April 2020 – Here is what one of our Lenten Challenge participants shared about their experience this year…

“I signed up for the Lenten challenge because for me, it helps to have structure to my spiritual time. The reflections each week that were sent helped to center the topic for that week. During that week, each day presented a different way of looking at the topic.

For example, the week on “honesty” included questions directed about honesty and God, honesty and self, honesty and loved ones, honesty and my community, honesty and creation. Some of these were extremely personal for me, like, how honest am I with God?

Some were not as pertinent, such as honesty and creation, although I’m concerned about creation and environment, that is not a priority for me right now. I really had to think about some of the questions posed, which was good during the Lenten season, as we can use that time to reflect.

The topic of forgiveness was most personal for me, as I question whether I have truly forgiven those who have hurt me. I think I have, but I need to reach out to God and ask for help if I have not been able to forgive. I also need to forgive myself constantly, as most people say, “you are too hard on yourself”. Funny to be thinking of forgiveness in relation to me; may God help me in this area. The Lenten reflection ended with a “bonus” week, that of Holy Week. I was so glad to end the Lenten challenge with “Christ is risen.”

Reflection by Sue Buchholz from Atlanta, GA, Lenten Challenge Participant

Change is all around; can you feel it? The heavy and somber season of Lent has been replaced with the light and joy of Easter! More and more people throughout the country are getting vaccinated, which is allowing for glimmers of normalcy. It has been touching to read about the grandparents who are finally able to travel and visit their grandchildren, some for the first time. And, for many of us, springtime changes, the bursting forth of the beautiful trees and flowers, has meant always having a tissue box close at hand!

Change is always happening all around us… good change, fun change, painful change, unexpected change, unknown change. Sometimes, we are able to anticipate it before it happens, and other times, we are blindsided by it. Experiencing change is part of what it means to be human; however, how we adjust and adapt (or not) to change significantly impacts our overall health and wellbeing (as individuals, communities, and beyond).

I find that the fifty-day Eastertide season, in which, as I write this, we are on day six, is a wonderful time to reflect on the various changes that are taking place in our lives and how are we being moved to respond. This liturgical season is a reminder that, through Christ’s death and resurrection, our lives were, and are forever, changed. How do we adequately respond to this amazing good news?

In addition to reflecting on change and movement as it relates to Easter, Travis and I have been experiencing these themes physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually as we packed up our belongings in Decatur, GA, at the end of February and moved to Murrysville, PA (20 miles east of Pittsburgh). 

Leaving Decatur was bittersweet. It was the place where we had lived the longest as a married couple. It was there where Travis and I felt called by God to establish HSHC. It was there where we had established many wonderful relationships. 

Yet, it was also there, after much prayer and discernment with others, that we felt God calling us to move to Murrysville, PA, so that Travis could become Newlonsburg Presbyterian Church’s next associate pastor and so that I could continue to develop and expand the outreach of HSHC.

In the midst of all of our recent changes and new beginnings, one of the scripture passages that helped us stay grounded (moving is stressful enough even without COVID… yikes!) is Hebrews 13:8: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” While we are starting to settle into our new home and community and are excited to be here, we are both a bit anxious as to how the next chapter of our lives is going to unfold. However, knowing the consistency of God’s love, in and through what Christ did for us, gives us great comfort.

During this season of new beginnings and change, we want to invite you to reflect on the following questions:

• How do you feel about change right now? Are you ready for it? Fearful of it? Exhausted by it? Something else? 
• What does it mean to you that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and forever? 
• “Change is hard because people overestimate the value of what they have—and underestimate the value of what they may gain by giving that up.” – James Belasco and Ralph Stayer, Flight of the Buffalo (1994)  Do you agree or disagree with this quote? Why?
• Do you feel God calling you to make some sort of change (big or small)? 
• Where do you find God in the midst of change?

