Welcome to our Thursday afternoon “spiritual fitness exercise gathering”. I made a commitment at the annual MCPA Executive Training Institute prayer breakfast to make an exercise post every Thursday afternoon. The goal being to create a regular and consistent spiritual fitness gathering for public safety professionals, even if it is in a cyber spiritual world.

This week I was drawn to the topic of “Honesty” by an article in the IACP Police Chief Magazine “Should Police Officers Who Lie Be Terminated as a Matter of Public Policy?” (click here to link to the story)

The article appears in the “Chief’s Counsel” column and contains a lot of information on the impact of employee lying. Case law is cited as well as how different situations of dishonesty create different consequences. It is an article well worth reading. I spoke with a chief just last week who was struggling with a situation where an employee had lied. Without going into detail, the chief felt compelled to fire the employee even though the cop was a good officer, a conscientious employee and (except for the lying) an asset to the organization. He knew what he was going to do, he knew his department policy was and that his decision would be supported. But that didn’t make the situation any easier to deal with. As public safety leaders I am sure you have all been faced with similar situations.

So here is your exercise. How important is honesty in your organization, your family, your life? What impact does honesty or dishonesty have on your spiritual life and the spiritual health of your organization? Even if you have a solid grasp on how to deal with dishonesty, as did the chief described above, how does your involvement in a situation like his impact your spiritual health?

And finally, how do you define honesty? Is it ALWAYS the best policy? And for extra credit, how about honesty with yourself? What are the spiritual health consequences, of being dishonest with yourself?

Take Care

As many of you are aware, I am pursuing ordination as an ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) pastor. As part of that process I am currently taking three seminary classes: Preaching II, Old Testament Prophets, and Pastoral Care. Yesterday I was doing some work for my Pastoral Care class and came upon a term I’ve never heard before. Interestingly, I am reading two text books and both make reference to the same term. As I pursue ordination and seminary studies it always amazes me how much I don’t know (yeah George, have fun with that confession) and how much of those “unknowns” are common knowledge in the world of theology. Both texts made early reference to Anton Boisen and his concept of “living, human documents”

Boisen describes “living, human documents” as concrete experiences of pastoral care of living persons, that are sources of theological insight of equal importance to those of the historic texts of the Judeo-Christian tradition. (from An Introduction to Pastoral Care by Charles Gerkin)

I never intended these spiritual fitness exercises to become academic theological discussions, however I do like to share the context of my current learning. I am a long way from understanding the depth of the above statement, but it did catch my attention. Maybe it is because our profession is so focused on the value of street smarts rather than book smarts and values real life experience over academic learning. Regardless, I was drawn to the idea of “living, human documents”.

So here is your exercise for this week. We all have favorite books, authors, written texts that we go to for comfort and spiritual guidance, how about non written documents? Think back to a time when you provided or received spiritual care. Who were you interacting with? Was it a positive or negative experience? Would you spend time with that person in a future time of need? Why or why not? And lastly, are these living, human documents worth retaining, worth actually taking the time to document them? Or are they better just being put out with the trash and recycling?

Take Care

I am writing this from the Holiday Inn in downtown Duluth as we conclude our annual Minnesota Chiefs of Police Association Executive Training Institute. It is our annual chiefs conference. Once again it was a great event. At this years prayer breakfast I spoke of creating more faith based “gathering” opportunities. I made the commitment to make a post every Thursday, a spiritual fitness exercise post, that members of our association (as well as all others who care to join us) could gather around in spirit and thought. So here it is:

I had to write a “creed” customized to the faith community I serve for a recent seminary course I was taking. Most members of my class serve in an ELCA Lutheran parish, so their creeds were ELCA based and customized to the demographics of their congregations. The faith community I serve, law enforcement professional of the state of Minnesota, created a little different challenge. What follows is what I came up with.

The Peace Officer Faith Community Creed

We believe that we are a faith community called to serve by a power greater than self.

We believe in an expression and application of faith that is personal. It is a faith that is not regulated by government nor political correctness, but by the mutual respect of our individual beliefs and cultures as we come together in service of a common mission.

We believe that we are called to protect life as it exists in this world in accordance with the values established by society. We will attempt to bring a degree of order to the inevitable chaos that occurs in a world and society that exercises free will.

We understand that we may be called upon, at societies direction, to decide who will live and who will die. We are willing to sacrifice our own lives in order to carry out our established mission.

We believe that it is critical that we maintain a personal fitness level that is necessary to perform our duties to standards imposed by society and our own personal beliefs. This fitness must address all components of life, Body, Mind and Soul. We vow to be physically, intellectually and spiritually strong, and to be gentle in the application of that strength.

Here is a definition of a creed just for reference:

Creed

1: a brief authoritative formula of religious belief
2: a set of fundamental beliefs
3: a guiding principle

So here is your exercise: Read the creed above. Spend some time thinking about what the different statements mean to you. Agree? Disagree? How would you change it? How would you write a creed for yourself? Your agency? Your peers? Should we stay away from trying to write a creed?

What are your thoughts? I’d love to hear them!

Take Care

I recently received this prayer from a friend of mine. We are in the same ordination program and we both serve in unique ministry settings. She works with the the Native American community and I with Public Safety. We share ideas with each other regarding different ways to minister in contextual settings. It is one of the side benefits of the education program I attend, the peer realtionships and wealth of knowledge available.

Anyway, she sent me this prayer and I want to pass it along. I go back to it now and then and always find something new in it that gives me inspiration. She told me “Please take this Seneca prayer with you today and every day”. And I say the same to you, enjoy!

O Great and Generous God, you have given me this day as a special gift.

I step into this day and accept everything that is in it whether it is a part of my plan or not.

Teach me to accept every gift that comes my way today.

Help me to use each gift wisely, to care for the earth and the world, and to care for and love my brothers and sisters.

Help me to walk respectfully into people’s lives today in such a way that they will be nurtured and edified.

You, God, have created me with a sense of of mystery. I embrace the mystery and surprise of this day.

You, God of mystery and surprise, I embrace all things that will happen this day.

Help me to accept and weave them into a closer walk with you on this earth with my brothers and sisters.