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Love Goes Where It Is Needed

Mon, December 13, 2021 Published by

Yesterday I was reading a book by Evelyn Underhill. She was a nineteenth century poet, novelist, and a theologian. One bit of this book in particular stood out to me. She wrote this about love, that “Love is creative. It does not flow along the easy paths, spending itself in the attractive. It cuts new channels, goes where it is needed. Love goes where it is needed.” In the New Testament scriptures, we hear something else about love – that ‘God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them’. Paired together these two insights make a remarkable statement: That God is made known to us as love when we need it most.

So where do we need love most?

Well perhaps we need love most in the parts of us that are broken, or hurting, or afraid; the parts of us that we often don’t want to acknowledge ourselves, and sometimes struggle to share with God. But that is where God is. Exactly where we need Love to be,
– with us in our vulnerability, where and when we need God the most, cutting new channels into our hearts. Abiding with us. Staying with us always. Evelyn Underhill knew that love went where it was needed by the person of Jesus, and the first letter of John explains how she could know that; “God showed his love for us by sending his only Son into the world, so that we might have life through him. This is what love is: it is not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the means by which we are made whole. Dear friends, if this is how God loved us, then we should love one another” So let’s go and do that – let’s go and love as we know that God is loving us.

Friends of Plaza View

Sat, November 6, 2021 Published by

I recently had lunch with a great fellow, Charles Hobgood. It seemed as though we had known each other for years-and in full disclosure, I knew of him before I ever actually met him. “Hobs”, as he prefers to be known, came to the campus from Defiance, Ohio where he taught at Defiance College, a United Church of Christ College. He and Marabeth conducted most of their research about the campus from afar, taking video tours and attending webinars that we conducted over the course of the pandemic.

But little could I have known the heart of this true giver until we had an opportunity for a little “tea and toast”, and he shared with me a vision for being of service to our assisted living residents in Plaza View. So, with his vision, foresight and kindness, we are starting an organized program of serving residents called “Friends of Plaza View”. Hobs has penned some narrative that I believe says it quite well:

Even after all this time
The sun never says to the moon
“You owe me”
What happens with a love like that?
It lights the whole world

Hafiz – 13th century Persian mystic

Hafix’s main point is how important it is to make a contribution. This is verified by what the gerontology literature says today are the two most important aspects in aging well – namely having an influence on our daily lives and making a contribution in our world. The opportunity to participate in the Friends of Plaza View gives residents of the Beatitudes a chance to actualize both of these characteristics.

What does becoming a Friend of Plaza View ask? It asks that you do one of two things – either become a one-on-one friend with a resident of Plaza View or volunteer to help in the facility for an hour each week helping the staff do things like distribute the mail or pass out beverages, etc. What does become a “one on one friend” mean? It could mean many things such as just sitting in conversation, watching a TV show together, attending an event together of just taking them out into the sun.

I think on of the greatest definitions of love is: “love is the process of leading you back to yourself.” What is the process of leading you back to yourself? LISTENING!! Sometimes a person needs a story more than dinner. Oh, and one more extremely important point – this is a two-way street where we both learn from each other. The chance to sit under a canopy on the patio outside of Plaza View and chat with a hundred-year-old plus African American woman about the life she’s led in a segregated word is like a free graduate school education without tests and papers.

How do we get started? The short way is, if this speaks to you after you have read about the opportunity is to email me at [email protected] and I will get in touch!! (Please leave your email, phone and campus address and which of the two opportunities speaks to you.)

If you want more information, a staff member or I will be coming to the various building meetings to chat more and try to engage you in this project. It is important to know that this is a need well beyond our campus and nationally 56% of all Plaza View-like residents identify loneliness as a major issue.

Rod’s epilogue: So, along with Hobs, I am thrilled to be a part of an organized effort to be the community that cares – from within and with not only staff but residents involved. Thank you, sir for your generous spirit and heart that radiates the true mission of this campus! Great days ahead!

