March News
We are called to care. And as disciples of Jesus, we bear witness to the crucified: care is our witness. Kenneth L. Carder, a retired bishop who spent a decade caring for his late wife Linda after diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia, writes that, “it was people living with dementia who taught me that caring is the essence of what it means to be Jesus’ disciple.” This is a helpful reminder in a season when we are tempted to measure fidelity by the content of our best-laid plans and selective affiliations. I know I need reminding that the way we care for the most vulnerable is the most Christlike measure of faithful discipleship, whether we are thinking of marginalized peoples or the increasingly impoverished environs of our more than human world. Care for both people and planet is our calling and our witness, because discipleship begins with relationships, and relationships begin in a nurturing matrix and context of care.
—David C. Teel
David C. Teel is a writer, editor, and Christian educator in Nashville, Tennessee. He served United Methodist churches for 15 years before joining Abingdon Press as the Covenant Bible Study project manager and senior academic book editor. He also served on the board of the Vanderbilt Wesley Foundation.