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Internship
Newsletter: December 2006
For the Lay Committee: The Intern & Pastoral Care
by Herbert Anderson
(Lay Committees often find it difficult to measure the progress
interns are making in the various aspects of ministry. This month
Dr. Herbert Anderson of PLTS offers some insights into supporting
the interns as they learn to provide pastoral care.)
 The work of pastoral care is more an art than skills to be learned
or a science to master. To be sure, it is important to learn how to
listen carefully and how to reflect accurately with compassion what
the other person has said or felt. Pastoral care occurs through a
relationship marked with empathy, love, and respect. Empathy
combines imaginative listening with accurate responding in order to
communicate understanding to the one seeking care and thereby deepen
or create human community. Ask the intern to tell about a pastoral
care moment and then listen carefully for signs about their love of
stories – both human stories and the stories of God.
Self-understanding is a moral mandate for the work of pastoral care
in order that 1) we do not harm, 2) we might increase our capacity
to do good, and 3) we will not impede our ability to care because of
problematic characteristics or practices. Pastoral caregivers who
incarnate the love of God will need to set aside any personal
clutter that would prevent accurate hearing of the other.
Identification is one impediment to effective care because it tends
to overlook the other’s needs. Invite the intern to talk about some
situation in ministry in general or pastoral care in particular when
they were aware of needing to set aside their own concerns in order
to hear the other’s story clearly.
Several attitudes or dispositions of the soul are necessary in order
to fashion a relationship of trust and understanding that is at the
center of the art of pastoral care.
- Respect for the uniqueness of every person is a necessary
virtue for pastoral care so that one does not judge or categorize
or dismiss people or ideas prematurely. Nothing is more important
than respect for creating trust and communicating understanding.
Ask about feeling impatient or being eager to fix a problem or
wanting a conversation to end. What triggered that response?
- Respectful curiosity about the experiences of others is
essential to pastoral care. It comes easily for those who love
stories. People who value privacy highly or who are not very
curious about themselves are likely to find it difficult to be
curious about the other’s world. It can be very useful to invite a
conversation about the intern’s understanding of privacy that may
have originated in their families or their own life experience.
Are some stories more difficult than others to listen to or hear
about (i.e. grief or death or loss in general) and what is the
origin of that dis-ease?
- When we enter fully into the life and stories of an other, we
are likely to be changed ourselves. At minimum, our understanding
of what it means to be human is expanded or deepened by a
‘constructive, enlarging, engagement with an other’. Ask about
some pastoral conversation or a meeting in pastoral ministry in
general in which the intern was changed.
- Effective pastoral care depends on creating a hospitable space
for people to tell their stories or discover their gifts.
Hospitality is a sign of the graciousness of God who welcomes us,
always creating space for us to live out our story. No one likes
to think about herself as inhospitable. So you might ask them to
talk about an experience from their life of receiving hospitality
and being welcomed.
- We will be most effective in pastoral care when we approach
the other with wonder and a willingness to be surprised. “Wow” is
generally not a useful pastoral response but astonishment in the
presence of another makes it possible for us to revere the mystery
of God at work in human life. And with wonder comes humility in
the presence of the mystery of God or in the presence of someone
whose story we have just heard. The disposition of wonder will be
reflected in the way the intern delights in children or responds
to surprise or embodies humility in all pastoral interactions. You
might ask specifically about experiences in pastoral care that
have deepened their appreciation of the mystery of God and the
human story.
Health and TV at Messiah in Fargo, ND 
by Pastor Karin Moberg
(Part of a continuing series on the congregations welcoming
CLI interns this year.)
Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church
to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord.
And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well;
the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven.
James 5:14-15
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| The Health Ministry Team at Messiah, Fargo, includes,
from left to right: Health Minister Jan Nelson, Intern Eunice
Woodberry, and Senior Pastor Karin Moberg. |
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This was the part of the text for Sunday October 1, 2006, the
first Sunday that Intern Pastor Eunice Woodberry preached at
Messiah
Lutheran Church in Fargo, ND. It was also the first Sunday this fall
for healing prayer and anointing during morning worship.
Messiah takes this scripture seriously. The elders of the church
have provided many opportunities for the community to gather around
wellness through their healing ministries program. Messiah’s Health
Ministry operates more from the “wholeness” model then from a
strictly medical model. Messiah’s ministry has grown to include a
broad range of ministries and services beyond visitation and prayer.
The Health Advisory Committee focuses on service in three realms:
locally, nationally, and globally.