A Phoenician Easter

Sun, April 21, 2019 Published by

In our Easter celebrations, we find the truth of that victory in ourselves and the world around us, which sets an undying flame of faith within our hearts. May that flame burn brightly today and always. Alleluia.

Love Showed Up

Mon, August 21, 2017 Published by

How could I believe my eyes?  Men and women- many of them young adults -embroiled in violence – state troopers behind armor- pictures of swastika emblazed-confederate flags- wherever I turned on TV – internet -airwaves- the same scene bombarded me.  Is this the democracy, land of the free and home of the brave, where I grew up singing about our “sweet land of liberty”?

A kaleidoscope of emotions engulfed me: anger, agony, fear, aching for the victims.  I yearned to share my feelings.  On the internet, I read that many communities were already planning prayer vigils, most to be Sunday evening, August 12.  Late Saturday night I decided to email a few resident friends who hold concerns similar to mine about shifting values and priorities for our nation. I invited then to join me Sunday evening at 6:00 for a time of reflection and prayer. Sunday morning I notified our Spiritual Life staff about my intentions, and Chaplain Andrew Moore announced the vigil at our Campus Vesper Service. During that service Chaplain Andrew used this prayer, which speaks of our desire to overcome evil with love.

O God, you made us in your own image and redeemed us

through Jesus your Son: Look with compassion on the whole

human family; take away the arrogance and hatred which

infect our hearts; break down the walls that separate us;

unite us in bonds of love; and work through our struggle and

confusion to accomplish your purposes on earth; that, in

your good time, all nations and races may serve you in

harmony around your heavenly throne. Amen.

At 6:00PM on that Sunday evening, nine residents gathered to share reactions and seek guidance in responding thoughtfully to the terror in Charlottesville. Barbara Glenn read to us a message just received from Rev. Susan Frederick-Gray. She was the minister of the Unitarian-Universalist Congregation of Phoenix until her election in June as national president of this denomination. Here is a portion of that email entitled “Love Showed Up Today in Charlottesville.”

‘Today was a tragic day. We came to Charlottesville to bear peaceful witness but were met with hate and racist violence. My heart has been broken, and I am deeply troubled by what is happening in this community and cross this country. This morning faith leaders went to Emancipation  Park to block the entrance and prevent the Unite the Right rally from taking place. The message was clear – to stand with the community to say that hate has no place here.  The white nationalist protesters we faced chanted Nazi slogans between sexist and homophobic slurs. And they had automatic weapons, paramilitary uniforms, and clubs….They had their guns and shields.  We had our songs, our faith, our love. And we had each other.’

And here on this campus we have each other. Our reactions to changes in this nation will vary.  As we respond to the steady stream of “breaking news,”  may we seek to understand divergent views.  May our love for justice and peace leave no room for hate.

 

Guest Author this week is Rev. Dosia Carlson, Beatitudes Campus Resident
Liaison is Rev. Andrew Moore, Associate Chaplain of Spiritual Life

When God is Too Good

Sun, July 9, 2017 Published by

We are half way through our bible study on the Book of Jonah, which most know a bit about as the man who got swallowed by a whale for three days, but the rest of his story isn’t so well known.  Jonah is one of my favorites out of the minor prophets.  (Minor meaning it’s a small book with four chapters but it’s no less important than Isaiah with 66 chapters).  Jonah is a story that speaks of the meaning of grace and God’s purposes and our motivations.  Jonah is called to go to preach repentance to the Ninevites—the hated foreigners, the religiously incorrect, the racially impure, the decidedly unchosen.  And frankly, Jonah was angry about taking a message of hope and deliverance for them.  Frederick Buechner says that at the moment God called Jonah to go to Nineveh, the expression on Jonah’s face was that of a man who has just gotten a whiff of trouble in his septic tank.  “Anywhere, Lord, anywhere, but Nineveh!” Far from wanting the Ninevites to get saved, nothing would have pleased him more than to see them get what they deserved, what they had coming to them.  So Jonah decides to book it out of there and gets on a boat to go literally to the farthest reaches of the sea.  Fast forward, and a little meditation time in the belly of the fish provides the motivation for Jonah to reconsider.

