ROUGHLY EDITED COPY LUTHERAN PASTORAL THEOLOGY & PRACTICE LPTP-29 Captioning Provided By: Caption First, Inc. P.O. Box 1924 Lombard, IL 60148 800-825-5234 www.captionfirst.com *** This text is being provided in a rough draft format. Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) is provided in order to facilitate communication accessibility and may not be a totally verbatim record of the proceedings. *** >> NICK: We have a lot of people in our area who need personal encouragement and spiritual help. Well, I suppose this is true everywhere. What can you tell me about pastoral care? How do I minister to people who are troubled or lost? >> PROF. SENKBEIL: Troubled or lost describes, unfortunately, far too many people in the world we live in. And you know that's exactly where Christ's church comes in and especially Christ's servants, that is, his pastors. I'm really glad you asked that question, Nick. Spiritual encouragement, personal encouragement, spiritual help I think is the way you put it. You know, really that's what pastors are about. They are people who care for souls that are entrusted to them. Pastoral care, I think was the phrase you used. In part and in parcel of that pastoral care is, first of all, to be a caring person. A pastor certainly holds his people in his heart. He rejoices with those who rejoice; he weeps with those who weep. And so part of what you're talking about is simply being a person who holds the interests of all the members of his church in his frame of reference. He's thinking about them all the time. He has compassion for them, and he cares about them. But, you know, Nick, it's even far deeper than that. The historic understanding of the office of the ministry, when it comes to the care of souls, is a deep and rich tradition. There are some terms here that are helpful to remember. The longer classical term is the cura animarum, that is, the care of souls. In our German Lutheran tradition, that word translates as Seelsorge. You probably have heard that term. Or more specifically regarding pastors, Seelsorger. That is, again, people, pastors who care for souls. But the term "care" here takes on even fuller dimensions. I'm sure, as you've visited in hospitals, you've seen the signs, for example, "care of the sick" or perhaps "cancer care" or "cancer cure." Care and cure go hand in hand when it comes to assisting people in physical needs in terms of medical care. As you know, physicians of the body address those patients, those who are under their care, in a number of different ways. In terms of acute needs and moments of crisis, they address the symptoms, the urgent needs of that person physically with some interventions in terms of either surgical procedures or some medications or some kinds of practices that would help them return to health. All throughout their life, however, a person who is under medical care also is being treated for chronic problems. He is being watched. He's being cared for on a number of different levels, if he has a recurring chronic illness that entails continuous care. Also, there's the preventative healthcare, addressing needs before they occur in terms of taking stock of one's physical health, determining blood pressure and pulse rate and the like, all of which are indications or symptoms of a person's level of health or disease, as the case may be. Now, I went into this rather lengthy illustration simply to point out that that really, historically, is what pastors have always been about�-- keeping a finger on the pulse of their members, if you will, to determine how it is that they're doing spiritually speaking. You mentioned sometimes people need personal encouragement, and sometimes they need spiritual help. And so pastors want to be Johnny on the spot, if you will. They want to be there in those kinds of times when there are special needs. Throughout, overall, both before and after those moments of need, they want to continuously provide the care and the cure which God himself provides for His church. You could really say that that's really what's happening chiefly and primarily in the divine service itself where the Lord God of heaven and earth comes to earth through the means of grace to feed and to nourish His church on earth with all of His precious gifts, that He gives them the food which they need to feed their souls, He sustains them and heals all of their spiritual diseases even as He also addresses their bodily ailments. Through that word and through those sacraments these -- this is an ordinary way of pastoral care or the care of the soul. In addition to that, however, pastors are also paying attention not just to the entire flock but also to each individual sheep. And so a pastor will want to keep in his mind and heart the spiritual history of each individual member of the congregation. He wants to routinely visit the entire flock, that he sits in their homes, that he enjoys some small talk about their ordinary lives. He listens to them on a whole variety of topics, but always listening also with the ear of a good shepherd, alert to a spiritual symptom, to spiritual needs, always apt to teach as the apostle Paul says, willing to lead the person to the holy scriptures and through the scriptures to the Lord Jesus who feeds them, who nourishes them, who cares for them. That really is what it means to have the care of souls, to be a Seelsorger, to always lead people to the green pastures and the quiet waters that God has for His people because He is our good shepherd. In I Corinthians, once again, chapter 2, we see how it is that pastors go about this work, chapter 2, verses 11 and 12. "For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world but the spirit who is from God so that we might understand the things freely given us by God." And then verse 13. "And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual." Or another way of putting that, to those who have the spirit. So the way to encourage people personally, the way to provide them spiritual help is in every occasion to encourage them with the word of God; the sword of the spirit, which addresses their needs at the most fundamental and basic level, to provide them health and healing, encouragement, consolation, and the help which they need. That's a great question, Nick. And I'm glad you have that attitude of being available to people in their times of need. *** This text is being provided in a rough draft format. Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) is provided in order to facilitate communication accessibility and may not be a totally verbatim record of the proceedings. ***