Im not sure they are called Nursing Homes anymore. Adult Facilities seems to be the new term. Or maybe we are supposed to call them Senior Living apartments? I really dont know anymore, because the titles on the Nursing Homes I now visit are all merging together in one big blur. It may be because of the stigma attached to that term. Smelly, crowded, lifeless, etc
Up until recently, Nursing Homes did not have the best of reputations.
The Youth Group at my church wanted to visit several Nursing Homes and sing Christmas Carols. It sounded like a great idea, so I arranged an evening for us to visit a Nursing Home right around the corner from my church, where we had a church member in residence. I should have given this idea a little more thought. It wasnt the nicest old age home that I had been in. It was a converted mansion, three stories with large pillars framing a once grand entrance way. Each floor had about four rooms that housed the residents. A kitchen and main dining room was on the first floor. Around the back was an outside metal fire escape that must have been added when they converted the building. The outside was painted in a mustard color that was fading with time. There was paint flaking off in various places. Inside the walls were drab to say the least. I cant even describe the color, other than to say that it was depressing. (Is that a color? Depression? Ill have to look for it at Home Depot). The place was shabby from top to bottom. One might even call it dreadful when one considers the final element that completes my memory of this place.
It smelled like dirty diapers.
The smell hit you like a two-by-four as soon as you walked into the joint. A foulness that is only comparable to an open sewer, or three day old garbage, or possibly a dead animal carcass. I wish I was a better writer so that I can give you a more vivid picture of the olfactory response and its subsequent impact within the dark recesses of my brain.
Lets just say the place stunk to high heaven, and leave it at that.
I visited this Nursing Home about once a month for several years, so I got used to the smell. It was always there in the back of my mind, but I put a smile on my face and talked to my parishioner as if nothing was wrong. The problem with developing a familiarity with the smell was I didnt think about it when I said ok to our Youth Group visiting this particular facility. I hid the nasty odor in the back of my mind when I should have been considering the possible results of this simple formula;
Kids + Intense Smelliness = ????!!!!
Had I considered it, the answer would have been obvious.
There we were half a dozen kids and a couple of parents. The Christmas season was in full bloom with trees, wreaths and poinsettias everywhere. We sang O Holy Night and We Wish You and Merry Christmas with as much joy and happiness we could muster while breathing in the clean fresh Christmas air slightly tainted with extreme nastiness. The kids were holding up well. Once again, I was oblivious to the danger, when disaster struck.
A woman in a wheelchair sitting at a table, started to eat a peach slice. You know the kind that comes out of a can. What should have been a simple act became much more complicated because she didnt just eat the stupid peach. She slurped it around her mouth for a while. Every so often a section of the now mashed fruit would come sliding out of her mouth, only to be sucked back in and slurped around some more. While singing with joyful voices, everyone in the group became fixated on this spectacle.
Slosh it around a bit, a little pops out, and then slurp it back in.
The shows climax came when the woman pulled the thing out with her fingers and held it above her open and somewhat puckered mouth and then dropped it back in. Then she did it again, and again and again. It looked like she was practicing feeding fish to a Seal. But rather than a fresh piece of Striped Bass, she was playing with something that looked like peach colored bird poo.
A couple of my kids almost lost their cookies right then and there. They ran out of the room and into the bathroom. We finished the song and I got the kids out of that place as fast as I could. Merry Christmas everyone!
Jesus said;
The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
to proclaim the year of the Lords favor. Luke 4:18-19 NIV
Jesus came to minister to the poor, those in prison, the blind and the oppressed. Since I became a minister I have believed that those in Nursing Homes are firmly on this list. The people in these facilities have reduced their possessions down to a precious few. They cannot come and go as they please. They often have terrible ailments that limit their mobility and cause excruciating pain. And there is very little they can do about it. They are the people Jesus was called to minister to, and as a follower of his I am called to minister to them as well.
So this call by Jesus doesnt say anything about avoiding nasty smelly Nursing Homes. It doesnt say anything about avoiding uncomfortable situations. It doesnt mention that we should minister to people only when we feel in our element. Instead Jesus tells us to go out and minister to people in need. And that includes people who live in smelly, nasty Nursing Homes that should be closed down. Its the people who are in need that matter, not the condition of the facility. And let me tell you, some of the most needy people in our world are in these types of facilities.