One unique aspect of the Health Ministry Program is the day long
HeartSprings Clinic. It is open every Tuesday from 8:00am - 8:00pm.
It’s mission is to be a center for health, hope and healing and is
open to the public. The healing ministries offered include: massage
therapy and reflexology, counseling, foot care, spiritual care,
imagery and healing touch, infant massage, food choice consultation,
a monthly healing service, and morning, afternoon, and evening
prayer. There are also self-care classes and education opportunities
provided each week. Some of these include: Exercise, Yoga, Tai Chi,
Stress Management, Therapeutic Art, Non-Violent Communication and
Developing your Inner Elder.
Inspired by the mission, our featured practitioners offer their
services at a reduced rate and then tithe to the ministry from their
earnings. Maybe the most nurturing aspect of the day is “A Little
Lunch” of homemade bread, soups, and desserts. This ministry
provides a low cost, healthy meal as the community of the day
gathers.
Another Ministry Unique to Messiah: The Hour of Worship
This February, the Hour of Worship (HOW) telecast originating from
Messiah, celebrates 40 years of continuous broadcasts of our
traditional Lutheran worship service to its audience of shut-ins,
hospital and nursing home patients, and many others who simply can’t
get to their regular service on any given Sunday.
 The traditional 9:00 service is taped each Sunday and then
broadcast at 11:00 on WDAY Channel 6 TV. Because the HOW extends the
worshipping community beyond the sanctuary or membership of Messiah,
this is a vital and important outreach ministry. Our mission is to
invite those worshipping with us to enter into a normal Sunday
morning worship experience. At the same time, those who join us
through the Hour of Worship are a continual reminder of our
connection and responsibility to the larger and sometimes invisible
church and community.
The viewers include people of all ages, circumstances, and
denominations. It has been enlightening to discover the number of
young adults who are flipping channels on Sunday morning and stop to
worship with us. When we are out in the community it isn’t unusual
to have someone note that they have worshipped with us, and
sometimes we will receive calls to make pastoral visits when someone
is hospitalized. This happens most often when their own pastor is
not close by or they are not connected to another faith community.
Two years after the first telecast, the Messiah foundation for
Christian Communication was formed to run the broadcast and keep it
separate form regular church matters. The Hour of Worship is now
funded entirely by donations from viewers.
Seminary students get used to being together as juniors and
middlers, and then all of a sudden it is internship time and people
spread out around the country and some feel cut off from their
friends, lonely and isolated. Some of our CLI interns this year have
overcome that separation by creating their own “blogs,” on-line
diaries and continuing conversations about their lives and
ministries. By sharing their blogs with their friends, they can be
connected and maintain that sense of community.
One of the blogging interns is Meta Herrick, serving at Sierra
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Sierra Vista, AZ. She says this about
the experience:
I decided to blog this year for several reasons.
- Members of my home congregation wanted to know what I was
up to.
- Family and friends were curious about how this experience
would shape my call and career.
- I don't like sending mass email updates about myself - if
people want to know, they can check my blog...this way I don't
clutter their email inbox.
- I'm not good at journaling, but blogging is interactive
journaling. Even if there are no comments posted on one of my
entries, people call me to talk about what I wrote or email me
privately to share their opinions.
- It's a great learning and reflecting tool this year.
At first I was really careful about confidentiality. I
haven't used my supervisor’s name and didn't put links to my home
and current congregations until a few weeks ago. I was really
careful about erasing comments from other people when they gave
out too much personal information about where I was, etc...But
recently I loosened up. I realized that my stories aren't
embarrassing or too personal about the people I've met here, I
only use their first names, etc. A few (tech-savvy) members of my
congregation tracked it down online and I told them to tell me if
I reveal too much or I represent them in an inappropriate way. So
far, so good. :) I'm the dork in all of my entries anyway!
I used to think internship was a year when seminarians
disappear and experience new things in secret...then they come
back senior year with mysterious wisdom. Now, thanks to the
internet, etc. interns are able to stay in touch and learn
together despite the distance from each other and St. Anthony
Park. I hope our blogs can help connect the church and seminary
community to interns around the country.
In addition to having their own individual blogs, several of the
interns have created a common blog where they share sermon ideas,
prayer requests, etc.
And electronically the community lives on!
A Good Word for Christmas Day Worship
by Steve McKinley
As odd as this sounds on the surface, some ELCA congregations do
not have worship on Christmas Day. To tell the truth, I served one
or two of those.
