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.

Days 152-153 – Adrift on the Same Raft

Adrift - copyright erie chapman 2011    There is a time when Time misplaces his watch. Life & Death, adrift on the same raft, marry the sea.

   This is about the healing we come to know when we realize that our life, like our death, is a part of eternity.

   We may think of death as the moment when we fall into eternity. But we are already there and life is merely a boat on which we sail for this part of our journey through forever.

   I was thinking about the mandalas that Liz Wessel creates – how, if we look carefully, there is something in her creations that illuminates some sacred part of us. 

   What part of eternity do we see in her gorgeous creations? Her art signals that she is either telling us something and also that she is passing on a message.

   We have so many ways to communicate beyond words and body language. A painting is a letter to us from the artist. Dance is a wordless way for the choreographer to speak to us of beauty.

   Music is a peculiar pathway along which composers and musicians catch sounds in the air and send them along to us. Photographers catch images and report to us what they have seen.

   We often think of touch as the caregiver's art because that is what we seem to need when we are wounded. We want a healer to touch us with the musical instruments of their hands, to cure the cuts in our bodies, to make us whole once again.

   This is the great power of the healing stories that suffuse the Gospels. Jesus touched the lepers and they were healed. Jesus touched the eyes of the blind and their vision was restored. Jesus touched Lazarus and raised him back to life.

   A woman reached out to Jesus and could touch only the hem of his garment. Immediately she, because of her belief, was healed – merely by a touching. 

   Yet, we know that healers use other instruments: their eyes, medicines, and surgeries that cut away darkness. 

   Most importantly, we know that healers live among us as one of our own. We are all adrift on the same raft and the sea on which we sail is a metaphor for God's eternity.

   In Love, we offer living water to each other. This is the gift Love gives: everlasting peace.

   When we live Love, we are no longer adrift. We are all all sick and we are all caregivers.

   We are at one with each other. 

-Reverend Erie Chapman 

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5 responses to “Days 152-153 – Adrift on the Same Raft”

  1. Karen York Avatar
    Karen York

    This is such a fabulous concept that we seldom think about, much less embrace. So caught up in “chronos”, we forget about “kairos”. While the former refers to chronological or sequential time, the latter signifies a time in between, a moment of indeterminate time in which something special happens. In those moments, we glimpse our eternal souls and those of our loved ones.
    I see a change in your writing Erie. While you have always personified living love and caring for patients, you seem to be in a deeper place of peace and reflection. I am so grateful for your perspectives as they grace my ever busy life with something eternally beautiful.

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  2. ~liz Wessel Avatar
    ~liz Wessel

    Thank you, Erie for your thoughtful affirmation and most especially for your insightful reflections. I find myself particularly moved by your soulful sharing in analogy and metaphors these spiritual truths. Funny, but of late I seem to say quite often to others, “We are all in the same boat.” For whatever the challenge might be, and even if I am not experiencing what someone else is at that moment, chances are I will at some point, or have at some time. Yes, we all are connected and One in spirit! Earlier this week when I read the following quote, it resonated and now that I have read your essay, it is even more meaningful to me.
    “There is something very deep and wonderful about the notion that an artist is a medium – a medium for the God of Love. As artists we are engaged in work of the spirit if we choose to be.” by Rod MacIver

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  3. Maria Doglio Avatar
    Maria Doglio

    Ah Time–how often do we fall into “no time”! Sometimes I wish to just stand still and relish the now….time is a string of “nows”….an undulating energy stream that pulses, pushes and pulls us along on our eternal journey. How we experience time depends on what stage of our eternal journey we are on and the impact of our experiences merges with the experiences of others, so our energetic pulse moves us up and down into various degrees of vibration.
    I have learned as an energy healer, that the higher the vibration that the healer can pull in the greater the healing in the patient. Often an assist in that healing is music, or art work such as a painting, sculpture or photography, poetry or our comforting words which acts as a “lifting” of the client out of the lower vibration of illness, depression or discomfort. We can go back in time to heal the hurt in the now and carry the healing into future time so it sustains health.
    The more we LOVE unconditionally, the more we send that healing energy out through our eternal journeys and in doing so, we lift ourselves into that higher vibrational cosmic stream. It is my belief that that is how we transform our human state to a greater healing of the world–because at our deepest level, we are truly all one.

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  4. candace nagle Avatar
    candace nagle

    What balm for the soul! As I read your post, Erie, I thought of my son’s music and how this is an expression of his soul. Thank you. Each person is offering the gift of themselves to the world. Love surrounds us and lives within. When I stop efforting with my mind, take a deep breath, and remember to trust, then this love can flow through me to others. Your post reminds me that there is something bigger to call upon…something holy that encompasses the circumstances surrounding us. When I remember this, the confusion of the moment, which feels like such a firm impediment, can dissipate.
    And I feel so fortunate to have you, Liz, and Maria in my life raft!

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  5. Marily Avatar
    Marily

    “We may think of death as the moment when we fall into eternity. But we are already there and life is merely a boat on which we sail for this part of our journey through forever.”
    I really love to read and reread these lines Rev. Erie. It’s not surprising how I could easily forget the truth it brings. How at times I allow myself to be adrift solely in the raft of life, it can be lonely, the overwhelming fears that surrounds and the unstable me inside could drive me crazy burnout … instead of knowing that you are there, everyone is there. I sometimes cling to an imaginary friend. Imaginary friend that could not touch nor feel, could not hear nor listen, knows not to love nor heal or even who can fall overboard that I may follow.
    Thank you for continued sparks, Love is always present there adrift in the same raft and within. And most of all, He is always there.

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