Nursing Home ministry will always be a big part of what I do. However, I do need to keep in mind that for most people, the sights, sounds and smells of a Nursing Home do take some getting used to.
God bless you,
Pastor Bill Whitehead
www.FBCRahway.Blogspot.com
The Youth Group at my church wanted to visit several Nursing Homes and sing Christmas Carols. It sounded like a great idea, so I arranged an evening for us to visit a Nursing Home right around the corner from my church, where we had a church member in residence. I should have given this idea a little more thought. It wasnt the nicest old age home that I had been in. It was a converted mansion, three stories with large pillars framing a once grand entrance way. Each floor had about four rooms that housed the residents. A kitchen and main dining room was on the first floor. Around the back was an outside metal fire escape that must have been added when they converted the building. The outside was painted in a mustard color that was fading with time. There was paint flaking off in various places. Inside the walls were drab to say the least. I cant even describe the color, other than to say that it was depressing. (Is that a color? Depression? Ill have to look for it at Home Depot). The place was shabby from top to bottom. One might even call it dreadful when one considers the final element that completes my memory of this place.
It smelled like dirty diapers.
The smell hit you like a two-by-four as soon as you walked into the joint. A foulness that is only comparable to an open sewer, or three day old garbage, or possibly a dead animal carcass. I wish I was a better writer so that I can give you a more vivid picture of the olfactory response and its subsequent impact within the dark recesses of my brain.
Lets just say the place stunk to high heaven, and leave it at that.
I visited this Nursing Home about once a month for several years, so I got used to the smell. It was always there in the back of my mind, but I put a smile on my face and talked to my parishioner as if nothing was wrong. The problem with developing a familiarity with the smell was I didnt think about it when I said ok to our Youth Group visiting this particular facility. I hid the nasty odor in the back of my mind when I should have been considering the possible results of this simple formula;
Kids + Intense Smelliness = ????!!!!
Had I considered it, the answer would have been obvious.
There we were half a dozen kids and a couple of parents. The Christmas season was in full bloom with trees, wreaths and poinsettias everywhere. We sang O Holy Night and We Wish You and Merry Christmas with as much joy and happiness we could muster while breathing in the clean fresh Christmas air slightly tainted with extreme nastiness. The kids were holding up well. Once again, I was oblivious to the danger, when disaster struck.
A woman in a wheelchair sitting at a table, started to eat a peach slice. You know the kind that comes out of a can. What should have been a simple act became much more complicated because she didnt just eat the stupid peach. She slurped it around her mouth for a while. Every so often a section of the now mashed fruit would come sliding out of her mouth, only to be sucked back in and slurped around some more. While singing with joyful voices, everyone in the group became fixated on this spectacle.
Slosh it around a bit, a little pops out, and then slurp it back in.
The shows climax came when the woman pulled the thing out with her fingers and held it above her open and somewhat puckered mouth and then dropped it back in. Then she did it again, and again and again. It looked like she was practicing feeding fish to a Seal. But rather than a fresh piece of Striped Bass, she was playing with something that looked like peach colored bird poo.
A couple of my kids almost lost their cookies right then and there. They ran out of the room and into the bathroom. We finished the song and I got the kids out of that place as fast as I could. Merry Christmas everyone!
Jesus said;
The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
to proclaim the year of the Lords favor. Luke 4:18-19 NIV
Jesus came to minister to the poor, those in prison, the blind and the oppressed. Since I became a minister I have believed that those in Nursing Homes are firmly on this list. The people in these facilities have reduced their possessions down to a precious few. They cannot come and go as they please. They often have terrible ailments that limit their mobility and cause excruciating pain. And there is very little they can do about it. They are the people Jesus was called to minister to, and as a follower of his I am called to minister to them as well.
So this call by Jesus doesnt say anything about avoiding nasty smelly Nursing Homes. It doesnt say anything about avoiding uncomfortable situations. It doesnt mention that we should minister to people only when we feel in our element. Instead Jesus tells us to go out and minister to people in need. And that includes people who live in smelly, nasty Nursing Homes that should be closed down. Its the people who are in need that matter, not the condition of the facility. And let me tell you, some of the most needy people in our world are in these types of facilities.
Nursing Home ministry will always be a big part of what I do. However, I do need to keep in mind that for most people, the sights, sounds and smells of a Nursing Home do take some getting used to.
God bless you,
Pastor Bill Whitehead
www.FBCRahway.Blogspot.com
