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Theological Reflection Spiritual Care Partners

Theological Reflection Spiritual Care Partners. The Summer Day Mary Oliver. Who made the world? Who made the swan, and the black bear? Who made the grasshopper? This grasshopper, I mean… The one who has flung herself out of the grass, The one who is eating sugar out of my hand,.

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Theological Reflection Spiritual Care Partners

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  1. Theological Reflection Spiritual Care Partners

  2. The Summer DayMary Oliver Who made the world? Who made the swan, and the black bear? Who made the grasshopper? This grasshopper, I mean… The one who has flung herself out of the grass, The one who is eating sugar out of my hand, Who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down, Who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes. Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face. Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.

  3. I don’t know exactly what a prayer is. I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down Into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass, How to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields, Which is what I have been doing all day. Tell me, what else should I have done? Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon? Tell me, what is it you plan to do With your one wild and precious life?

  4. What is theological reflection? • What we do everyday • What we should be doing if we pay attention to experience • What happens at the intersection of faith and action • What faith in living and living in faith produce • What Jesus did in the Gospels, especially in telling parables • It is, “fides quaerensintellectum.” (“faith seeking understanding,” Anselm of Canterbury)

  5. One Definition of Theological Reflection “Theological reflection is the attempt to see and interpret ours and others' experiences (e.g. illness, death, injustice, physical limitations, etc.) in light of the mysteries of the Gospel. It provides a way to "draw nearer" to see into what is there, to "remove one's shoes," before such profound reality in order to behold the fullness of meaning available and to attempt to articulate that explicitly. Theological reflection provides the (formal or informal) context for a believer to notice and articulate the underlying assumptions which grounds one's faith, hope and love.” Eileen Flanagan, a Quaker author and teacher, The Wisdom to Know the Difference: When to Make a Change and When to Let Go.

  6. An Exercise:When Things Don’t Make Sense • Have someone read aloud the Parable of the Good Samaritan on the next two slides. • Hear as if you are hearing it for the very firsttime. • Imagine you are one of the characters and hear that person’s voice.

  7. Luke 10:25-37 (NRSV) 25Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 He said to him, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?” 27 He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” 28 And he said to him, “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.”

  8. 29But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30 Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan while traveling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.’ 36 Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” 37 He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

  9. DiscussionChoose any 3 questions and discuss in groups of 2 or 3: What did you hear? What did you feel? Where was God in this? Where has your faith been challenged? What was the meaning or purpose of this event? Whose voice did you hear? What are the theological themes you heard? So what? What is different?

  10. Why do we do theological reflection? • To make sense of human experience • To make sense of God’s presence in the world • To make sense of things like Pain, Suffering, Forgiveness, Grace, Eternity • To bring Head and Heart together so that we can move our Feet • It is the only way to grow in faith and not fall out of faith.

  11. Tasks of Theological ReflectionTheological Reflection: Methods, Elaine Graham, 2005 • Induction and Nurture of Members – What does it mean to be a Christian? Who am I as a Christian believer? • Building and Sustaining the Community of Faith – What does it mean to be the body of Christ in this time and place? How are we to live faithfully and authentically? • Communicating the Faith to a Wider Culture – How is God to be apprehended and proclaimed? What does it mean to preach “Good News”? In what ways are Christians called to be signs of God’s activity in the world?

  12. Origin in Practical Theology • Top-down Theology as in Systematic Theology VS Bottom-up Theology as in Practical Theology • It is a matter of “Seelsorge” (the care of souls) – Friedrich Schleiermacher • “Practical theology is not practice but a reflective theory of practice.” (Friedrich Schleiermacher qtd. in Duke and Stone, 1988) • Looking carefully at the human story as well as the presence of God in human life (Anderson, 2001).

  13. Praxis Orientation

  14. Ingredients of Theological Reflection • Concrete Human Experience • Response from People of Faith • Context, Culture • One’s Social Location • Sources — Scripture, Tradition, Faith, Community • Social Science as a Conversational Partner • One’s Theological Commitments

  15. 3 Modes of Theological Reflection

  16. Overview of Theological Reflection

  17. The Story of a Sign Video Clip (right click, open hyperlink) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jEGC8Na-Yg To play the video, right click on the link and click “Open Hyperlink” or copy and paste the link into your web browser.

  18. Group Discussion • Form a small group • Choose a reporter and a scribe • Take turns talking about the following (15 minutes): • The experience of watching the clip (reactions, responses) • The meaning of the message (meanings, interpretations)What does it say about the human? (Human brokenness, hope, etc.) • The implications for meWhat does it say about creation?What does it say about God?What do I do?

  19. Sources Anderson, Herbert (2001). Whatever Happened to Seelsorge? Word and World, XXI(1), 32-41. Flanagan, Eileen. The Wisdom to Know the Difference: When to Make a Change and When to Let Go. New York: Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 2009. Graham, Elaine, Heather Walton and Frances Ward. Theological Reflection: Methods. London: SCM Press, 2005. Holy Bible, New Revised Standard Version Schleiermacher, Friedrich. Christian Caring: Selections from Practical Theology. Eds. James O. Duke and Howard H. Stone. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1988.

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