Over at RevGalBlogPals, I have a blog post on “Faith at End-of-Life”. I hope you’ll take time to read it.

In mainstream programming and in media sound bites, clergy are represented as being pompous or medically naive. It’s time we respond with love and care to our friends and parishioners when they are facing these tough end-of-life decisions.

I wrote the article because I was disturbed by the media coverage of Jahi McMath, a California teenager who is on life support following complications from her tonsillectomy. The miscommunication and mistrust between the medical team and the family bothered me. Since the case is now being managed by the courts, no one wins, Jahi least of all. It is incredibly sad.

Here’s a quote from my article…

How can we as clergy speak to these situations? It becomes especially ticklish when one considers the ramifications of insurance coverage, legal definitions of brain death, and other areas where we are not experts. Picture the worst sound bite of a pastor explaining why “God allows” tragedies… or a TV preacher explaining that illness is a “punishment” and back away, quickly. Pomposity and human pain just don’t mix!

Read more here!