centralsquarecareteam

Who Cares?

Having served in many different roles and capacities at our beloved church, I know that we have always struggled to be “in touch” with the all of our congregation. The responsibility is ours, all of us, to minister to each other, to support each other. That is no easy task. For some of us, it is easy to pick up the phone and call a fellow parishioner. For others, it is far out of their comfort zone. For me, it’s a little of both.

But today, we have options. Options to stay connected:

A visit, in person
A phone call with live conversation
An email that checks in but allows you the freedom to write 24/7
A letter or card sent via USPS
A text message

Regardless of the way we make contact with each other, making that contact is what matters. Especially now, in this COVID-19 state of the union. We have not been together for worship or fellowship for close to six months.

Who Really Cares?

I know that many of us care for one another but there still exists a disconnect. Will you be inspired to connect with a small group of people? Can you spare as little as 15 minutes to connect with another in our congregation?

Forward through the ages,
In unbroken line,
Move the faithful spirits
At the call divine.

The Job Description

Groups of 6 – 8 church households, includes individuals and families, will be formulated at random and a ringleader will be chosen. Each ringleader will initiate the first contact and will receive the last contact, thus completing the ring or circle of care. A call and response between two parties is the key to success.

This is a working model and will be modified along the way as to what works and what doesn’t. You can opt out if you want but I hope you will opt in with heart and soul.

This model has potential to grow and become a fellowship time for small groups within the church. Gail Wershing and I thought some of this through together talking about phone tree, Dine with 9, and Mustard Seed Prayer chain characteristics.

Maybe spouses or significant others want to be in different groups.

If you are especially excited about this project and want to help set it up and/or be a ringleader, please email myself, or Gail Wershing. Otherwise, expect to receive notification of your ringleader and also who is in your circle of care.

The First Goal is to be CONNECTED!

Carol & Gail
Carol Chaffee • Gail Wershing

To send a message to Carol or Gail, contact the church office at office@csccucc.com

I have been watching the Netflix series “When Calls the Heart”. It is a 6 season show and I have just started the last season. I don’t binge watch but I can see why some people do. It does leave you hanging and the next episode just rolls in unless you exit the show, but in a split second you are hooked. It is a Canadian American Drama and stage coaches are giving way to the automobile. I love it because it sends me to bed with a good God feeling. You may describe it as “sappy” but to me it is a refreshing look at small town folk that rely on the community to work together for the better of the town. It mentions prayer and God a great deal and often refrains to “God’s plan or God is in control”. Nothing wrong with those words to reinforce your daily life, or help you get out of bed in the morning.

There are many among who are hurting, struggling and just trying to get through another day,another hour, another minute. We can pray to our God for those we love and those who need our love.

PS I believe there is a Season 8 of the show, but some of the cast have changed.

Prayerfully and lovingly,
Carol Chaffee

"Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way."
—Victor Frankl

How is everyone coping? I am sure the spectrum of comfort is broad, even as some of us venture out of our "safer at home" mentality. And, we should respect that of each other. Not everyone is going to be able to or even want to go to a restaurant, or grocery store, or visit with a friend, even in an outdoor setting. We have had to change the way we approach each day, for over 100 days. Who would have thought! Be strong, supportive, and loving of each other, but also know that you can ask for help if you need to. You don't always have to be the giver, as it is okay to be on the receiving end.

Carol

Carol Chaffee
CSCC Care Team Member

Viktor Emil Frankl was an Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist, and a Holocaust survivor, of Theresienstadt, Auschwitz, Kaufering and Türkheim.

Being a hospice volunteer for several years, visiting clients and singing to clients, has opened many doors of opportunities to me for learning. As a volunteer we are required to take educational training courses that focus on safety, compassion, care and many other areas that enhance the relationships that we foster.

Because of the pandemic, I have been unable to carry out this ministry in person. For those clients that I visit, I have been sending notes of cheer. And keeping in touch with the hospice volunteer coordinator to get updates on their well being.

The singing group continues to rehearse via Zoom in hopes that eventually we will be able to sing at bedside for those that might be near their final hours.

I wanted to share a couple of thoughts from video presentations that I watched this past week.

One of the social workers on staff did a presentation on the analogy of this pandemic and the stages of grief. Since Elizabeth Kubler Ross first came forth with the 5 stages of grief, there have been many derivations but pretty much the same principles.

"The five stages — denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance — are a part of the framework that makes up our learning to live with the one we lost. They are tools to help us frame and identify what we may be feeling. But they are not stops on some linear timeline in grief."

The point that the social worker was making is that we are all experiencing grief during this pandemic and no one's path is the same. It is not a loved one that we have lost, though some of us have, it is a loss of our life as we know it. It is healthy to experience these stages and one can bounce from one stage to another and then back again.

The other video presentation I watched was about short term memory loss. It is called by many names. The presenter was Diana Waugh and her approach to patients with short term memory loss was birthed through her own experience and relationship with her mom. Diana's main point in conversing and caring for people with short term memory loss is to come to terms with the fact that they are not going to remember what they had for lunch or what someone said to them two minutes ago, but they would love to tell you about the dog that they had growing up. So start a conversation with a story about a familiar town, an animal that you just met, a restaurant where the fried clams were great and you could hear the seagulls and waves crashing against the shore. Those stories may jog a memory and then be the conversation starter that you have been looking for.

Blessings,

Carol

Carol Chaffee
Care Team Member

THE GOOD AND THE MAYBE NOT SO GOOD!

But that’s okay… because we care!

First, we’ll accentuate the positive! Hey, that’s sounds like a song — think Bing Crosby and the Andrew Sisters singing “Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate The Positive”.

The CSCC Care Team wants to know one personal positive for you that has come to light during this “stay at home” COVID-19 outbreak. We bet you may have trouble choosing just one.

On a personal level, what’s positive?

Have you grown in your faith? Do you see your children’s faith evolving? Are you turning into the Christian that you always hoped you would be? Do you notice more sounds of nature around you?

There’s a lot of good happening out there somewhere! Hey, that sounds like a song too — think “Somewhere Out There” with Linda Ronstadt and James Ingram.

We know there is a lot of good happening out in the world, amongst a great deal of emotions! So, let’s share how we are coping, how we are loving, how we are feeling!

But maybe some of us need to share what’s not so good during this quarantine. What are our daily struggles? It might feel good to put some feelings in print. It might be refreshing. It may take a layer of doubt or sadness away.

The CSCC Care Team cares about you and we are here for you. Many of us have talked and/or written to many of you. Communication is the foundation of showing love to one another and we rejoice in who you are and we pray for your courage, strength, health, judgment, patience and overall well-being.

We invite you to send your musings to: centralsquarecareteam@gmail.com

When peace like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll
Whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Amen!
God Bless!