Sandy Bassie
I am a writer and artist, retail worker, and will eventually need to retire at least one or two of my interests to make time for others. I am blessed with two sons who appreciate my thoughts and humour (at its best and worst). I value my family and friendships. There's lots more to know about me, but that would take more time and more words.
Posted in: Satan's "Pastor's Heart"
Rob,
I am considering how to respond to your reflections on pastoral care, and the questions you raise. It is in a way, a combined pastoral care and discipleship question, and one that stumped me a bit the last few years as I've been considering faith and its place in my life in general. A web search for pastoral care took me first to schools and other places for statements on how it is implemented before ever touching on Christian sites. That surprised me. I've also pursued conversations with friends and professionals in relation to some of the issues my family walked through for several decades on how to process and heal from some of the outcomes and decisions we made. You are correct that pastoral care was a challenge for some of the reasons you brought up.
Currently, I am in conversation with people in different faith traditions reflecting on how our different views impact the ways we handle challenges as they arise. I'm spending a lot of time with some Jewish friends for whom the satan (very different from in reformed circles) is part of the creation and hierarchy by which God rules and engages the fullness of creation and in particular the people He made; think Job and other stories of growth and testing.
I'm curious what kind of engagement you hope for from readers here and other places, and how to have a good conversation about this topic.