Jonah still reluctantly goes and preaches his sermon of eight words, shortest sermon ever (we all love a good short sermon don’t we?!), “Yet, forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”  In the depths of his soul, Jonah believes that the Ninevites won’t change and he relishes the thought of their destruction, but he was surprised when the entire city repented from the king down to the lowest peasant and even the animals!  They promise to shape up and God decides to be gracious to them and bless them and Jonah is furious; he is seething.  He lets God have it: “You see God!  I knew all along you wouldn’t go through with it.  I knew you’d go soft, you’re too good—all gracious and merciful.  You think they’re really going to change?!  I’d rather die than live so take my life!”  History tells us the Assyrians (Ninevites) were brutal and violent.  Despite this, God sends them a word of redemption and grace through Jonah.  God counters their torturous behavior with grace and mercy.  How do we respond to acts of violence—with grace and mercy?  The lesson of the “wideness of God’s mercy” is a lesson most of us, most of the world, most of the church, has yet to learn.  We want God to be merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love when it comes to our own sins, but God don’t be too good to those others.  They deserve to get theirs!  God has an awesome sense of forgiveness.  There is more to God than we can or ever will understand.  To me there is great hope and promise in believing that.

A Beautiful Tapestry

Mon, January 23, 2017 Published by

With the Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday still fresh in our hearts and minds, I am reminded of one of the greatest reasons I love being a member of Beatitudes Campus.  We are a beautiful tapestry of all different types of people.  All unique and unrepeatable in our own ways.  Much like our country, we have woven together the best of the best from all sorts of backgrounds, heritages, races, religions, countries, sexual orientations, physical abilities, educational backgrounds and ages.

Did you know we have Beatitudians from a multitude of countries?  Even more from faith affiliations other than Christian.  Racially, we are the living metaphor of a perfectly woven tapestry with nearly 60% of us identifying as other than Caucasian.  We are Democrats, Republicans, Independents and no political affiliations.  We are male and female and some who identify with neither.  We are young, old and older.  We are straight, gay, bi-sexual and transgender.  We are single, married, divorced and widowed.  We have children with two parents at home, single parents, married without children, grandparents raising grandkids and some of us are happily single forever. We are educated with advanced degrees and some with high school educations only.  We speak English, German, Spanish, Chinese, Hungarian, French, Romanian and some languages you have yet to hear.  We are financially wealthy, middle class, and some of us are just struggling to make ends meet.

Some of us remember every minute of our life and will tell you about it, and some of us have watched those memories slip away, but we can still feel them inside of us even if we cannot tell you about them now. We walk unassisted, with canes, with walkers and use mobile chairs to get to where we want to go.  Not a person in this community is valued anymore or any less for who we are.  It does not matter where we live on campus, which department we work in, whether we are staff, resident or administration, we are all equal.

What makes it even more beautiful is that we continue to weave more diversity into our tapestry whenever the opportunity is available to us.  We yearn for new threads to be incorporated into our growing cloth.  We know our diversity is one of our greatest strengths as a community.   As a Campus, we come from a faith heritage that sees every child of God as that unique, beautiful, unrepeatable and loved beyond love creation.  How can we not see our coming together as a community as anything less than the most beautiful as all of the different threads of our histories and heritages come together?

So want to see something beautiful?  Just look around you and see all of the amazing people who make up Beatitudes Campus.  And they see you as beautiful as well.  It doesn’t get more beautiful than this.

