Resource Review: Stories United: Harvesting Elders’ Wisdom

submitted by Karen Toole

“Stories United: Harvesting Elders’ Wisdom”
From The Spiritual Companions Program
First Metropolitan United Church, Victoria, B.C.
Terry Dance-Bennink, editor, 2008

“The church at its best is biography.” Somewhere I think I read that line, or perhaps it’s original to me. However it came to be it holds an essential truth, and the book “Stories United – Harvesting Elders’ Wisdom” is an example of this truth writ large, and I do mean large! This book captures the story of a spiritual companions program at First Metropolitan in Victoria, B.C. The introduction begins, with the words, “Welcome to a feast of wisdom” and the book fulfills that promise.

What this book offers is twofold. The best of resources are like that. They do not just give you the resource; they teach you how to go about discovering it in your community. It’s not only about a cup of water; it’s about how to dig the well. It’s not only about fish; it’s about fishing.

I love the sub-title of this book: “Harvesting Elders’ Wisdom.” In many of our cultures we do not do well with elders. In the short tradition of the United Church, elders were often at best dark suited figures of authority (mostly men), and they were hurdles to overcome in the quest for change and relevancy. And at worst, they were the silenced marginalized majority of most congregations.

This book offers faith communities a way to turn those now dated images around (not only in word, but action) and to begin again to claim one of the richest resources of congregation life…the wisdom of elders, who have truly turned their aging into sage-ing.

Many other cultures and traditions seem to have known that elders have “been there – done that” and have way more than t-shirts to show for it! They have wrestled from it all, through the struggle of reflection, a meaning that is the wisdom teaching of their soul.

Often the problem is that these elders are not writers, or speakers, but still the well of wisdom is there for the drinking. This project gave opportunity for those soul gifts to be shared. Many elders were interviewed by spiritual companions who took their shared words and shaped them into the written/ presentation form.

To return to my opening line, from a different perspective; we share a sacred story, but it becomes flesh in all our lived out stories. The book offers these words from Margaret Gunther, “The spirituality of the aged is a spirituality of story-telling….the aged among us are rare parchments waiting to be read by those of us who will take the time to listen.” This is the church incarnate. Word does become flesh and dwell among us. This book tells us how to not miss its manifestation.

Karen Toole is Provincial Spiritual Care Coordinator with the Government of Manitoba.

To contribute a resource review, please contact Conference Resources at avel@confmnwo.mb.ca.

To borrow this resource and others - contact Resources at avel@confmnwo.mb.ca or resources@confmnwo.mb.ca