What’s That You (Didn’t) Say?: How the Essence of Pastoral Care Helps You Listen Better Within and Without - Part 1
with Kimberley Briana Gordy
Tuesday, September 19, 2023
7:00 to 8:30 pm CDT
Online
Children hear directives like "put on your thinking cap" that help train them to shift from play, feelings and instinct to focus and cognition. In becoming adults, many of us lose agility in feelings, play and instincts. But slowing ourselves down and listening within can help us become more attune intra-personally with our environments, in interpersonal relationships, and with the Divine. In our vocational work, that type of integration is essential.. Listening is more than physiological. It is deep, multi-dimensional work. Listening is the heart of the ministry of chaplaincy. But today's society often rushes this important intentional act of care. In the context of chaplaincy and faith-based caregiving relationships, utilizing stories, case studies, evidence-based research, unearthed wisdom from hidden narratives and underrepresented populations, we will explore listening's effects on the listener; analyze and practice identifying what is not being said in several caregiving examples; examine influences of power in and on our ministry work, as well as within our own identities; and discuss caregiving interventions as well as practices for self-integration. This seminar will center the sacred art of listening - first to ourselves, then to others, in meaningful ways. The series will dive more deeply into the art and sacred act of listening, and participants will benefit from a readiness to practice identifying and exploring feelings, as listen-ing is an embodied practice that demands engagement beyond cognition.
Kimberley Briana Gordy inherited the spirit of an educator from her foremothers. She hails from Snow Hill, Maryland, where the environment and familial network imbued the "village to raise a child" philosophy. She earned a Master of Divinity degree from Union Theological Seminary (NYC) in 2022. She completed a Chaplaincy Residency at The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in West Philadelphia, PA in the fall of 2023. For Kimberley, chaplaincy merges faith and spiritual tools with facilitation and engages her inherent contemplative and communication skills. Kimberley is a Womanist and LGBTQIA+ affirming spiritual caregiver whose identity as a multiple spiritual belonger draws her to those in liminal spaces with a focus on liberation for each individual. Regular engagement in physical movement facilitates joy and release and she believes dancing, laughter, writing, imagination and creativity are soul food. She hopes to remind as many people of that as possible.
Register at https://epay.tcu.edu/stalcup_seminar/