. A s kill~d pastor or friend can often help the mourncr fact' his ambivalences toward the deceased, including his h os ti!i t ~ · and guilt. and thus reconcilation by confession and forgiveness rna }" be a sine qua non of successful grieving. Although the customary occasions fo r sus taining may evoke other pastoral functions, the fourfold task of sustain ing becomes o perati\'~ in any situation where the sense dominates that all of life is running downhill. I. Preservation . Usualh- the first task is presen-alion, or holding the line against other tIneats [5[[ EXIIlBlT 101. or further loss, or excessive retreat. In bcn:ilvement thCIC ma~· 3ppe:n an in:.hility on the part of th~ bereal-'ed to commence momning. Onc mal" be so numbed by his loss that his retreat borders on pathological denial. Some pastoral helpers ha\'e found various wars to induce grie\·ing so that retreat may be kept within normal limits. A dramatic example of sustaining by holding the lin~ is an in· cident recorded by a psychotherapist of his theupy with a deeply troubled girl. H ~ says that, after a period of well·being. the patient telephoned and seemed badly disturbed beca use med ica! tests had indicated a possible uterine carcinoma. He wrote : \Vhen she arrived for th c rap~ '. I 1I"3S shoded by her appearance. There were no extern~1 an%!et\· srffiptoms. but there was the p ~l1or of death, and her face and eyes irere those of a person making the b st fut ile. wild s trug~l e for life. Her body stcmcd frail and limp with defeat. Instead of gomg to ml ehail. I touched her head in a gesture of symp~thy , whereupon she· put her h e~d ~g~in s t m)· stomach and clung to me, rcleasing the sobs that Iud not been able to come. \VIlen she spoke, it W"llS of her fear and of this fin~1. terrible defeat after the long. uphill struggle. I spoke to hCI of faith and courage. of the fa ct th~t ~h e might not hal·e cancer. and of the fact that medical science was often able to deal suceessfullr with cancer. As I sat down. she mOl"ed to a position where she could clasp my hands and look d i re c l l~· into m~ · c~ ·e$. ..... $ I
The Four Postoral Functions I experienced went out 10 her, and then she relaxed and her eyelids flickered; and, as 1 w~lched her mOI'e ~nd spe~ k, I saw that she .... '3S not ps),chotie, and I fel t tha i I had held her from the abyss of internal isolation on the edge of which she w~\'e!ed. She mo,'ed back to her chail. stletched out in it, and spoke the peace she now felt . 1. too, felt a dccp sense of peace and unity. She said that fOI the first time, she was relaxed. TIlen, searching the limits of the safety she Iud found . slu: asked whether bith in Cod could keep her from hal'ing cancer. Fedmg tlut she needed realistic authority. I laId her I belie,'ed that Cod wOlks IhlOugh natural law; that, if she had cancer, ITe would not change that; but that He would be with her through the ordeal. if it c;l.me to that ,n In this ,'ery dramatic instance of preservation, a desperate girl has called for her psychotherapist to embolden her fl ickering faith with strength and resources that were his, not hers. His means of preservation were in the last anah-sis ineff:Jb1c, but in a turbulent moment the encounter has tapped h3l f·buried and dorm;Jnt sources of strength in both persons that would rcmain mute sa,'e in the fa ce of ultimate questionings and seehngs. A life that W3S plunging away flam fulfillment has found a stopping point. and total retreat has been checked. Through the ages pastors have found llIan~ ' means of helping prcser.'e distraught persons from destruction by an overwhelming sense of misery. These means-a touch, a glance. a word, a gesture-could nCI"Cr be enumerated or classified. but their usefulness remains apparent ne\'ertheless. Preservation is the first task of sustain ing. II. ConsolatiOI!. :\fter preservation, in whate,'er degree that it may be necessary and b~ ' whaleler means, then consolation is in order. Hopefully. a pastor will be as sensitive in the matter of timing for consolation as was 10hn Cllrysostolll in his letter to a }'oung widow [S EE EXIIIBIT 5); he tells her that he absta ined from IITil ing when her sorrow was at its height so that she could ha,'e her fill of momning-for only then could Ihe benefit from his consolations. Seen in historic pcrspeeti,·e. p3stor31 consolation serves to relieve one's sense of misery b ~ brillgillg the sufferer into an understanding of his still belonging to the company of hopeful Ii,-ing. Cyprian comforted Ihe a bout·to,be-ma rt ~ red Christians in T hlb;Jris with the message that Ihey were known b ~ ' C od and that they belonged in their struggles to the .. ints both on e~rt l l and in heal'en [S EE I:XIUBIT 4J. From long befole the Christian era come~ this classic Hebrew religious utterance of con IOlation in the Illid st of ineilictablc loss: 3TStanky \\'. SIJI".IJ t 31ld R.I"nond I Conn,; (cds.l , Critical Incidents in Psyd,ot/,erap), ( E"~\,,, (}\ .d elllh, ;\ I : Plcnt,edhH, Inc,. 19)9), p. 66. By pcnmsslull .
Page 1 and 2: By W ILLl A~1 A. CLEBSCH .nd CHARLE
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