Set Intentions, Not Resolutions

Tue, January 10, 2017 Published by

One of the last minute gifts I gave to our daughter Maddie this year is a bracelet with one word on it.  I was attracted to this website the week before Christmas because Chris Pan, founder of MyIntent.org, is asking the world “What’s Your WORD?”  His mission is to be a catalyst for meaningful conversations and positive energy. Your WORD is something you want to have more of in your life or a challenge you want to overcome.  He says: “We believe there is purpose inside each of us and we want our efforts to encourage people to share more truth and inspiration with each other.  We are not a jewelry company – we are an intentions project. When you choose your word it is hand-stamped into a wearable bracelet or necklace as a daily reminder and conversation starter. Ok, I know this could easily be a gimmick, but the thing is I asked Maddie “What’s your WORD? and she said, “THRIVE.”  I asked “Why thrive?” and she said that she wants to thrive and not just survive.  That was a catalyst for a conversation and information about my daughter that I wouldn’t have known otherwise.  The WORD that I chose is “JOY” because it is meaningful in my life and my faith and has deep connections to my father who died years ago.  I asked my husband what his WORD was and he said he didn’t want a bracelet.  Ok, it’s not for everyone.  I am inspired to think of my WORD as my intention, not my resolution, as I go into this New Year.  One of the makers of the My Intent project posted this:  “Guess what, you are perfectly imperfect just the way you are and there is nothing “wrong” with you, nothing that needs fixing…what you can do is love yourself a little more a little deeper.  Surround yourself with people who inspire you and push yourself to be an expanded version of who you already are.  Do things that set your soul on fire and fill your heart with love.  Expand your mind, experience new things, connect on a deeper level with those around you.  So instead of creating a “resolution” or asking yourself what needs “fixing”….set an intention for what you are CREATING in the world and who you are committed to BEING.  Find what makes your light shine and do more of that. Shine brighter in the new year.”  May it be so.  What’s your WORD?

Christmas Traditions

Mon, December 19, 2016 Published by

The holidays; it’s that time of the year that some love and others really struggle with. For me it is a combination of the two. It is a reflective time of year for me as my mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer on December 15th of 1993 when I was 20 years old. Christmas was my mother’s favorite holiday and she always made it wonderful for us kids. That year leading up to Christmas, as you can imagine, was tough. Many of our traditions went by the wayside that year as she was so ill.

One tradition that stopped that year for my brother and I, because that was our last Christmas with her as she died in early January of 1994, was the tradition of picking out a “special” ornament each year that had our name and the year on it.  The ornament often reflected something we liked or were interested in that year.  For instance in 1986, my brother Michael got a red truck ornament, as that was the year he received his driver’s license and a red Ford truck.  My mom started this tradition because she always said that when we moved out she wanted us to have ornaments for our own tree.  Michael and I enjoyed each year when we would decorate the Christmas tree with our parents. It was always fun to unwrap each ornament and then discuss why we had chosen that ornament as our “special” ornament that year.  There usually were lots of laughs because, in retrospect, some of the reasons were very silly.  After my mother’s death, every year when I would put a tree up, I would have moments of tears and smiles as I placed my ornaments on the tree.  I remember thinking that I couldn’t wait to start a family and begin that tradition with them.

The Christmas of 2002, my husband Jeff and I were able to begin the tradition of the “special” ornament for our daughter, Lauren. Her first ornament, just like my very first ornament, was a brass angel with her name engraved on it. Lauren is now 14 years old and our son Luke is 10 years old and they both enjoy picking out their “special” ornaments, unwrapping them and placing them on the tree each year. This year we had custom ornaments made for each of them.  The front of Lauren’s has a picture of her kicking a soccer ball, along with her name, the year and the name of the 2 soccer teams she is on. The back of the ornament has a picture of her and her team celebrating after a win.  Luke’s ornament has a picture of him with his race truck on the front along with his name, 2016 and that he was the AZ and CA Champ. He also chose a picture of his race truck for the back of the ornament. I love helping the kids pick out their ornaments each year as it is a really neat way to remember what was important to them that year.