Peace, 

Karen and Travis Webster 
HSHC Co-founders

Ingredients:

Berries:

• 3 cups (444 g) fresh blueberries
• 1 tsp lemon or lime zest
• 2 tbsp lemon or lime juice
• 2 tbsp coconut sugar

Biscuit Topping:

• 3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour, or a mix of whole wheat and all-purpose
• 3 tbsp almond flour, or use more flour to make nut-free
• 1¼ tsp baking powder
• 1/3 tsp sea salt
• 1/4 cup sugar
• pinch of nutmeg
• 3/4 cup full-fat coconut milk (half coconut cream and half thin milk from a can)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Add blueberries to a baking dish ( 8-9 inch) or cast-iron skillet. Add lemon zest, juice, sugar, and mix well to coat.
2. In a bowl, add the flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, and spice and mix well.
3. Add 1/2 cup of the coconut cream+milk mixture and mix in. Add more milk a tbsp at a time to make a thick muffin-like mix (see substitutions).
4. Drop spoonfuls of the thick batter on the blueberries. Spread a bit to cover most but not all of the berries. Place the skillet on a baking sheet to catch any spill. Sprinkle a tsp of coconut sugar/other sugar on the batter (optional).
5. Bake for 35 mins. Broil for half a minute for browning if needed
6. Remove from the oven, let sit for a few mins. Serve with ice cream or whipped coconut cream.
7. Refrigerate (after cooling completely) for up to 3 days.

Substitutions:

• Almond flour can be subbed with more all purpose flour. 
• Coconut milk: use alternate non dairy milk such as almond or soy and add 1-2 tbsp oil or vegan butter. Mix in butter into the flour mix until crumbs, then add milk.
•  Gluten-free: Use any gluten-free blend of choice or use this following mix: Mix 1/3 cup white rice flour/oat flour, 1/2 cup almond flour, 3 tbsp potato starch or a mix of tapioca and potato. Use 1  cup of the flour mix (skip the additional almond flour used with regular flour), and add more as needed.
• Nutrition is for 1 serve without the ice cream or whipped cream

Recipe adapted from Veganricha.com

Dealing with the physical aspects of COVID has received a lot of attention in media.  However, the mental, emotional, and spiritual impacts COVID is having, particularly among COVID survivors, need far greater awareness than it is currently receiving.  In order to get a better understanding of the impact of COVID on these other aspects of health, Karen Webster, HSHC Executive Director, recently interviewed a community of faith member who shared their COVID journey.  To learn more, check out their Q&A session below. 

When did you have COVID, and how did you experience it?

“I had COVID in mid-November, and I’ve no idea where I got it.  I wore masks everywhere.  I started coming down with COVID symptoms right in the midst of celebrating my husband’s mother’s 90^th birthday with a very small gathering of close family members, followed the next day by our daughter celebrating her 16^th birthday with a very small group of her closest friends in our front yard with everyone wearing masks and socially distancing themselves. 

Since we had visited family out-of-town, my husband’s boss had said, ‘I want you to get a COVID test before you come back to work.’ My husband’s result turned up negative and, for a moment, I thought I would be ok, but mine, however, turned up positive.  And I just remember thinking to myself, “What? How can this be?” I was shocked and mortified.

My husband immediately called his 90-year-old mother, and he, too, started panicking because it was his side of the family we had just visited – his brother, who’s over 60, sister-in-law, his niece, and nephew.  I immediately started having a shame panic attack.

The first person I called was my mom, and she said to me, “Well, did you get tested before you went?” She immediately made me feel even worse than I was already feeling about myself and all my regrets, the guilt.  I hung up and cried. What did I just do?  I just endangered all of these people. The people I love the most could die now. It’s my fault. I’m sick… That was the worst hour.

Whom did you feel comfortable telling/who was your support network?

“I’m a private person, so normally I would not have told anybody else.  However, in this instance, I had to share the news with my husband’s family and the people who attended my daughter’s birthday party, which included telling my four closest friends who had been at the party… crying.  In terms of my support network, I told my friends because I had to, but really it was only my husband and daughter.  COVID is very isolating.  First, you’re told to quarantine, and then, if you’re feeling shameful about it, it is a super isolating disease.”

