No Religious Affliation

Before I visit one of my new hospice patients, I read over the admission assessment and the facesheet which gives me a good snapshot of their history.  One of the things I'm always sure to look for is their religious background - it helps me know how to begin speaking to them from a spiritual perspective.

This one particular patient's chart indicated that he had "No Religious Affiliation," which would suggest that he was not particularly religious and would not likely want me to come in quoting the Bible talking about religious things in general.

What I did do was ask him, "How are you doing today?"  He answered, "I'm doing pretty good today."  I then said, "You know, that's just how Jesus said to approach life, one day at a time: 'Do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will worry about itself.  Each day has enough trouble of it's own" (Matt 6:34).

He nodded in agreement saying, "That's very profound."  I nodded back and went on to talk about the fact that while God never gives us more than we can handle each day, that each day has enough but not too much trouble, we often tend to take the worries of tomorrow and the regrets of yesterday, and pile the on top of today's problems - then we come to the breaking point.

We had a very open and productive conversation based, not on religion but on the words of Jesus as a guide.  I didn't ask him about his church background or tell him mine.  I didn't bring up any religious points or have any religious agenda, I just asked him how he was doing and supported his feeling with the words of Christ.

From that point forward, we talked a lot about faith and spiritual truths.  As it turns out, he has a good deal of faith in Christ but not much in the church.  I wasn't there to get him into a church, I was there to give him spiritual support and give rise to his faith, and sharing the words of Jesus is the best way to provide that foundation and lay the groundwork for hope in what can be a hopeless circumstance.

I didn't come to him with a prepared speech or with a particular agenda of what religious truths he needed to hear at that moment.  I came, asking the Holy Spirit for guidance and bringing the light of Christ into the darkness of one's terminal state.  I did not dwell on the fact of his dying but on the reality of his being alive for today and sharing words of life coming from the Source of Life.

You can do the same.  It doesn't need to be a hospice patient who has been diagnosed with terminal cancer.  We are all dying and we all have a sense of our mortality. Regardless of religious affiliation, everyone needs to hear the words of life and as Peter said to Jesus, when asked if he planned to walk away from Jesus: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life" (Jn 6:68).  Jus' Say'n.