Learning to Listen for Grace Among Our Elders
This is the 25th anniversary edition of "What Do You Say?" Its first publishing necessitated further printing. Once out of print, requests kept coming for a new edition. Twenty-five years after its release, it was still being used as a model of discovering the blessing of our elders. Its truths more than ever speak to the larger hunger and urgency of engaged listening in an isolating, disconnected world.
James A. Campbell leads the way into the realm of pastoral ministry in care settings for older adults. What do you say in such settings? Campbell is unflinchingly honest about the question. More than anything, he wants to know where and how grace is found in such ministry settings; and his answer is simple, direct, touching, and passionate: "You don't say. You listen." Finely wrought accounts of shared humor, pathos, history, and heritage show why listening to and with older adults is one of the surest ways to connect with the grace that sustains us all. (From the first edition.)
"This book does not offer six simple steps to effective ministry with aging persons. It does offer a way of listening and seeing that can open all of us to the rich harvest of life within and around us. I commend to you the practice of learning to listen for grace." -- Bishop Rueben P. Job (1928-2015)
"I encourage you to soak up the deep wisdom of this book, wisdom born of Jim's years of ministry to elders. Take these words to heart while those you love can still tell you their stories, and you can still listen." -- John A. Campbell, MD, Physician of Geriatric Medicine
"This book is a must read for families, friends, and health professionals or any who plan interactions with older adults. Empathetic knowing of the depth and beauty of others enriches not only our lives but those we serve." -- David B. Carr, M.D., Professor of Geriatric Medicine and Neurology, Washington University School of Medicine.
"Reverand Campbell has given us a treasure. A guide to the art of listening and a dose of pure inspiration!" -- Elizabeth L. Cobbs M.D., Professor of Geriatric and Palliative Care Medicine, George Washington University School of Medicine.
About the Author: Reverend James A. Campbell, D. Min. served for forty years as a pastor, with an emphasis on ministry with elders. The Iowa Health Care Association bestowed on Rev. Campbell "Iowa Clergy of the Year" for his model of creative listening in geriatric settings. The ministry with elders took new form and emphasis as Rev. Campbell was in mission work in Alaska and the Russian Far East. From this came a program of nurturing spiritual community and blessing of the aged that he developed with Alaska Native elders and called, "Giving Voice." Rev. Campbell is the author of seven books on ministry. He lives in retirement with wife, Maggie, in Beulah, Colorado, where he continues his interest in discerning different ways of knowing. He seeks to find how each way of knowing unfolds into wonder, and wonder into the sacred.
