Table Of ContentHOW THEN SHALL WE SUFFER? LIBERATING GOD TO TRANSFORM OUR
PASTORAL CARE
LIBERATING GOD TO TRANSFORM OUR PASTORAL CARE
By
Beth Faulk Glover
A DEMONSTRATION PROJECT
Submitted to
New York Theological Seminary
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of
DOCTOR OF MINISTRY
New York, New York
2007
ABSTRACT
This Doctor of Ministry demonstration project explores the connection between
ACPE students’ abilities to deal with their own suffering and their ability to be pastorally
present to their patients’ sufferings. My basic premise is that there is a strong correlation
between these two abilities. Part of the work necessary in CPE is to help students find
ways to access and deal with their “operational” theologies—the unconscious beliefs,
images, and ideas that shape their sense of self, world, and God. These operational
theologies are often caused by unresolved suffering. For this research study I refined a
curriculum tool called the spiritual autobiography of suffering exercise. This tool enables
students to explore their experiences of suffering from a spiritual perspective and to
understand the impact of those experiences upon their spiritual development and
operational theology. The research, conducted with two extended unit ACPE groups,
demonstrated that after completing the exercise, students’ abilities to employ reflective
and empathic listening skills increased.
This demonstration project advocates for the inclusion of spiritual history and
development in the way ACPE interprets the outcomes and objectives of its curriculum in
order to help students develop healthy, congruent pastoral identities. Within this
demonstration project, I explore the theological and biblical foundations for developing a
new hermeneutic of “liberating God” from the negative, abusive, judgmental images that
so often are at the root of soul wounds. This liberation of God goes hand in hand with
theliberation of one’s self. This is facilitated by reframing the question of “why do we
suffer?” to “how shall we suffer?” Asking how we shall suffer recognizes that suffering
is a reality that we cannot change or avoid, and that when it does happen our only choice
is to decide how we shall suffer. Choosing to deal with suffering--to go through the pain,
fear, and other negative emotions--and to develop a conscious relationship with those
feelings and experiences rather than trying to ignore their impact, allows us to be
transformed by God’s love. This transformation allows us to begin to create meaning out
of the suffering so that it can become a source of compassion and a resource for pastoral
care.
Copyright © 2007 by Beth Faulk Glover
All rights reserved
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To my partner, Katherine Marie O’Brien,
whose love is like the wind in my sails, taking me to new and
wonderful places. She has believed in me and helped me to find
myself and the presence of God in my ohana. I am grateful beyond
measure and blessed beyond words for all her support, love,
confidence and help. Thank you Katie.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I want to first and foremost acknowledge Dr. Katherine Kurs, who originally
developed the spiritual autobiography exercises that inspired me to do this particular
project. Her guidance and pastoring of me has changed my life. Thank you, Katherine,
for hanging out with me at the outpost and helping me find my way home.
I also want to thank the Rev. Dr. Martha Jacobs, mentor extraordinaire and friend,
for shepherding me through this process and making what seemed impossible possible. I
am deeply grateful to the members of my site-team who were so wonderful and generous,
the Rev. Meigs Ross, the Rev. Betsy Roadman, the Rev. Dr. John Bucchino, and the Rev.
Barbara Crafton. Thanks to Christ Hospital for their financial support and willingness to
allow me the time to pursue these studies. Thanks also to all the NYTS professors,
especially to the Rev. Dr. Joan Hemenway, of blessed memory, who passed on her
knowledge and love of ACPE in her teaching. Thank you to my peers in the D.Min.
program for all your help. Many thanks to my mother, Barbara Glover, who has
encouraged me and believed in me, and to my dad, Bobby Lee Glover, of blessed
memory, who still inspires me. I humbly thank all of my CPE students, especially those
who participated in this research project. Through them I have experienced the presence
of God in unimaginable ways and I continue to be awed that they allow me to journey
with them. I am especially grateful to my students in the Level II group, Deacon Raul
Pamplona, Chaplain Leslie Kirzner, Chaplain Sue Eberhardt and the Rev. Deacon Paul
Fitzpatrick—you encouraged me and showed me how powerful this experience could be.