What messages were you receiving that impacted how and with whom you shared your diagnosis?  How did those make you feel about your diagnosis?

“Internally, I thought, ‘How could I have done this to people?… holding on tightly to shame and regret.  Externally, my friends said to me, “You know, you didn’t do anything wrong.  You were careful.” Through the process of sharing with my four friends, I felt cared for.  And then, because they interacted with other people I knew, they would tell me, “Oh, I told so-and-so, and they’re really concerned about you,” and my first reaction inside would be, “You told them!?” I really didn’t want anybody outside of my super tight inner circle to know because I was afraid I was going to be judged.  And the thing that surprised me and I did not anticipate is anyone being concerned about me and my health.  Rather, I had been thinking, “I’m bad.. Are they going to be mad at me? They’re judging me…Who did I almost kill?”

What could your faith community have done to support you while you were sick?  Is there any support you would like from them now?

In terms of my faith community, I emailed my two pastors because I knew they were safe people to tell and that they were there for me.  They wrote back, “Oh no, let me know if there’s anything I can do.” And that was it.  Looking back, I think what would have been helpful was to have received a phone call from one of, or both of them, to help me discern what I needed because at the time, I did not know what I needed!

I also serve on one of the congregation’s leadership teams, and, at first, I didn’t tell them because it didn’t occur to me.   However, at a meeting shortly after my illness, someone started asking about how those in church could “help those people.” This upset me and, without having planned through what I was going to say, I immediately jumped in and shared my experience as a COVID survivor.  

COVID is challenging enough physically, and then to add the stigma… you must have caught COVID by not wearing a mask or doing something you shouldn’t have done or going somewhere or not washing your hands or not doing something you should have done… I’ve even caught myself thinking, “Well, of course, that person got it, because they…” From a cultural-global-spiritual perspective, COVID is really highlighting our biases, stereotypes, judgments, and hypocrisies.  The committee appreciated that I brought this awareness to them while, at the same time, I experienced being cared for.

Any final thoughts?

“I grew up in the eighties during the AIDS epidemic.  My immediate reaction after having gotten the positive test for COVID was a deep, new compassion and empathy for people who had AIDS.  In the eighties, we heard about them, and we judged them.  Having COVID, I realized that they not only had to deal with being physically sick, but they also had to deal with mental and emotional pain from being stigmatized… guilt, shame, “Who got sick because of me?” It would be interesting to talk to someone who also had coronavirus and AIDS and see if it’s any kind of similarity.”

Reflecting on my experience spiritually, the only thing I can compare having COVID to is all of the grief, despair, and complete brokenness I felt when my dad was diagnosed with cancer and died, a six-week process from diagnosis to death.  Through the experience of the brokenness I felt after my dad died, I learned that I was loved not because of how much I do and who I am (type A, high achiever, successful athlete), but I learned that people loved me, and I was lovable even at my worst, my most broken.  And my experience with COVID was learning that lesson again, on another level.  So, actually, it has been a very cool spiritual period.”

January 2021 – Reflection provided by Debby Haralson, Chief Operating Officer of The WellHouse, D.Min. student at McAfee School of Theology, Mercer University (Atlanta, GA)

“I was intrigued to learn about Healthy Seminarians-Healthy Church’s online small- group program last fall. Working in a trauma-based ministry where every need feels absolutely immediate, I have seen many gifted caregivers exit the field early and exhausted.

Leaders tend to agree that caring for self is critical. But how? How, when a newly minted minister enters an arena that publicly praises sacrifice and servanthood while well-being, strength, and stamina are simply expected?

Healthy Seminarians-Healthy Church’s program effectively equips a minister for this conversation. Providing a much-needed Biblical/theological framework around caring for self, HSHC challenges participants to explore a holistic kind of spirituality that honors God through work and rest; activism along with contemplation. Here’s hoping that tomorrow’s ministry leaders can embody such balance. Those we serve will benefit from this kind of faith-filled service. We can’t do everything, but God can. Karen Webster and her team have much wisdom to share along these lines. We would be wise to take heed.”