About 5 years ago, I began buying a personalized family ornament so that our tree won’t be completely bare when the kids’ ornaments are no longer hanging on to our tree because they have moved out and are hanging on their very own. They both have told me that they love that I have begun doing that and they will carry on the new tradition of a family ornament with their families in the future. It is interesting how something can turn into a tradition.  I hope you still celebrate the holidays with some traditions you grew up with or can think fondly of some traditions that you started. Happy Holidays!

Congratulations – Chris and Krystal Sophiea

Fri, November 25, 2016 Published by

15171266_1427202927304954_2627653340684608930_nChris Sophiea (Security) and Krystal Dickinson (Life Enrichment) got married on November 20th! The blushing bride and groom had an amazing ceremony with their loving family and friends around them. Chris and Krystal met here at the campus and began dating soon after that. It truly has been a magical journey for them both and now they get to look forward to the happily ever after. We are so happy for them and can not wait to see their love grow even more for the years to come.

 

P.S. Do you have a personal milestone (weddings, babies, graduations, etc.) to share with us? We want to know about it! Please send a brief description and a photo/video to Kevin Morrison, HR Coordinator, at [email protected] or contact him at 602-995-6118.

One and the Same

Fri, June 17, 2016 Published by

images (3)I can’t get it out of my mind. It haunts me. It is likely not one of us here at Beatitudes Campus, either resident or staff, has not been affected by the events in Orlando last weekend. One wishes that such brutality and terror were only in the movies. But not even a movie can portray the horror of what we all witnessed. It is impossible to comprehend what the victims and witnesses were facing as the sick and demented soul made his way through the nightclub shooting and killing unceasingly.

The horrible irony is that the people who gathered in that club on that night, like millions of other lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people did in their own communities, did so because it was there that they felt safe, secure, accepted and uniquely free to be just as they are – unlike almost any other gathering area in the United States. It is at such clubs, for the moments they are open, that a genuine sense of community exists for those who have no other community, even if they live and sleep in their various neighborhoods and cities.

For everywhere else there is fear of judgment, condemnation, retribution, and physical, psychological and mental abuse by the public around them. On that night they were to be safe and away from the potential harm they have to endure on a daily basis that is inflicted upon them by faith communities, politicians, television pundits and, too often, neighbors and family. What shakes the gay community to the ground is the fear that there are no safe places any more.

When I think of community, I think of my community—Beatitudes Campus. Since coming here, I have had only one agenda: help create a community where all are received and accepted just as they are, and valued as unique and unrepeatable creations. I believe that to be the one and only goal of true community. In our society, elders are often relegated to the sidelines in condescending ways, but not here. We respect each other, value each other, and care for each other as equals. We may have different colors of our skin, opposing political viewpoints, competing faith traditions, innumerable levels of physical and mental abilities, various sexual orientations and gender identity concepts. But those do not matter in this community, other than they are beautiful characteristics of our whole community.

The reality is that the Beatitudes Community has the opportunity to show the rest of the world what it is to live, not just tolerating each other, but truly accepting and embracing one another. I believe what we are creating in our community will be a model for the larger community around us to discover and learn about living in peace and harmony with one other in a world that clearly does not understand how it is to be done.

It is a fact that one of the most frightening possibilities for senior gay people today is having to move into a community like ours. The fear of rejection, discrimination and having to go back into “the closet” just to survive is beyond too painful a possibility to have to consider. I am grateful that we proclaim our acceptance of all people proudly and deliberately to the LGBT community, as also evidenced in Our Promise. We know we are all one and the same.

Perhaps, more than ever, it is important for us to try to understand and learn more about each other here and those who might be coming to our Campus in the future. Study other religions, learn about other cultures, listen to a neighbor who is now dependent upon assistive devices to move around, befriend a person of a different sexual orientation or gender identity and look at the world through their eyes. Dare to do this and see how your life might be changed for the better, and watch how our community will grow stronger with a love and acceptance that I believe there is not a one of us here who doesn’t yearn for that deep inside. When you hear or witness discussions or actions that are denigrating or exclusionary of others, find the courage to stop them, because it is only destroying a community that I believe is meant to be a model for all others.