Finally, and most of all, thank you God, for everything.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................................................1
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION TO THE SETTING ......................................................11
CHAPTER II SPIRITUAL LIFE & PRACTICE .............................................................15
CHAPTER III OUR HISTORY, OUR STANDARDS & OUR PRACTICE ..................21
CHAPTER IV THE NECESSITY FOR THE CONTINUING EXPANSION OF
THEOLOGICAL REVOLUTION IN OUR PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL
PRACTICE IN ACPE ..................................................................................................31
CHAPTER V LOOK UPON IT AND LIVE: A HERMENEUTIC OF LIBERATING
GOD TO TRANSFORM OUR SUFFERING .............................................................50
CHAPTER VI EDUCATION FOR LIBERATION .........................................................65
CHAPTER VII COMPARABLE MINISTRIES ..............................................................77
CHAPTER VIII RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ..........................................................82
CHAPTER IX RESEARCH RESULTS .........................................................................100
CHAPTER X IMPLEMENTATION OF GOALS, STRATEGIES & OBJECTIVES ..107
CHAPTER XI IMPLICATIONS FOR MINISTRY .......................................................112
CHAPTER XII TRANSFORMATION ..........................................................................120
BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................128
APPENDIX A VERBATIM CODES .............................................................................130
APPENDIX B THE SITE TEAM PROCESS & MINISTERIAL COMPETENCIES ..153
APPENDIX C SPIRITUAL AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SUFFERING ...........................158
APPENDIX D STUDENT SPIRITUAL AUTOBIOGRAPHIES OF SUFFERING .....162
APPENDIX E ACPE STANDARDS 309 – 312 ............................................................173
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APPENDIX F VERBATIM FORMAT ..........................................................................179
APPENDIX G SPIRITUAL AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SUFFERING INSTRUCTIONS183
APPENDIX H CONSENT FORM .................................................................................185
APPENDIX I RESPONSES FROM STUDENTS IN PILOT STUDY..........................187
APPENDIX J DEMONSTRATION PROJECT DEFENSE PRESENTATION ...........193
APPENDIX K REFLECTIONS IN RESPONSE TO THE DEMONSTRATION
PROJECT DEFENSE ................................................................................................209
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INTRODUCTION
Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to beings that by nature
are not gods. Now, however, that you have come to know God, or rather to be
known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and beggarly elemental
spirits? How can you want to be enslaved to them again? (Galatians 4:8-9)1
Paul wrote these words in his letter to the Christian converts in the churches in
Galatia at a time when they were being “turned” to another form of Christianity preached
and taught by missionaries who believed that Christians should continue to uphold the
laws of Judaism. The Galatians were former pagan Gentiles who had a history of serving
other gods. Paul makes an impassioned plea to the Galatians to hold onto the freedom
and liberation that they have found in knowing and being known by God, and to refrain
from elevating anything—including religious rules—as gods for them, lest they become
enslaved again. Though Paul argues against following Jewish law, he does not advocate
against Judaism. This is a dispute between different forms of Christianity. “From start to
finish, Paul proclaims that God has acted to set the world right and to rescue us from
slavery to human religious programs.”2
When Paul speaks of the “weak and beggarly elemental spirits,” he is possibly
speaking of three different things: the basic foundations of other religious systems, the
1 All Bible quotes will be taken from The Holy Bible, New Revised Standard Version ed.
(Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, Inc, 1989).
2 The New Interpreter's Bible Commentary [CD-ROM] (Abingdon Press, Nashville, Tennessee,
2002).
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natural elements which many pagans had raised up to worship, and/or other cosmic spirits
or powers of darkness associated with the natural elements that many people believed
exerted a powerful influence in their lives (a common belief in the Greco-Roman world
in which Paul lived).3
In our time, we are aware that often the forces which exert powerful control over
our lives are not external but internal. They are the intra-psychic emotional and spiritual
experiences we have internalized that shape us and our behavior. If Paul were writing
this letter today, chances are that he would be urging us to claim the freedom that God
has given us and to avoid turning back to our negative, wounding, internalized belief
systems and patterns that keep us enslaved to our suffering and unresolved hurts. These
are the powers with which most pastors and pastoral caregivers are engaged today.
In Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) we work diligently to train pastors, ordained
and lay, to recognize and work with the suffering of others. CPE is an experiential
method of education in which persons first engage in actual ministry with people who are
suffering or struggling, then reflect upon this ministry with a small peer group and a
trained supervisor to learn from their encounters. This action-reflection model of
education helps pastors build their pastoral skills and develop their capacity to understand
themselves so they can, in turn, utilize their own experiences and their “selves” in
ministry to others.
As a CPE supervisor, I have worked with many students over the years to help
them learn how to give effective pastoral care to persons in crisis and to form or
strengthen their pastoral identities through this action-reflection educational process.
3 Ibid.
2
