Child-likeness
This is not about 'childishness', but more aspects of life with dementia that bring to the fore things that have long-since been suppressed by 'being adult'.
One instance illustrates this quite well, I think:
Judy came across Shirley with her cherry patterned umbrella. She had opened it and was twirling it around as she danced around the room. "Oh! Is this yours? I just had to open it, it is such a lovely pattern. I shall have to call you Cherry-blossom from now on!"
Such innocent enjoyment of colour and pattern. Any thought that she 'should not' open someone else's umbrella was overcome by a need to enjoy this to the full.
One instance illustrates this quite well, I think:
Judy came across Shirley with her cherry patterned umbrella. She had opened it and was twirling it around as she danced around the room. "Oh! Is this yours? I just had to open it, it is such a lovely pattern. I shall have to call you Cherry-blossom from now on!"
Such innocent enjoyment of colour and pattern. Any thought that she 'should not' open someone else's umbrella was overcome by a need to enjoy this to the full.
Receptive and Expressive Faith
A brief conversation in passing with Chris who had asked what I was doing on my sabbatical. His contribution after I had explained a bit - ‘It makes a difference if one is talking about receptive or expressive faith.'
These two elements are key in the development of language in children. There is the ability to receive and to understand what someone else is saying. There is the ability to express oneself to others so that they can understand you.
It strikes me, and I think this is what Chris was getting at, that the development of faith has these two elements too. There is a receptive faith which is about what we gain from others and to which we are open. There is an expressive faith, which is how we live our faith, the action that it prompts, the faith that we can speak of.
These elements are helpful too in our understanding of faith when intellect fails.
There is that faith which comes from others - those, including God himself, who know us as complete individuals and who invest their lives and their love in us. This takes us into an ongoing exploration of 'grace' and the fact that faith is a gift of God through his Holy Spirit.
There is that faith to which we give expression which, where words may fail us, can be seen in actions of trust and love, or in our simple trust in others.
In my conversation I was told of Derek - a man with a ‘simple’ faith that was easily recognised by others because of things he did because of his faith. Yet, he was not able to express it theologically. There is a sense that while his faith was expressed, it was done in an instinctive way rather than in a reasoned way.
I reflect on many instances where 'simple faith' may be referred to as something a little less deep than a 'reasoned faith', and yet usually there is an acknowledgment of the depth and authenticity of such 'simple faith'. It is 'what really matters'.
The conversation also sparked of some reflection on more practical aspects of receiving and expressing, for those living with dementia.
How then might folk living with dementia ‘receive faith’.
These things are what should shape the life and activity of a church community anyway.
Important note: As with all that I have identified that seems relevant for those living with dementia, so this is equally applicable to anyone! This reinforces the recurrent message that while people living with dementia need to be treated in an appropriate way, so does everyone and there need be no ‘singling out’ or the creation of special ‘identities’ or groups.
A brief conversation in passing with Chris who had asked what I was doing on my sabbatical. His contribution after I had explained a bit - ‘It makes a difference if one is talking about receptive or expressive faith.'
These two elements are key in the development of language in children. There is the ability to receive and to understand what someone else is saying. There is the ability to express oneself to others so that they can understand you.
It strikes me, and I think this is what Chris was getting at, that the development of faith has these two elements too. There is a receptive faith which is about what we gain from others and to which we are open. There is an expressive faith, which is how we live our faith, the action that it prompts, the faith that we can speak of.
These elements are helpful too in our understanding of faith when intellect fails.
There is that faith which comes from others - those, including God himself, who know us as complete individuals and who invest their lives and their love in us. This takes us into an ongoing exploration of 'grace' and the fact that faith is a gift of God through his Holy Spirit.
There is that faith to which we give expression which, where words may fail us, can be seen in actions of trust and love, or in our simple trust in others.
In my conversation I was told of Derek - a man with a ‘simple’ faith that was easily recognised by others because of things he did because of his faith. Yet, he was not able to express it theologically. There is a sense that while his faith was expressed, it was done in an instinctive way rather than in a reasoned way.
I reflect on many instances where 'simple faith' may be referred to as something a little less deep than a 'reasoned faith', and yet usually there is an acknowledgment of the depth and authenticity of such 'simple faith'. It is 'what really matters'.
The conversation also sparked of some reflection on more practical aspects of receiving and expressing, for those living with dementia.
How then might folk living with dementia ‘receive faith’.
- hearing Bible stories
- being loved in a way that allows them to be themselves (as they are!)
- creating
- experiencing beauty
- hearing the stories of others
These things are what should shape the life and activity of a church community anyway.
Important note: As with all that I have identified that seems relevant for those living with dementia, so this is equally applicable to anyone! This reinforces the recurrent message that while people living with dementia need to be treated in an appropriate way, so does everyone and there need be no ‘singling out’ or the creation of special ‘identities’ or groups.