11981096-largeSome may know and some may not, but I am gay and proud of who I am after decades of trying to deny who I am. Some may say I am biased as I write this. I will always believe I am just working to help create a community that aspires to the dream of God for all peoples as I long to be part of a community who will accept me, and people like me and all others. For I, too, crave to be able to walk in a community where I won’t feel people looking at me and talking about me when I am with my partner. I am tired of the shouts coming from a passing car calling me a “fag” and worse. I hunger for a time when I, or my friends like me, don’t have to always have it in the back of our minds, “are we safe here?” like we have to today. I want to know there will be a safe community for me when the day comes that I want to live in a Beatitudes Campus type of community.

So I ask my community to please commit to making our community safe and loving for everyone. Let’s work together to make this the model that it so easily can be. Your grandchildren and great grandchildren, nephews and nieces will remember you as trailblazers for teaching this world how to be a better world and showing them what true community is all about. For we are all one and the same. *

Respectfully,

Rev. David W. Ragan

 

Our Promise

Beatitudes Campus is a not-for-profit ministry of Church of the Beatitudes, a United Church of Christ congregation. Our heritage of Christian hospitality calls us to welcome all people. This includes outreach to Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist and other faiths, as well as those with no connection to a faith community. We value the diversity of all – regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, national origin, disability, marital status, or sexual orientation. Core values of compassion, respect, accountability and excellence drive every aspect of our community, and are what have made Beatitudes Campus a strong and respected leader in retirement living for 50 years.

Great Romances and Great Love

Wed, February 10, 2016 Published by

He first saw her in Sunday school when he was six years old and she was just five. “She had golden curls and beautiful blue eyes,” he recalled. They graduated from high school together in 1901, but went their separate ways — he moved to Kansas City and she to Colorado for a year — until becoming reacquainted nine years later. It was then that Truman, who once wrote of Bess, “I thought she was the most beautiful and the sweetest person on earth,” began his first and longest campaign — to win the heart of Bess Wallace.

On January 10, 1845, Robert Browning wrote to Elizabeth Barrett for the first time, after reading her volume of poetry, Poems. He was a little-known thirty-two-year-old poet and playwright, she was an internationally renowned poet, an invalid, and a thirty-nine-year-old spinster. “I love your verses with all my heart, dear Miss Barrett — I do, as I say, love these verses with all my heart,” the letter said. Over the course of the next twenty months, they would write each other close to six hundred letters — one of the greatest literary correspondences of all time. The pair’s last letter was exchanged on September 18, 1846, the night before the two left for a trip to Italy, and two weeks after their secret marriage. Their romance, which she would eventually credit with saving her life, lasted for fifteen years and spawned some of the world’s most beautiful poetry.

The world has seen many great romances and as we look to another Valentine’s Day this week we celebrate all the things that bring us together in loving relationships. I would contend, however, that it is even more important to celebrate those things that keep us together year after year, for 50, 60, 70 plus years. St. Paul spoke of loving another patiently, attentively, unconditionally—moment by moment, day by day. Love encourages, it builds up, it comes alongside and affirms the other. Love is much more than the chemistry of our feelings at any given moment–sometimes love is taking out the garbage and working that second job to pay the bills. Dostoevsky said, “Love in action is a harsh and dreadful thing compared with love in dreams. Love in dreams is greedy for immediate action, rapidly performed and in sight of all…But active love is labour and fortitude.” Let us celebrate the many couples on our campus who have lived out that active love of labour and fortitude together for many decades. Let us celebrate love in all of its marvelous manifestations! Roses and chocolates, candy hearts and valentine’s cards are important but let us celebrate labour and fortitude, patience and forbearance, forgiveness and compassion, trust and hope, and all the things which make up the stout fabric of which a lasting love is made. *