 Nobody skips Christmas Eve. It is one of the giant events of the
year. From the services beginning in mid-afternoon and usually
geared to families with amped-up children to the late night
Candlelight Service of Holy Communion with its crowded pews and
groggy worshippers and worshippers smelling of grog and the
inevitable tear-jerking rendition of “Silent Night”, Christmas Eve
is an event on a grand scale for every congregation. Whether the
congregation averages 50 at worship on the average Sunday and swells
to 100 on Christmas Eve or averages 1000 and swells the doors with
2000 on Christmas Eve, it’s a big time. The Music Department
prepares a spectacular. Pastors don’t have to be crass to be
conscious of the fact that the Christmas Eve offering can make or
break the budget for the year, and if a big snow comes on Christmas
Eve it’s bad news.
On the other hand, in most congregations Christmas Day worship
feels like an afterthought. Rare the congregation that has to set up
chairs in the aisle for Christmas Day. It’s usually a small crowd of
committed saints, often those who don’t have a lot of family and
will probably have a pretty quiet day on Christmas. They’re
scattered around the pews. Not a choir, but maybe a soloist or a
trio. Let’s be honest. For the intern or the supervisor who gave it
100% on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day is hard to get psyched up for.
Having given all of Christmas Eve to the church, there’s a part of a
person that would be happy to stay home on Christmas Day.
But over the years I grew to love the Christmas Day service
simply because it was so low key. On Christmas Eve I always felt
like the producer/director of a spectacular. I was always aware of
time and keeping the service on schedule; of crowded pews and the
possibility of running out of bulletins and making sure the icy
walks were sanded; of trying to come up with a sermon that would
knock their socks off; of Christmas Eve as a prime time to make
contact with church shoppers. It was fun in its way, but also tiring
and stressful.
But on Christmas Day, even though I had some responsibility for
leading the service, I always felt like I could relax and worship
myself. The pressure was off; it was simply time to celebrate in
peace and quiet, with my family and a more intimate congregation and
some treasured colleagues, and it was good. I could listen and drink
it in and rejoice.
For many interns, this is going to be a very different Christmas.
Some interns, accustomed to being at that one particular place with
that one particular family for Christmas, will be someplace else.
Others will find their schedule different from what they have had in
the past. It won’t be one service and home.
Two pieces of advice: First of all, rather than mourning what you
don’t have in your celebration this year, rejoice in the new
experiences you do have. Second, find a peaceful place in the heart
of it all where you can “prepare him room,” and join
in the song of heaven and nature!
Wherever you are this year, whoever you are with or not with,
have yourself a Merry Christmas, because even though you might not
be “at home,” Christ still comes!
Attention Supervisors: Sexual Harassment Policy
We want to remind all supervisors that the ELCA
requires all internship sites to have their policy regarding sexual
harassment on file with their seminary's contextual education
office. From December 1 through February 1, internship
supervisors will be updating and submitting their site applications
to the CLI. There will be a required field on the application into
which you will type (or copy and paste) the text of your congregation's policy.
If your congregation does not yet have a policy on sexual
harassment, you may
view this
sample statement, and are welcome to use this language as the
basis of your own statement.
Time flies! Those of you who started your internships in late
August or September are completing your first 3 months. One fourth
of your internships have already gone by! So, it’s time
to take the pulse on how it’s going at this early and important
point. What’s falling into place easily, and what needs focus and
attention for growth and learning? Lay Committees do not fill out
evaluations at this 3-month point, only supervisors and interns. So,
your CLI contact person is waiting to hear from you both!
Interns, remember that it is your responsibility to mail
printed copies of both evaluations to your candidacy committee.
Thanks!
A Fall Cluster Photo Album!
Participants in the Montana Cluster relaxed in the great outdoors
during their fall gathering at Chico Hot Springs. |
The Northern Minnesota Cluster gathered at Camp Knutson near
Brainard, MN.
|
 Buhla belongs to Intern Amy Eisenmann who is serving at First
Lutheran in Buhl, Minnesota! Buhla was a guest at the Northern
Minnesota Cluster Meeting. |
CLI Staff Meeting at PLTS
The CLI staff had a staff meeting on campus at PLTS just before
Thanksgiving. In the back are Sherwood Glover, Rod Maeker, Steve
McKinley, Kathryn Ostlie-Olson, Randy Nelson and Kate Sterner. In
front are Jean Larson, Katy Grindberg (student worker in the CLI-Berkeley
office), Alicia Vargas and Elba Selby.
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