People with Dementia and the Local Church
PRAYERS ACCOMPANYING EACH CHAPTER
- An opportunity offered and a challenge set
Lord, in a bewildering world full of confusing images and conflicting sounds
you have surrounded your church with men and women
whose work and insights can inspire and sustain.
Grant it the grace and humility to learn from them with gratitude.
Grant it also, the eyes and ears of compassion,
to discern opportunities for service,
and a heart strengthened by steadfast courage
to accept the challenges involved..
- Getting our heads around dementia
For I am persuaded that neither height nor depth - nor
anything else in the whole of creation is able to separate us
from the love of God.
So help me Lord, when the confusions and contradictions of
dementia seem to threaten that persuasion;
when the glorious intricacies of our brains seem to
develop minds and directions of their own.
Strengthen our belief that each person is precious in your sight,
no matter how strong or weak, healthy or sick,
remembering or forgetful
For nothing can separate us from your love.
- Some conditions relating to dementia
"Remember now thy creator" - if only all people could!
How do those whose hold on the past is slipping
maintain a sense of belonging?
The truth is that our faith depends not upon us remembering you
but upon you remembering us.
For those who wander from the pathway,
we rely upon the belief that there is nowhere we
can travel to which is beyond your presence.
For all who rant and rave,
for all who lash out at others,
for all who step beyond our sense of what is acceptable,
we ask your blessing.
For all who sink into depression,
or who are overwhelmed by a sense of grief,
we ask your peace.
"Remember now thy children" - how good that you do!
- The experience of dementia
Just as I am, I come
This is me Lord,
I hope you can remember who I am
Because I can't always put a name
or face to me.
This is me Lord,
I hope that you know what you are doing
because I can't always,
either for you or for me.
This is me Lord
I hope you remember me,
just as I am,.
'Just as I am, though toss'd about
with many a conflict, many a doubt.
Fightings and fears within, without,
O Lamb of God, I come.'
- Negative experiences of dementia
Despised and rejected,
a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief,
betrayed, falsely accused, marginalized, mocked
and taken away to die.
Lord, you have been through it all
and that is why I can bring my breaking heart to you,
for you understand,
and you understand
when I think that God has abandoned me.
'Be near me Lord Jesus
I ask you to stay
Close by me for ever
And love me always.'
- Communication and dementia
Open my ears that I may hear
Open my eyes that I may see
Open my heart that I may have compassion
Open my mind that I may have understanding
Open my hands that I may touch
Open my arms that I may embrace
Open my imagination that I may try new things
then Lord,
Open my mouth that I may speak
- Family Carers
Lord, you will understand the grief of Mary
as she watched your pain and sadness
as your life drained away.
Be close to all who watch as
illness relentlessly saps the vitality and life
from those for whom they care.
In those shared experiences of caring and being cared for,
may there be also
the shared experiences of your presence
and of your promise of peace.
- Questions that are frequently asked
Questions questions questions
Lord there are so many questions
and so few answers.
And yet, within this crazy, frenzied situation
where everything seems to be going wrong,
There may be moments of peace
and the emergence of an answer.
Not an answer to the questions that I ask
but to the questions I don't ask.
All will be well
All will be well
All will be ultimately well
I didn't know that
I didn't ask that
and yet I dare to believe it.
- Spirituality and dementia
Lord, you have placed us in a world full of mystery and beauty
a world in which conflict and violence,
carelessness and pain so often hide your presence.
Help us to be sensitive to our inner being
to recognise something of the awe of being human.
We give thanks for the religious traditions which seek to
communicate something of you and of your presence.
Help us to walk the way of faithfulness
whether we are in the light or in the shadows,
with alert minds or experiencing the depths of confusion.
May there always be those around us who can recognise
and cherish our innermost being.
Open our eyes and hearts
that we may recognise the same in others,
and in that sacred space, see something of you.
- Don't talk of love - show me!
God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself.
May God also be in us, continuing that work of reconciliation.
May we see Christ in people with dementia
as they seek to reconcile their fragmenting understanding
with all the confusing activities of the world around them.
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Lord, as I move into an uncertain future
provide me with those who can be the
Christ-light for me.
Enfold me within the worshipping community and
help me to rest in the faith that
although I may well forget you,
your love never allows you to forget me.
Thank you for that good news, that Gospel message
which will sustain my inner being, even though
I may well be unable to remember from whom
Such love and mercy flows.
- Worship - problems and possibilities
(From the Covenant Prayer of the Methodist Church)
I am no longer my own but yours.
Put me to what you will,
rank me with whom you will,
put me to doing, put me to suffering,
let me be employed for you or laid aside for you,
exalted for you or brought low for you,
let me be full, let me be empty,
let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things to your
Pleasure and disposal.
And now, glorious and blessed God,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
you are mine and I am yours.
So be it.
And the covenant made on earth,
let it be ratified in heaven.
- Engage the mind, touch the heart, feed the soul
Lord, as we hold before you people with dementia
We are confronted by mystery and sadness,
by ambiguity and confusion.
We pray for all who are engaged in research
looking for ways to prevent or slow down this condition,
and,
We pray for all who seek to provide
imaginative and creative patterns and structures of caring.
May all who live with this disability
find that they are understood and supported,
cherished and cared for, and
may those who look on, and endeavour
to stand alongside them, find encouragement and strength.
We give thanks that people with dementia
remain accepted and loved by you, and
we ask that their souls may be
nourished and enlightened by the
presence and power of your Spirit.