Journal of Sacred Work

Caregivers have superpowers! Radical Loving Care illuminates the divine truth that caregiving is not just a job. It is Sacred Work.

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Former President & CEO of multiple hospital systems and founding president & CEO of 20-hospital OhioHealth, best selling author, film artist, ordained minister, composer, published poet, syndicated T.V. host, trial attorney, federal prosecutor and Municipal Court Judge. Erie is internationally known as the founder of the Radical Loving Care(R)movement. He also heads Erie Chapman Foundation, Dane Dakota Productions, LLC, and Chapman Health International, Inc.

Recent Posts

About

Former President & CEO of multiple hospital systems and founding president & CEO of 20-hospital OhioHealth, best selling author, film artist, ordained minister, composer, published poet, syndicated T.V. host, trial attorney, federal prosecutor and Municipal Court Judge. Erie is internationally known as the founder of the Radical Loving Care(R)movement. He also heads Erie Chapman Foundation, Dane Dakota Productions, LLC, and Chapman Health International, Inc.

Day 181-183 – How Big Is God?

"God is too big for one religion." – bumper sticker

Wheel of faith   One wouldn't  ordinarily expect much meaningful theology from a bumper sticker. But, the truth of the one quoted above has stuck with me ever since I saw it a couple weeks ago.

   From the moment I was ordained as a Christian minister I have been increasingly impressed with how much religion divides us instead of uniting us in Love. Why is each religion so convinced that they are not only right but that they are the only ones who have a pathway to God's Love?

   If every religion thinks that those who believe in other faiths are condemned to hell, then hell must be a terribly crowded place. Isn't it a bit arrogant for any of us to think we are right and everyone else is not only wrong, but sinfully wrong?

   As a Christian, I feel lucky to have been introduced to Jesus as my guide to Love. But, ever since I was about seven years old, I have wondered about those elsewhere in the world who never heard of Jesus. Are they to be cursed for their complete innocence? I think not.

   One of the challenges for religiously faithful caregivers is the need to truly respect and honor the faith traditions and beliefs of every patient and every fellow caregiver, not just the ones who agree with them. Love, encompasses all, not just Christians or Jews or Muslims. In fact, God's Love calls us to appreciate and respect all pathways that express the holiness of loving others.

   Before you condemn me as a heretic, reflect and pray on this idea for awhile. Honoring the beliefs of others does not threaten our own Love. Instead, it should strengthen and expand our understanding, increase our tolerance, and enhance our ability to heal others.

   Jesus is the pathway for me. But, I understand that there are other pathways God's Love honors and respects.

   It may be wiser and more loving for caregivers to imagine God's Love as living at the center of a wheel. Love's believers travel toward God along different spokes of the wheel. Each pathway that celebrates Love over fear is legitimate and sacred.

   The questions is not what religion or denomination we belong to. The only question that matters is whether we live Love.

-Rev. Erie Chapman

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8 responses to “Day 181-183 – How Big Is God?”

  1. Karen York Avatar
    Karen York

    Thank you for your insight and wisdom along this subject. It is a continual learning to live love and not to exclude others based on religious beliefs or denominational tenets. I was raised to believe one way is the only way and it has taken a long time to shed the narrow mindedness of that view. Love is open to all. Our challenge is to let go of our own ego and arrogance and open our hearts to the love in each other.

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  2. Suan Geh Avatar
    Suan Geh

    Erie: thankful for your insightful words and I can see that religion can divide. In my career as a nurse I was exposed to patients of different cultures and religion and I learnt to respect their beliefs. I was exposed to the Christian religion at a very young age and to my father it was a “foreign religion”. I never questioned my father’s belief. Whatever his belief unconditionally he loved me as his child and I loved him as my father. Love knows no boundaries. God loves us.

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  3. ~liz Wessel Avatar
    ~liz Wessel

    My most favorite passage in the bible is from
    1 Corinthians 12 in which an analogy of the body is offered to illustrate the point that we are all of One spirit. I could not imagine a God who did not love, welcome and accept all his/her children. Thank you for this beautiful, unifying, and inclusive message of Love. ~AMEN

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  4. Karen York Avatar
    Karen York

    A song from my childhood…”He’s got the whole world in his hands…” That means every single person.

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  5. Victoria Facey Avatar
    Victoria Facey

    I am disappointed to hear others condemn and criticize persons with a different religious focus than their own. I am sad to hear a person say there is no God, or that they don’t believe in God. I am happy and hopeful to hear of persons who are focused on God. I feel the same way for those who seek guidance in a positive light/direction and use a similar structure/understandng for what is right and fair for all living creatures.
    I enjoyed your story of the bumper sticker and equally appreciate today’s reflection that brings much to think of in the conversation of faith traditions and beliefs.

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  6. Barb Turnblom-Mason Avatar
    Barb Turnblom-Mason

    There is no doubt I am a committed christian and as a radical loving caregiver, it is my hope that all of my patients know God. With that in mind, a few years ago I had a patient on palliative care for a very long time. He chose not to transfer to hospice. I committed with another person to walk that final journey with him. He had no faith. He had lived his life and is convinced that you live and you die. This was over a period of time and I spoke to my husband and pastor theoretically about my purpose. My husband felt strongly that it was my job to direct him to know Jesus as his savior. Thru time and Grace, my pastor reminded me that first I am there as a caregiver. If someone sees God in me and seeks what they see, then there is opportunity. But it is my honor and responsibility to pray, quietly to myself, regarding this patient. And that is what I did. Two days before he died, he asked me about this joy he always saw in me, for 2 plus years. I told him God dwells within me, if there is joy, it is His. He asked if he could find peace thru this God. I told him yes, you just ask God into your heart. It was very close to the end of his life. The next visit he told me he had prayed for the first time in 50 years. He told God he was sorry for the time they had spent apart and asked for forgiveness. He said he found peace and passed away. Thru that time I realized my function is to love all thru the love that God gives me, to accept they way Jesus accepts me. I know that the Bibile says, ABOVE ALL THESE LOVE ONE ANOTHER. In the south there was a billboard with that on it and It was signed, i really meant that …GOD. So I dont fear, worry or have concern about other faiths. I just try to love one another

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  7. Marily Avatar
    Marily

    As Love is always the higher law, respect and honor the faith traditions and beliefs of every patients and every fellow caregiver is the challenge we face and would positively take each time encountered. We learn not to demand our own way, we let healing flow as we live Love.

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  8. ~liz Wessel Avatar
    ~liz Wessel

    My religion is kindness, a compassionate heart, this is both the root and fulfillment of all spiritual paths…let others concern themselves with God.
    ~His Holiness the Dali Lama

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